By Tracy Gupton
Columbia Historical Museum
This past Wednesday, February 15, 2023, was declared Bailey’s Prairie Kid Day countywide by the Brazoria County Commissioners Court. Taylor Hall Jr., the “Bailey’s Prairie Kid” himself, was in attendance in Angleton to pose for pictures with county commissioners as Brazoria County Judge Matt Sebesta read the proclamation honoring the retired bull rider who hails from the neighboring community of Bailey’s Prairie, located between East Columbia and Angleton.
Hall, now 91 years old, is a living legend in these parts. He fits the description of all-around cowboy about as well as anyone ever has. “The Bailey’s Prairie Kid” is deserving of every accolade thrown his way but is definitely not the Lone Ranger when it comes to outstanding Black cowboys from the West Columbia and East Columbia area. Not by a long shot.
A February 7, 2001, story about Hall in The Facts newspaper announced The Bailey’s Prairie Kid’s induction into the Texas Rodeo Cowboys Hall of Fame in Belton, Texas. He retired from the rodeo circuit when Hall was in his 50s. His long career in the rodeo arena also earned him induction into the Cowboys of Color Hall of Fame at the National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum in Fort Worth, and the Bull Riders Hall of Fame in Dripping Springs.
Born February 15, 1932, Taylor Hall Jr. was fittingly honored by Brazoria County Commissioners Court on his 91st birthday Wednesday. Hall’s father was working for the Stanger Ranch near Brazoria when Taylor Hall Jr. was born.
“You can’t do what he’s done and not deserve it,” the late R.S. “Doc” Stanger was quoted in the 2001 Facts story as saying about news of his longtime friend’s induction into the same Texas Rodeo Cowboys Hall of Fame Doc Stanger had been inducted into the previous year.
February is Black History Month
Isidro Valdez Sr., the late foreman of the Bar X Ranch outside East Columbia near Bailey’s Prairie, was quoted in the same newspaper story as saying, “Everybody would be amazed when he came out of the chute on the bull blowing smoke like a choo-choo train. That cigar was about half gone, but that was his trademark.”
“The Bailey’s Prairie Kid’s” record includes winning championships at the Southwestern National Cowboys’ Association rodeos in 1966 for saddle bronc riding, in 1968 for bareback bronc riding, in 1972 and 1973 for champion steer wrestling, in 1975 for bull riding and in 1978 as the all-around champion, according to The Facts’ 2001 story.
Many people know him only as “The Bailey’s Prairie Kid” without knowing Taylor Hall Jr.’s real name
This writer’s interactions with this living legend involve “The Bailey’s Prairie Kid” coming into Gupton Feed and Ranch Supply in West Columbia in the 1970s to buy horse and cattle feed. My brother, Cody Gupton, was a young bull rider and bareback bronc rider at the time pursuing the rodeo life and I could see in Cody’s reaction to Taylor Hall being in our presence, in the flesh, that it was like a movie star had walked into the feed store. The truck he drove, the way he dressed and his strut in our parents’ feed store spoke volumes of The Kid’s reputation without Taylor Hall saying a word. He was idolized by many young cowboys, regardless of their race.
Another well-respected Black cowboy that I was more in awe of – based solely on my interaction with him from my childhood – was Austin Williams. In the book, “Black Cowboys of Texas” (2000, Texas A&M University Press) edited by Sara R. Massey, not a word is written about Taylor Hall Jr., aka “The Bailey’s Prairie Kid,” but Austin Williams of West Columbia gets a mention in the book’s conclusion.
Austin Williams had a long-standing reputation as one of the best cow hands in the West Columbia area for several decades
Austin Williams, who passed away September 13, 1990, used to run his cows in the same leased pasture my father, Rex Gupton, kept his 50 or so head of cows in the 1960s. And Austin was a frequent visitor to my home during my childhood. His cowboy skills were well respected by most livestock owners in the West Columbia area. My Dad rarely worked his cows without Austin Williams’ assistance, and my father would return the favor when Austin needed help with his own cattle.
The book “Black Cowboys of Texas” states that, “Austin Williams of West Columbia, a cowboy for Jordie Farmer, registered his brand, the Dash Seven Connected brand. He was ‘as good a cow hand as I’ve ever known. He was big as a mule, and he used a long rope.’”
