# Empty Saddles: A Champion’s Final Ride
In the quiet streets of Hugo, Oklahoma, where rodeo legends are born and memories run as deep as horse tracks in arena dirt, we bid farewell to a giant of the sport. Ernie Taylor, the 1973 world champion calf roper who just celebrated his 81st birthday, has hung up his rope for the last time.
Some cowboys leave footprints in the sand; Ernie left his mark on hearts and record books alike. For eight straight years, from ’68 to ’75, the National Finals Rodeo arena dirt knew the rhythm of his boots and the swift precision of his partner, Scorpion – the four-legged ace up his sleeve that helped make him nearly unbeatable.
They say you can measure a cowboy’s worth by the stories told about him and the friends who tell them. By that measure, Ernie was rich beyond counting. Hall of Fame bull rider Tuff Hedeman’s voice still carries the warmth of friendship when he speaks of the man who showed up to rodeos “dressed to the nines in white Wranglers,” teaching young ropers the right way to swing a loop and sharing tales that would make even the saltiest cowboys grin.
“He was from the era of ‘mean what you say and say what you mean,'” Hedeman recalls, painting a picture of a man as straight as a fence post and just as sturdy. In the arena and out, Ernie Taylor carried himself with the kind of authenticity that can’t be learned from any manual – it comes from living life at full gallop.
There’s a certain poetry to his passing on November 13th, sharing the day with Roy Cooper’s birthday – as if the rodeo gods themselves wanted to remind us that while champions may leave us, their legacy rides on in the stories we tell and the lessons they taught.
Now, somewhere in that great arena above, there’s a fresh set of tracks in the clouds. If you listen closely enough, you might hear the soft whisper of a loop cutting through the air, the familiar thud of hooves, and the gentle nickering of an old friend named Scorpion, reunited with his partner for one more go-round.
Rest easy, Ernie Taylor. The saddle may be empty, but the arena of our memories will always be full of your spirit, your stories, and that larger-than-life presence that made everyone around you feel like they were part of something special.
And to those young ropers coming up, remember: whenever you’re swinging a loop or sharing stories behind the chutes, you’re carrying on the legacy of men like Ernie – men who didn’t just compete in rodeo, but lived it, breathed it, and made it better for having been there.
In the end, that’s what champions do. They leave the arena better than they found it, and they leave us all a little richer for having known them.
It all started around Sunday, August 4, 2024 when lots of ropers started showing up & camping at the Madonna Inn Arena WAY early cuz of our AMAZING California Coast weather. I don’t care what anyone says,…you CANNOT beat our weather on the Central California Coast. We had people come from as far away as Texas, Arizona, New Mexico & Oregon & even Hawaii. And there could’ve been more from other states as well, but I get to running around like a chicken with my head cut off & sometimes miss things.
