01.11.22 - Features
Remembering Jerome Robinson: A Founding Father
One of the true legends of the sport of bull riding passed away at his home in Colorado on Sunday at age 74.
By Justin Felisko
PUEBLO, Colo. – At 7:10 p.m. Monday evening, the lights of the Denver Coliseum went dim and an image of Jerome Robinson flashed upon the jumbotron.
A sea of cowboy hats in the blue and yellow seats, and plenty more on the dirt below, were quickly lowered onto everyone’s hearts at the National Western Stock Show. The thousands in attendance paid a brief homage to the man who once sat in the same grandstands as them as a kid in the 1950s, rode bucking bulls under the same roof as the 45 riders who were about to compete on Monday night and spent years walking up and down the dust-covered gray concrete floors behind the scenes to help produce and lead PBR’s annual Touring Pro Division events at 4600 Humboldt Street.
As a young boy with cowboy aspirations, Robinson would attend the National Western Stock Show in Denver and watch his rodeo heroes compete in front of him during the 1950s long before he made 11 trips to the NFR as a contestant.
The Ogallala, Nebraska, native told his grandmother at 3 years old that he wanted to be a cowboy, but Robinson would go on to be so much more than just a talented bull rider in the arena. Rather, the 74-year-old went on to impact millions of people all over the world through his groundbreaking contributions to the Western sports industry.
Bull riders, stock contractors, music directors, announcers, television production staffs, event secretaries, promoters, friends, family, staff workers of the past and present for the PBR and PRCA, and people all around the globe have had Robinson on their minds since the news of his passing Sunday evening at his home in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Forty-eight hours after Robinson finished organizing the production of the PBR’s premier series event at the greatest venue in the world – Madison Square Garden in New York City – he was being honored where his long journey began. On the 25th anniversary of his PBR Touring Pro Division event in Denver, he had returned home.
“It is not what he did,” Paul Chadwick, Robinson’s best friend for 50-plus years, told PBR.com on Monday morning. “It is probably the way he did things that was so instrumental to his success because he was so good with understanding and knowing people. People always want to say things like he never forgot where he came from, but I would say he never left where he came from.”
Yes, there are legends. Yes, there are pioneers and heroes.
Of course, we have our superstars and champions.
Jerome Robinson, though, was all of that and so much more.
Robinson was a Founding Father of the PBR and Western Sports, an irreplaceable kindhearted and loving man whose impact and influence branches across generations.
Everyone expected to see their hero, friend or boss around the corner on Monday night, headset in hand, ready to give a heartwarming hello and prepared to tell a story, some of which, of course, maybe were a tad infatuated about a certain missing finger. People were yearning for his leadership, inspiration, and mentorship one last time. A lesson to be learned, a critique to be given, a smile to be seen.
The man staring back at them from the jumbotron should have flashed a sly wink as he so often did to bull riders making the 8 seconds. Robinson’s voice should have been heard saying, “Helloooo, [insert your name here].”
Instead, the walls of the Denver Coliseum were paying silent homage.
“Hey Jerome, what a ride, huh?’”
However, Robinson is likely already too busy to be hearing any of our compliments or memories. Chances are, he has already met with the man upstairs to plan the next greatest bull riding event.
“Jerome Robinson here. I think I have an idea for you.”
***
Joy Murray would peer into the backyard and clear her throat. Little Ty Murray had distinct instructions for his mom.
The future King of the Cowboys and nine-time World Champion would apply his makeshift back number with a certain name on it, and it was up to Joy to play the role of rodeo announcer as Ty prepared to nod for the gate inside his imaginary bucking chutes.
“Ladies and gentlemen… next up… Jerome Robinson!” Joy would yell.
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“I’d always put Robinson on the back number,” Murray recalled Monday morning. “I’d pretend like I was Jerome Robinson when I was a little boy playing bull rider in the backyard. There were guys that had more accolades, but I always thought Jerome was the coolest.”
Murray admits he was nervous when he would eventually meet Robinson, but like so many others who would go on to meet Robinson, he too would quickly receive that warm welcoming, “Hello, Ty.”
