It’s been about a half century since he last crawled down in the chute, but memories are as vivid as if it were yesterday.
Not an uncommon feeling among former rodeo cowboys as the adrenalin for the lifestyle runs hot and strong from the first mount on a bucking horse to one’s last breath.
Now retired to a comfortable rock home in Salina, Tommy Likes, 84, moved to town a couple of years ago after ranching near Brookville.
However, his eyes brighten and enthusiasm beams as he leafs through a scrapbook filled with photographs dating back to the 1940s forward to more recent years verifying every special recollection so dear and close to his sole.
Yet, Esther, his wife of 66 years, was anxious to “go shopping. I never cared too much for horses and rodeo. I’m my own person,” she indicated while admitting that their children inherited appreciation for the Western lifestyle.
As Esther was pressing to get out the door, she revealed her passion for music with a piano and two organs in the living room of the immaculate home with sweet-smelling flowers freshly cut from the yard and displayed on the table.
“I guess I decided to be a cowboy when a man with a pony came by our home in Emporia to take pictures,” calculated Likes, who was forced to teary emotion several times during the reminiscing.
Certainly, the instinct didn’t come from his dad, George, who was mechanically inclined and operated a business dredging gravel out of the river.
“Dad wouldn’t have anything to do with horses or rodeos. He expected a man to work for a living,” admitted Likes, who still inherited mechanical abilities enabling him a livelihood along with his rodeo passion.
“My dad wouldn’t let me have a horse, but I would ride anybody else’s horse that would let me,” Likes assured.
As a young teenager, Likes would “sneak out of school on Friday and work at the sale barn for a $1. I eventually got enough money together to buy a horse for $35,” he said. “I broke that wild thing, even taught him to do some tricks, and sold him to Jeff Wheat of Allen for $50.”
Robert’s Leather Goods was a longtime established Emporia business where Likes hung around as a kid.
“Ben Price from Reading was in there one day, and asked me if I could ride a horse and wanted a job,” Likes recalled. “I told him, ‘Of course.’ So, he hired me, and we headed to his ranch in Texas. We stopped by Harry Sheplers in Wichita on the way to buy me a new saddle.”
Life was never the same again. “I helped look after 4,000 Corriente cattle, had seven horses and rode all day every day. That was my first real experience riding bucking horses,” Likes noted.
Staying there for a year, Likes returned to Kansas and went to work for Jeff Wheat, who had 80 mares and “two yellow studs.”
When the Quarter Horse Association was formed, “All of those horses qualified for registration,” Likes related. “My job was breaking the colts, and I’d always encourage them to buck a little if I could.”
Of course, when the rodeo came to town, Likes was anxious to get on anything that bucked including some wild bulls. “They paid $5 mount money which was a lot in those days,” he recalled. “I couldn’t make any easier money than that.”
Before long, Likes was on the circuit winning and placing at most every rodeo in the state at one time or another. “Ladd Lewis and Pat Burke had some bucking horses, and I’d go to Eureka every Sunday for practice when I wasn’t at a rodeo,” he remembered.
With no indication of conceit, Likes contended, “I got so I could really spur a bareback horse.”
He traveled the country from the Cow Palace in California to Madison Square Garden in New York competing in Rodeo Cowboy’s Association events.
Winning “a go round in ’48 at Cheyenne” is a special memory. “I didn’t have enough money, but then I finally placed at Topeka, so I went, and I was sure glad I did,” he verified.
“I rodeoed with Casey Tibbs, Jim Shoulders, Jack Bushbom, Harry Thompkins, Gerald and Ken Roberts, all who were my good friends. But I never was in the top five in the world,” Likes insisted. “I won money on the same horses they did.”
He recollected placing on a top bronc called “The Dutchman” one day and seeing Jack Bushbom win Lake Charles, Louisiana, a few days later “making him look like a practice horse.”
Competing in other rodeo events, Likes declared: “I even entered the bull dogging, despite my small size, and they were big steers in those days.”
However, Likes never lost sight of the need for a profession outside the arena.
“I learned the plumbing trade at Emporia Plumbing and Heating, so I could always have an income,” confirmed Likes, who worked in many communities, serving as foreman of a number of major projects such as the Jeffrey Energy Center and the state capital renovation.
Most of his adult life involved with horses, Likes reflected about getting his first stallion through Slim Pickering and then picked up the black Quarter Horse called Cold Mack from Lee Walters at Manhattan.
Through the years, Likes had different stallions, raising and selling colts, many which he trained personally. Likewise, he bought and sold lots of horses.
After retiring from the pipe fitting trade, Likes settled near Brookville where he had a cow-calf operation along with standing stallions, raising and merchandizing horses, and a major alfalfa hay business.
“I won five silver buckles in my rodeo career, which I’m proud of, but my grandchildren and great grandchildren have won hundreds of buckles,” revealed Likes, who is especially satisfied that his fondness for rodeo has carried through following generations.
Both of his sons, Dee and Alan, competed successfully in bareback riding and other rodeo events, while daughter Louanne (Smith) rode in barrel racing. Now their children and grandchildren (Likes’ grand children and great grandchildren) also compete successfully in rodeos.
“My family has really done well in spite of me,” Likes concluded.
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