By Tracy Gupton

Affectionately called “Mr. Ed,” Edward Cole was a Lone Star rodeo legend who embodied the cowboy spirit, reads a resolution penned by former state representative Dennis Bonnen. “Although he is deeply missed, he will long be remembered with admiration and affection by those who were fortunate enough to have known him.”

Bonnen’s House Resolution No. 1747 was approved by the Texas House of Representatives on May 11, 2009, a month after Ed Cole died April 10, 2009, a little over a month shy of reaching his 79th birthday.

“Whereas, Brazoria County and the State of Texas lost a beloved resident and true cowboy with the passing of Edward Lee Cole of Sweeny on April 10, 2009, at the age of 78,” Representative Bonnen’s resolution read. “Whereas, born on May 23, 1930, in Alvin, Mr. Cole began a long and successful rodeo career at the age of 16; in 1950, he won his first bull riding title in the Southwestern Rodeo Association and was named runner-up for the all-around title; the following year, he earned both titles.”

Ed Cole, Doug Balkum, Hershel Orr, Mattie Sue Ringgold and Robert Porter “Buddy” Tinsley are the five former outstanding athletes buried at historic Columbia Cemetery in West Columbia who will be “brought to life” at Saturday’s Meet Your Ancestors event at one of the oldest cemeteries in the State of Texas. Meet Your Ancestors, co-sponsored by the Columbia Historical Museum and the Columbia Cemetery Association, will begin at 5 p.m. Saturday, November 1, 2025. The event is free. Groups of 10 will be guided from gravesite to gravesite to listen to actors portraying the five deceased athletes.

A pair of Columbia Historical Museum board members–Korey Langford and Ben Tumlinson–will be portraying Coach Balkum and Buddy Tinsley respectively, while retired West Columbia Junior High teacher Linda Miska will be portraying her high school basketball coach Mattie Sue Ringgold. Dawn Free and Mary Yarbrough, the daughters of Hershell and Kathryn Orr, will be telling visitors about their father’s impressive sports career.

And the grandsons of Ed Cole will be at the graves of their grandparents–Ed and Helen Cole–to inform Meet Your Ancestors visitors about the many highlights of their grandfather’s rodeo career. When Helen Camazzola Cole passed away at 86 in 2017, she left to grieve her absence from their lives, grandchildren Jim Ed Cole, John Cole, Brandi Hargrave, Cody Cole, T-Ray White, Michael Cole, Mikki Cleveland, Cole Moody and Dennis Moody.

Ed Cole was inducted into the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2004, “joining an elite group of honored cowboys and cowgirls who have made substantial contributions to the sport of rodeo,” a Brazoria County News story on Cole’s Hall of Fame induction read. “Family and friends accompanied Ed to the ceremony in Belton, and, as usual, his acceptance speech was short and to the point. ‘Thank you,’ he said.”

Ed Cole was one of 10 children, born and raised in Alvin. He and his siblings were the children of Lonnie Wallace “Lon” Cole and Mary Ella Hornbustle Cole. His Dad died in 1969 and his Mom in 1978. His younger brother, Frank Cole, passed away at 93 earlier this year.

“Ed began rodeoing at the age of 16 and was so successful at it that he won several cash prizes riding bulls,” The Brazoria County News story said. “The only break from rodeo riding Ed took when he served in the Army during the Korean War. While stationed in Oklahoma, Ed met (pro rodeo legend) Freckles Brown at a rodeo and they became friends. After leaving the Army, he spent a couple of years in Oklahoma traveling to rodeos with Freckles. He traveled the Texas-Oklahoma-Louisiana circuits with some of the greats like Brown, Harry Tomkins and Jim Shoulders.”

“In 1955, he won the All-Around, Bull Riding, and Saddle Bronc titles,” the newspaper story revealed. “During the 1956 rodeo season, Ed went to work for Frank Harris on the T-Diamond Ranch near West Columbia. He worked cows and assisted with rodeos produced by the ranch. He and his wife Helen lived on the ranch, where they raised three sons and a daughter.

“In 1956 and 1957 he again captured the All-Around, Bull Riding and Saddle Bronc titles and added a Steer Wrestling title. In 1958 and 1959 he won the All-Around, Bull Riding and Saddle Bronc titles” in the Southwestern Rodeo Association.

“In the mid-60s at Crosby, Texas, he was bucked off so hard by a bull that when he got back to the chute, he took out his pocket knife, cut his rope in two, and declared he would never ride a bull again,” the 2004 story on Ed Cole in The Brazoria County News said. “He kept his word and centered the rest of his rodeo career around steer wrestling.”

Ed Cole told the newspaper reporter he only suffered one serious injury during his rodeo career, a broken bone in his right hand.

Ed won close to 50 buckles and about a dozen saddles during his years of riding bulls and horses in rodeos. Hopefully, his grandsons will display some of their grandfather’s prize possessions at Saturday’s Meet Your Ancestors event at Columbia Cemetery.

In 1971, Ed Cole won his final championship title in Steer Wrestling. That same year, Frank Harris, owner of the T-Diamond Ranch, died and the ranch stopped producing rodeos that year. After that, Ed Cole retired from rodeoing but remained the foreman of the T-Diamond Ranch.

In his rodeo career, Ed Cole won a total of nine All-Around Cowboy titles, 23 individual event titles, and was runner-up 11 times with the Southwestern Rodeo Association.

“He was hard to beat,” Columbia Historical Museum Board member Scott Leopold told the reporter writing the story for the newspaper in 2004. Scott attended his friend Ed Cole’s induction into the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame in Belton and added, “Everybody there had a lot of respect for Ed Cole.”