“There’s that saying where you don’t want to meet your heroes because they may not be as cool as they were in your mind,” Murray said. “It’s the opposite with Jerome. He was such a good man. He just loved the sport. He loved it. He never did any of it, I don’t think, for attention or praise or glory or recognition. From everything I can tell about him and everything I’ve heard about him, that’s how he’s always been. Every aspect of it that he’s ever done, I think he just did it for no other reason than he loved it. That’s it. He just loved it, and he liked the people, and he liked the sport and the heart of the sport.
“He was a good man. Not only was he a huge asset to the PBR, but he was a huge asset to the sport, and then on top of it, he was like an encyclopedia for the sport. He had a memory like an elephant, and he knew so much and could do anything in a really understated way.”
While Murray, who credits Robinson for helping him pull off his annual Ty Murray Invitational at The Pit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was able to perfect his craft at Little Britches Rodeos and the high school level, things were a tad bit different for Robinson.
Robinson was born on October 16, 1947, in Ogallala, Nebraska, and raised in Brandon, and there was no high school rodeo or things of that nature for him to compete at then.
Instead, Robinson would sneak off after church on Sundays to climb aboard his family’s cows in his homemade bucking chute, much to his father Grady’s chagrin. He would load the cows himself, flank them, and put forth some of the greatest cow rides to the silence of the cool Nebraska air.
It was only the beginning.
***
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Robinson would eventually enroll at Colorado State University to become a veterinarian but instead pursued education. Of course, Robinson would tell everyone he majored in rodeo, as do many rodeo athletes today.
It was also the beginning of his frequent consumption of steak sandwiches from the Charco Broiler over on E. Mulberry St. Robinson would still order that steak sandwich long after his college rodeo days, though they now cost $16 compared to the original $1.85. Robinson would often joke about a college student complaining about wasting $1.85 on a steak sandwich that would ruin a good buzz.
Robinson was not a drinker, instead preferring a celebratory dessert such as vanilla ice cream or maybe some peanut butter pie or a Zebra cake (good fuel on those long rodeo production nights).
The future 1999 PBR Ring of Honor inductee purchased his PRCA card while still in college (1967) and, once he graduated, it was full speed ahead toward his first NFR qualification in 1970.
The rodeo trail was a little different those days – gas ranged from 18 to 30 cents a gallon, and there was no such thing as Google Maps – but Robinson flashed the same commitment and passion for hitting the road as a hungry 21-year-old would today.
Even as a rodeo athlete, Robinson was already paying it forward, too.
He began hosting bull riding schools in Fort Collins, mentoring the likes of a 13-year-old Cody Lambert and future World Champions Michael Gaffney and Owen Washburn.
“I’ve known Jerome since I was 13 years old, and looked up to him from day one, and learned from him from the beginning to the end,” Lambert said. “He taught me first about bull riding, and those are the fundamentals that I try to pass on to everybody that I’ve talked to about bull riding ever since. I’d been riding for a few years, and my dad had taught me what I knew to get to that point, but when I was 13 years old and went to Jerome Robinson’s school, I learned a lot of the reasons – my dad would tell me to do some things, and Jerome explained why we did some of those things, and then he took it a little farther than that. Everyone develops their own style, and I developed my own style with the foundation of what I learned from Jerome and always had a solid foundation to go back to.
“I could see it even more after I retired from bull riding. I could see it more when I was trying to help somebody else. He has so many stories and talks that we had that I’ll never forget. We laughed and joked about lots of things. We laughed at mistakes we’ve made, and how we’ve been successful and unsuccessful, and lots of things. We had a great time together, and Jerome was that kind of person where he was just a great role model, and he was helpful to lots of people.”
It is through his bull riding tutelage that he would become best friends with Paul Chadwick for more than 50 years and convince him and another future friend and confidant, Curt Blake, that maybe their futures in rodeo were not supposed to be on the back of a bucking bull, both Chadwick and Blake recalled with laughter on Monday.
“Jerome would find out what people are best at and focus them that way,” Chadwick said.
It is no surprise Robinson made tons of friends and connections on the rodeo trail with his warm and jovial personality. A good speeding ticket along the way to the Oklahoma City NFR one year may have been tossed away by an old bull riding school attendee who instead wished Robison the best of luck.
