Jimbo Watford wasn’t from a ranching family, so he didn’t grow up with rodeo. High school in Okeechobee changed that.

Watford said his father was in the trucking business.

 He got involved in rodeo through FFA (Future Farmers of America) in school. He competed in bareback bronc riding and steer wrestling in high school rodeo. In 1973, he went to the National High School Rodeo finals in both events.

“As a young cowboy just starting out, I remember the crowds, big crowds,” he said.

He said Pete Clemons and Norman Stokes would call him to try young bucking horses in the 1970s.

Watford started out riding in IRA (Interstate Rodeo Association) events. In 1979, he got his PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association) card.  That year he was named Rookie of the Year for the nine-state region. In 1980, he won the circuit.

In 1981, a photo of Watford on a bucking horse was in American Cowboy magazine.

Like many young cowboys, he tried riding bulls. “I could tell I was in a dead-end situation. My Daddy kept telling me, ‘Son, you’re going to get hurt on them bulls’.

“Rodeo was good to me,” said Watford. “I won a lot of rodeos. I won at Okeechobee three or four times.”

The Okeechobee rodeo went on “rain or shine,” he said. “I remember riding in pouring down rain and nasty, blowing wind.”

Watford said he started competing in rodeo at age 16 and quit at age 40, for a 24-year rodeo career, competing in Florida in the winter and northern states in the summer.

“When I quit, I knew it was time,” he said. “My reflexes had slowed down.”

Watford, who runs Watford Auction House, still stays active in rodeo by sponsoring the bareback riding at the Speckled Perch Festival rodeo every year. He also tries to help the kids in high school rodeo and junior rodeo.