At this Texas prison, inmates fought raging bulls for their freedom (and cash)

Huntsville’s Convict-Run Rodeo Spectacle from 1931-1986

The Texas Prison Rodeo was once the wildest show in America, yet few knew it was run by convicts.

Prison manager Marshall Lee Simmons started it in 1931 at Huntsville’s "Walls" Unit, where inmates risked their lives in events like "Hard Money" – grabbing cash bags from between bull horns.

From a small field with local fans, it grew into a 20,000-seat arena drawing 100,000 spectators yearly. Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson played there while inmates like O’Neal Browning became rodeo legends.

The Texas Prison Museum now keeps this forgotten piece of Americana alive through its vivid collection of rodeo artifacts spanning five decades.

Convicts Got Their First Taste of Rodeo Glory in 1931

Marshall Lee Simmons started the Texas Prison Rodeo in October 1931 at a baseball field behind the Huntsville "Walls" Unit. He wanted to lift spirits and make money during the Great Depression.

The first show only drew prison workers, their families, and a few locals. Inmates joined in rodeo events like calf roping, bronc riding, and bull riding.

Local preachers okayed the Sunday October shows.

The inmates cut down oak trees around the baseball field and built an 800-seat wooden stadium themselves.

Crowds Exploded to 15,000 by 1933

The rodeo grew fast in just two years, jumping from a few outsiders to nearly 15,000 people. Prison officials built bigger wooden stands and started charging for entry.

The money covered costs and created a fund for education and recreation that bought textbooks, dentures, and Christmas turkeys for inmates.

At first, only inmates who had worked as cowboys or ranch hands on prison farms could compete.

Warden Doubled the Seats After Turning Thousands Away

The warden added twice as many seats in 1938 after having to turn away thousands of visitors the year before. The rodeo became an October tradition that Texans marked on their calendars.

Inmates from different prisons competed in September tryouts for the limited spots. They added new contests like wild cow milking and goat roping.

Two clowns named Charlie Jones and Louie Nettles became local stars with their routines on Huntsville’s radio show "Behind the Walls.

Any Inmate With a Clean Record Could Try Out by the 1940s

Rules changed in the mid-1940s so any male prisoner with good behavior could try out, not just guys with ranch experience.

The war canceled the 1943 rodeo, but they came back in 1944 with a "Victory Rodeo" that put all profits into war bonds. Back in 1933, inmates earned just $2 for competing, but that amount grew over the years.

Women from the Goree Unit joined with events like calf roping, barrel racing, and greased pig sacking. More newspapers and magazines started writing about the unusual prison sporting event.

Inmates Built a Million-Dollar Arena With Their Bare Hands

Prisoners built a new $1 million red-brick arena using concrete, steel, and brick during 1950-51. The new building held about 20,000 people, replacing the old wooden stadium that was falling apart.

While they built the new place, the rodeo moved to Dallas Fair Park for summer 1950. They made the arena’s red-brick outside match the walls of the nearby prison.

This big expansion showed how the rodeo had grown into a major Texas attraction.

Johnny Cash Played His First Prison Concert There in 1956

The rodeo peaked in the 1950s with about 100,000 visitors each year.

Guest stars started appearing in 1951, bringing in Tom Mix, Mickey Mantle, John Wayne, and Steve McQueen over the years. Johnny Cash played his first-ever prison concert at the Texas Prison Rodeo in 1956.

Black and white inmates competed together even though the crowd sat in separate sections, making it possibly the only mixed-race sporting event in the South before Brown v. Board of Education.

A 19-year-old inmate named O’Neal Browning, serving life for killing his father, won his first Top Hand championship in 1950.

Forty Inmates in Red Shirts Chased Bulls for Cash in 1963

Officials borrowed a wild event called "Hard Money" from the Oklahoma Prison Rodeo in 1963 to make the show more dangerous and exciting.

Forty inmates wearing bright red shirts ran into the arena trying to grab a Bull Durham tobacco sack tied between a bull’s horns.

The sack held $50 to $100, but fans often threw in extra money that could push the amount up to $1,000 or more. They also ran the "Mad Scramble" where ten angry bulls charged out of the chutes at once.

Crowds loved these dangerous events.

Female Inmates Joined the Action to Cut Costs in 1972

Prison bosses let women compete in select events like calf roping and greased-pig sacking in 1972 to save money on hiring big-name entertainers.

Female inmates from the Goree Unit had joined in earlier decades but got more chances to compete in the 1970s. Some women felt mixed about their families attending, not wanting their kids to see them in prison.

Male inmates still did the most dangerous events like bull riding. A former exotic dancer named Candy Barr sometimes outshone the paid entertainers.

A Thumbless Cowboy Won His Seventh Championship at Age 44

O’Neal Browning grabbed his seventh Top Hand championship buckle at age 44 in 1973.

Houston radio personality "Buffalo Bill" Bailey joked that Browning "had all the time in the world to practice" since he was 24 years into his life sentence.

Browning won championships across three decades: 1950, 1954, 1956, 1962, 1968, and 1973. He kept competing even after losing his left thumb in a steer roping accident when the rope yanked it completely off.

Country stars Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, and George Strait performed as guest stars during this era.

Even Astronauts and Movie Stars Couldn’t Save the Aging Rodeo

Apollo-Soyuz astronauts and cosmonauts attended the rodeo in 1975 during their joint space mission training. The 1980 film "Urban Cowboy" featured scenes filmed at the arena.

But the energy crisis, bad weather, and poor advertising cut crowds from the 100,000 peak down to just tens of thousands by the mid-1980s.

Women inmates got moved from Goree Unit to Gatesville in 1981, ending their participation. As Texas became more urban, fewer inmates had the ranching skills needed for an authentic rodeo competition.

The Judds Sang the Final Farewell in October 1986

Engineers looked at the 35-year-old stadium in 1986 and condemned it as structurally unsafe. Fixing it would cost between $500,000 and $800,000.

The final rodeo took place on October 26, 1986, with mother-daughter country duo The Judds as the guest performers. Prison officials couldn’t raise the renovation money during the ongoing economic recession.

Federal funding from the War on Drugs meant the prison system no longer needed to make money through rodeo revenue.

The arena stood empty and crumbling for 26 years until workers tore it down in 2012, though one section survived as an inmate dormitory.

Visiting Texas Prison Museum, Texas

The Texas Prison Museum at 491 Highway 75 North in Huntsville tells the story of the famous Texas Prison Rodeo that ran from 1931 to 1986.

You can visit Monday-Saturday 10am-5pm or Sunday noon-5pm for $8 (kids $7, seniors $6). Take a self-guided tour and watch an intro video about the prison system.

The gift shop sells items made by inmates from leather, metal, and wood.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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