“‘Jerome? Hey, I am so-and-so,’” Chadwick remembers. “And Jerome would then go, ‘Oh yeah, you attended school two years ago in the fall.’”
Robinson would go on to make the NFR from 1970-75 and 1977-81. He finished fourth at the NFR twice, but he was a champion in so many people’s eyes regardless.
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“Everybody will tell you that he and Denny Flynn are the two of the greatest bull riders to ever live that never won a world title,” Murray said.
During his rodeo career, one of Robinson’s most heralded accomplishments was his creation of the centralized computer entry system (PROCOM) in 1975. This system utilized a computer to implement rules and guidelines of the PRCA Rulebook and a bank of toll-free phone lines to communicate with rodeo contestants, stock contractors, secretaries, and committees. PROCOM consolidated more than 500 individual rodeo entry offices across the nation into one, facilitating a vastly more efficient method of contesting in and producing PRCA rodeos. He would also serve as the Vice President to the PRCA Board in 1979 when the PRCA moved its headquarters and Hall of Fame to Colorado Springs, Colorado.
“Jerome had one of the first satellite phones,” Chadwick said. “It was as big as a brick. He has always carried a phone. That was his phone in a car. His affinity with phones started with him to develop with Bryan McDonald the central entry office to take advantage of 800 toll-free phone calls instead of calling the local sheriff in town to find the local rodeo office.”
In 2019, Robinson was officially inducted into that same Hall of Fame for his contributions to the sport.
Robinson, fittingly, would not just use the system for business, though.
Robinson also had some rodeo prankster in his blood. He once called the PRCA and convinced an employee taking entries that she needed to call the sheriff’s office in Montana because he was stuck in a phone booth because of a barking dog holding him hostage, and he couldn’t get to his car in time to drive to the rodeo.
“There was a phone booth, but that was about it,” Chadwick said with a laugh.
***
Robinson, in fact, was a storyteller through and through. He could entertain people for countless hours, leaving the most talkative speechless.
“So, you know how Jerome lost his finger, right?” Chadwick said, laughing. “Or what story did he tell you?”
Robinson often told people that he lost one of his fingers at a concert of The Who. Others would tell you, no, he lost it as a kid setting bowling pins.
“People are just so gullible, and Jerome knew it,” Eva Chadwick, who has known and worked for Robinson for 30-plus years, said. “He would build all these stories, and everybody would be on the edge of their seat. People would just believe him, and he loved making people smile.”
The real story was that Robinson lost the tips of his index and middle fingers in a car crash on a Friday night in Texas while heading from Scottsdale, Arizona, to Fort Worth, Texas, for a rodeo. Robinson convinced the rodeo to hold his bull, and he was released from the hospital the next day and, of course, he made an 8-second ride that Sunday.
Robinson, then 35 years old, wound up dislocating his knee on the dismount, and it would ultimately lead to his retirement at the end of the season when he failed to make the NFR.
But why tell a story about a career-ending injury and black ice instead of something dramatic?
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***
Once he retired, Robinson attended production school and quickly evolved into one of the best rodeo producers in the industry, booking venues, hauling in the dirt, and bringing with him the best and most respectable crew in the business under his Western Trails umbrella. It was the beginning of a career that would take him around the world and lead to him impacting people of various ages and jobs for nearly 40 years. Go to any PBR or PRCA event, and you will likely meet someone who was mentored, influenced, or taught by Robinson.
In 1985, Robinson would produce the ESPN televised rodeo series “Winston Tour,” which showcased the best athletes in all of rodeo in a team format and served as inspiration for what the 20 PBR co-founders thought they could do to elevate bull riding to a standalone sport.
When the PBR was founded, Robinson and his production company provided all the chutes, panels, arena dirt, lights, and show set-up. It was the beginning of a fruitful partnership, and Robinson remained an integral part of the PBR framework and family ever since.
For 29 years, Robinson served as the arena director and helped the PBR flourish in all areas of the business.
“Jerome wasn’t a co-founder, and he wasn’t involved in the decision for us to do the PBR and what we started. But when we started producing events, he was the first guy we called,” Lambert said. “When we started producing and promoting our own events, he was the first guy that we hired to do that for us. And he’s been there ever since, to every one of them. That’s the thing. Jerome was a road warrior in a way that most of us have never seen before. He was intellectual. He was driven. But he wanted to do a better job at everything, at everything from the way injuries were taken to the way the production was. Everything Jerome did made sense.”
