Story: Allen Porter - Dayton Cowboy Comes Full Circle

Information and comments on the story:
Allen Porter: Dayton Cowboy Comes Full Circle

Porter brothers (Duane, Allen, and Tom)

perform their specialty act.

from the book: Life Will Get You in the End:
Short stories by David Satterlee

Find out more, including where to buy books and ebooks

Read or download this story as a PDF file at: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4eNv8KtePyKZFRIcU94VEhKVlk/edit?usp=sharing

Life Will Get You in the End:
Short Stories by David Satterlee

My home town has a Labor Day rodeo that dates back almost 80 years. The story goes that a young boy started doing rope tricks for nickles down by the picnic grounds. Today, he is "the last of the real cowboys," and an iconic local hero. I had the rare privilege of interviewing the man and writing a feature article for the local newspaper. Here it is.  

Allen Porter: Dayton Cowboy Comes Full Circle

I had the privilege of an extended conversation and interview with Allen Porter, one of the last “real cowboys.” He also has a reputation as a trick-horse trainer and performer. He is an honored native son of our small, rural, Iowa town. This is not fiction, just a partial record of a “you couldn’t make this stuff up” life. I’m including it here just to share a special story.

Article by David Satterlee     

Published in the Dayton Review on October 26, 2011    

Based on a personal interview.  

 

Allen Porter, born in 1918, still bears the broad shoulders and strong hands of a sturdy working man. He also still wears cowboy boots and keeps the horns of a longhorn steer mounted above his front door. Inside, pictures of the people and horses that he has known and loved fill his home.

Most locals know him on sight. Allen is honored annually at the Dayton Rodeo. He is the legendary boyhood rope trick performer who, with friends Duane Vegors and Vern Danielson, gave the Labor Day rodeo its start. He helped start the Wranglers Club in 1947 and has made his life as a horseman.

Allen didn’t stay in the area his whole life. He spent years as a cowboy in New Mexico, a ranch hand in Texas, and he managed his own ranch operation in Arkansas. Coming back to Dayton, he made a home with his wife, Esther and has continued to be active in the community.

Allen remembers: “The rodeo has kind of been my life. The rodeo started from nothing. I did a lot of trick roping in my early days. I did trick roping with my high school horse. I didn’t follow the rodeos, but I did trick roping in South Dakota and Iowa, New Mexico, West Texas, and Arkansas during my early days. I’d get