Massey writes in “Black Cowboys of Texas,” that “Many of these cowboys began working at twelve or thirteen years of age. They acquired their skills by experience, herding the cattle with sticks. In old age, many recalled their cowboy years fondly, dismissing the hardships.”
In the book “Celebrating Black Cowboys” on display at the West Columbia Museum, it is stated that many slaves of wealthy white plantation owners “possessed valuable herding skills learned in Africa, and this highly regarded expertise was eventually augmented by riding and roping techniques learned partly from Mexican vaqueros. Those Black men on horseback, working cattle herds 170 years ago on the prairies that surround modern-day Houston, were among the first true cowboys” in early Texas.
The George Ranch Historical Park in neighboring Fort Bend County near Richmond has a wealth of exhibit material devoted to Black cowboys. Among the many Black men who worked the cattle at the George Ranch in the 20th century were Johnny Hudgins, Buster Jackson and brothers Willie Thomas and James Thomas.
Sammy Phillips and Robert Thompson were among West Columbia area Black cowboys of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s who risked serious injury or even death by riding bulls and broncs following the Texas rodeo circuit. Sammy Phillips was among my brother’s rodeo buddies who used to gather on Gupton Lane to improve their riding skills on one of my Dad’s old 55-gallon drums that my brother Cody had designed into a bucking barrel out in our father’s pasture.
Charles Sampson made history in 1982 when he became the first African American to win a rodeo world championship. Originally from Los Angeles, this true “urban cowboy” is now retired from active rodeo competition and lives in Aurora, Colorado. Now 65 years old, Charlie Sampson was inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1996. He claims to have broken every bone in his face except his nose in a 1983 bull riding event with President Ronald Reagan in attendance.
His PRCA career lasted almost 20 years, featuring 11 National Finals Rodeo trips, but Sampson paid dearly during his long bull riding career. Sampson’s left calf has 17 pins and two metal plates, and the veteran former bull rider has broken his ankle, ribs, legs (four times), fingers, sternum and wrist.
Black cowboys have existed from the time of slavery to the present day. An up and coming rodeo star is current Tarleton State University steer wrestler Landris White of neighboring Angleton. Honored as the rookie of the year in December 2022 in the Resistol Rookie Night in Las Vegas, White earned a little more than $30,000 rodeoing last year.
Landris, the son of a former bull rider and nephew of former steer wrestlers, earned second team All-District honors his junior year as a defensive end for the Angleton Wildcats football team.
Tarleton State University junior Landris White of Angleton has juggled a football and rodeo career for several years
“Part of what makes him a good defensive end is his strength, which he is able to work on in a way few others do,” wrote Matt Harris in an August 27, 2019, story on White in Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine. “When the 6-foot, 210-pound White isn’t dominating opposing offensive linemen in the fall, he’s dominating local steer in preparation for rodeo season in the spring.”
Landris White earned a scholarship to play football and participate in rodeos at Tarleton State in Stephenville following graduation from Angleton High School. He was named Region 7 Year End Champion Steer Wrestler by the Texas High School Rodeo Association a couple years ago. Tarleton State rodeo contestants compete in the Southwest Region in college rodeos with Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico schools.
Landris is a junior mechanical engineering major at Tarleton State. Although still a college student, he has been bestowed “Rookie of the Year” honors in his first full season with the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association in 2022. His most recent rodeo competition was January 20 to February 4 at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo.
Taylor Hall Jr. once competed in a rodeo at Madison Square Garden in New York City the same day he flew back to his home state to compete in the Houston Rodeo. Reaching those heights and achieving numerous Halls of Honor accolades like “The Bailey’s Prairie Kid” has are goals Hall’s young fellow Brazoria Countian Landris White can set his sights on.
“My goal is just like anybody else’s,” White told Facts Sports Editor Jake Dowling in a February 8th story in the local newspaper. “At the end of the year, make it to the top 15 and go to the national finals. That’s everybody’s goal is to win rookie of the year and, in a few years, make it to the national finals.”
www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/black-cowboys
Displays on Black Cowboys and other Black History Month related exhibits are now available for viewing at the Columbia Historical Museum in West Columbia. The museum is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.