Murray added, “He wrote the book on a lot of the stuff we do now, that he figured out along with us. He’s one of those guys that did a bunch of stuff that he never even got credit for, and you’re never going to hear it from him. He didn’t care. He always just wanted everything to get done and go smooth and everybody to be happy. I think he loved what he did. I think he loved being around the sport, and I think he loved being around the guys.
“He’s done it all for us, and I guarantee you we lost an asset to the PBR that is not going to be easily replaced, maybe never get replaced. I feel like it’s going to take five guys to do what Jerome did, and he did it all like it wasn’t anything. He had a thousand things going on, and I could call him up and say, ‘Hey, how do you get in this place?’ And he was like, ‘Well, okay Ty, I’ll come meet you.’ That’s how he was. He had a million things going on right before a performance, and he’d come out and meet me and personally do whatever I needed. He was that way to everybody.”
***
Curt Blake has known Robinson for more than 35 years since first attending a bull riding school in 1986, and the music director spent two decades walking into the Denver Coliseum with his mentor, hero and friend.
“I don’t know that anybody’s ever talked to Jerome and left the conversation not feeling better than they did when they went into the conversation,” Blake said. “He was a teacher, and he never put himself above anybody else. You always felt like you were Jerome’s equal, even though you knew his knowledge and his skills exceeded you. He just gave you the confidence to go do stuff that you would’ve never thought you could do, and teach you. If you made a mistake, he wouldn’t yell at you or make you feel stupid about it. You just learn from it and move on. Unless, of course, he’d already told you not to do it. Then yeah, you’d get yelled at a little.”
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On Monday, the reality was that Robinson would not be walking into the dingy old stadium with his warm smile.
“He was a second father to me,” Blake said. “He was a mentor. He was my best friend in the world. He took me out of Wyoming and sent me all over the world, and would give me his checkbook and his credit card and say, ‘Go represent me,’ and – I’m at a loss. I’ve never had anyone ever believe in me that much. And it was like having a living, breathing Google. I take for granted how many questions I would have, or concerns, and his phone number was at the top of my speed dial.
“Life seems to be circular, doesn’t it? His dream started here at this building, and his career ended at the most popular sporting venue in the world. I remember one time somebody had asked him what his exit (retirement) strategy was, and he simply looked at them and said, ‘Well, death.’ That was his exit strategy.
“He always said, ‘I’m going to live myself to death,’ and he did just that.”
Blake was one of the men who often accompanied Robinson all over the world when Robinson, who easily could have retired to his vacation home in Costa Rica years ago, was tasked with putting on an international rodeo or bull riding.
Robinson’s production crew made stops in Japan, France, Finland, Oman, Italy, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Venezuela. There is no telling how many rental cars, boats and planes may have officially been wrecked under Robinson's watch, but there is a belief that he had bad luck with at least a dozen rentals, Blake said in laughter.
Before the age of cell phones, Blake would come home to find a plane ticket in his mailbox, which was Robinson’s way of telling him to pack his bags, and he was hired.
“He was kind of a modern-day P.T. Barnum, if you will. It was a wild west show,” Blake said. “He had that presence about him. You would walk into a hotel room in Dubai, and he’d have the cowboy hat, and people would just gravitate towards him and his personality. And by the end of your stay, as with any venue or building he ever worked, the people that knew his name were the bellmen and the security guards and the waitresses. He just had such an endearing manner about him.”
Six years ago, Blake was working the NFR when Robinson asked what he was doing the following week and if he wanted to go to St. Petersburg, Russia.
Sure enough, there was Blake walking around with Robinson in the frigid Russian air, preparing to meet with officials at the Russian Olympic headquarters about the possibility of creating a six- to nine-month rodeo tour.
“It was just like you’d think in a movie, you know?” Blake said, his voice still full of amazement. “All the flowery ornaments, red and gold, big high ceilings in a castle, and these huge bowls. They brought in a chef from Siberia to make this borscht and were eating borscht and telling stories.”
As they met with Russian officials, the group proudly brought out “the finest vodka in Russia.”
