Lewis Feild is a Utah born professional cowboy and rodeo performer.
"Perhaps they had second thoughts," suggested the event's organizer, Derik Strelsky, a former rodeo performer.
Its debut on 26 January 1979 featured a winning squash player, a rodeo performer and a hockey skate blade inventor.
His father worked as a stunt coordinator and rodeo performer.
"He was your friend even if you never met him," said Robert Waight, a fellow rodeo performer.
But Mr. Thurman was the third rodeo performer killed riding bulls this year.
Hoot Gibson was a rodeo performer, actor, and film director.
In 1937, cowboy, rodeo performer, and movie actor Hoot Gibson performed with the circus.
He had worked as a rodeo performer and as a bouncer in a beer bar while a student.
On the theory that youngsters did not see black cowboys like him very often, he brought in other black rodeo performers for parades and exhibitions.