Blake began to wonder how things would play out because he knew Robinson did not drink.
“I was so curious,” Blake said. “I couldn’t wait to see it. I was going to be the guy that saw Jerome drink.”
The group made a toast, and just as everyone tipped their heads back to take a shot, Robinson quickly poured his into his borscht.
He then wiped his lips. “Man, that is good! You guys were right.”
“And he did that with three shots of vodka, put them in his soup bowl,” Blake said with another laugh.
In 1992, the Chadwicks were working with Robinson in Paris when Robinson was tasked with producing an event at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Berc. The rodeo was taking place around Eva’s birthday, June 26, and Americans involved with the grand opening of Euro Disney had even come to partake in the rodeo and party with the group.
Robinson often tried to learn things about production overseas that he could incorporate in the United States. No matter where he was in the world, he always strived to learn more.
“They took us through Euro Disney, and Jerome learned about how the music cued the cowboys, not the music trying to stay with the cowboys,” Eva said. “They would just catch up if they missed a cue in their productions at Disney to the music. That changed a little bit how he thought about things and production.”
However, that wasn’t the main takeaway of the Paris trip.
A bull went “in-Seine,” you could say, Paul recalled with laughter.
One of the bulls in the back pens broke free and escaped the venue, jumping into the Seine River. It took a series of French police boats to corner the animal as members of Robinson’s crew worked to get the bull back to safety.
“I think there may have been a little too much French champagne going on that night for the crew,” Paul said with laughter.
***
Two-time World Champion J.B. Mauney was getting ready for a rematch against Spitfire in Kansas City, Missouri, 13 years ago when Robinson walked over to him.
“J.B., I think you should slide your rope back a couple inches so he doesn’t pull you down again,” Robinson said.
Robinson was one of the few men Mauney would often talk to after a buckoff or if he needed advice with his riding, but on this winter night, Mauney disagreed.
“No offense, Jerome, but I put my bull rope in the same place on every bull I have been on my entire life,” Mauney said.
1.4 seconds later, Robinson walked back over to Mauney.
“I’ve got a new plan,” Robinson said with a smirk. “Let’s never pick him again.”
Mauney replied with a chuckle, “We will go with that one.”
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The future PBR Ring of Honor inductee spoke fondly of Robinson Monday morning upon learning of the legend’s passing. Mauney had plenty of friends who worked for Robinson, and he was always impressed with how, on many weekends, even in his 70s, Robinson could be found moving panels and getting a venue set up.
“I doubt you could find a 74-year-old man who rode bulls as long as he did and still be in the shape he was in,” Mauney said. “I dang sure won’t be getting around like he is when I’m in my 70s. Jerome Robinson was one of a kind. Some of my really good friends in North Carolina worked for Jerome for I don’t know how many years, setting up back pens and driving trucks. They all say he is not like a boss. They love that guy. That says a lot because most people don’t like their bosses, and every one of them loves him.”
Bobby Dykes knew Robinson for more than 30 years and agreed with Mauney.
“I had nothing but respect for the man,” Dykes said. “Honestly, I could never imagine losing the man. I guess some part of me believed that Jerome would live forever. He expected a lot out of you when you worked for him. Well, when no one else said anything, he always made it a point to say thank you for your hard work. He treated everybody on the crew the same. No one was any better than anyone else. If he told you something, you could darn sure take it to the bank because he always stood behind his word. He was more than a boss; he was a friend. He will definitely be missed by many, and things are just not going to be the same without him.”
Fellow Colorado resident and 2009 World Champion Kody Lostroh was thrilled when he rode former PBR Finals bull MGM Grand in front of Robinson as a young kid. Lostroh was so excited to draw a bull he had once seen on TV, and to ride him in front of a childhood hero such as Robinson was something he never would forget.
“You could write a dang near book about him,” Lostroh said. “He is like a real-life Dos Equis man (The Most Interesting Man in the World). Golly, his presence is super knowledgeable about anything. Whenever you spoke to him, it was like speaking to an old grandfather figure who knew everything about life, and he would give you advice, and it seemed he was always right. I’m sure going to miss that guy. His stories would always draw you in.”
Lostroh and 2016 World Champion Cooper Davis said another role involving Robinson also stood out to them. Robinson was also one of the last men any bull rider would see while competing on the premier series, as he would often be the one to tell a rider it was time for him to ride following a television commercial break.
“Jerome was always one of those iconic guys like Cody Lambert or Ty Murray,” Davis said. “His presence, you felt like you were around something greater than you. When you were in the arena, the thing I remember most is him counting down the time before it was time for me to go. He was just a great guy. I know I will miss seeing him around. I feel like he was the busiest guy in the PBR.”
Eight-time PBR World Finals qualifier Chase Outlaw and 2018 PBR Rookie of the Year Keyshawn Whitehorse are competing in Denver, and both said they would miss the little wink Robinson would often send their way following a qualified ride.
“If he would see you, and I don’t know about everybody, but he would give me a wink,” Outlaw said with a grin. “Like, that was a good job. That is what he loved to do: watch them bull ridings. Knowing he was a legend in what he did, that was a pretty good accomplishment of, ‘Yeah, that was a good job.’”
This past Saturday in New York, Outlaw saw Robinson taking off his headset, unknowingly for the last time. Outlaw went up to Mr. Jerome, as so many people call him, and he said he would ‘see him down the road.’
Robinson snapped his fingers back at Outlaw, flashed a pistol in the air, and gave a nod and a smile.
“I was like man, ‘That is one cool cat right there.’”
***
The PBR will be sharing its plans for honoring Robinson in the coming days. For now, please keep his wife Dorya, daughter Amy, and family in your prayers.
Robinson’s story is never-ending, and he will live on through all of those he has taught, mentored and impacted.
Here is a sampling of just some of the people who have also credited Robinson for impacting them.
"I don't know of any man out there as respected as Jerome is, and that cuts through several generations. He's someone who was willing to lend me kind advice when I was 19 years old and he's still been that for the young guys today. His credentials speak for themselves. He's meant so much to the PBR, but also the entire western world. I know there are tons of people other than myself that hold him up as a real legend and while the sport, and the people will miss him, he truly lived a remarkable life doing the things that he loved the most! We should all celebrate a great man!" - Justin McBride
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“It is hard to put into words the impact that Jerome Robinson had on me. From the very first day I joined PBR's television coverage 11 years ago, Jerome took me under his wing, answering every question I had about the sport and its intricacies. The late hours I would spend with him chatting while he worked on setting the bucking order for the next day’s performance will forever be some of my most cherished memories. I would always tell people that Jerome taught me everything I knew about bull riding, and that is true. But what he gave me was so much more than that. I learned so many lessons about life from watching how he handled things that would come at him. He had a calming effect on me, letting me vent about things and being a sounding board for me. Spending time with him became essential to my well-being. The bottom line is this: Jerome cared. He cared deeply about work, about people, about life. I felt like he was as indestructible as any of us could ever hope to be. Jerome would hate all of this kind of talk about him; I can see him giving me that look now. But the truth is that I am a better version of myself for having had the good fortune of crossing paths with Jerome in my lifetime. I will forever be grateful for that.” –Carlos DeMolina
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“Jerome rodeoed the same time as my dad, and every single time I saw him, he asked how my dad was doing. And my all-time favorite memories of Jerome are all the stories he would share of bulls and riders from him and my dad’s era, and how often they mirrored the ones I heard from my dad growing up. The part of Jerome that truly amazed me, though, was how he not only knew the names and numbers of so many great bulls back in his era, but who rode them, and the score, and where they were at when they rode them. He had a fountain of knowledge in the sport of bull riding that will never be equaled by anyone.” –Royd Doyal
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“There isn’t a person in our industry that I look up to and respect as much as Jerome Robinson. Ever since first meeting him in 1996, I knew that he was the guy that had all the answers that would help me grow my rodeo photography career within the industry. Little did I know that his knowledge and wisdom would also guide me as I started producing events. If I ever had a hangup, I would ask myself, “What would Jerome do?" If I couldn’t come up with an answer, he was just a phone call away. I always knew that if Jerome approved of what I was doing, everyone else would too. The things he has done and accomplishments achieved in every aspect of our Western lifestyle made him a superstar in everyone's eyes, but Jerome always stayed so humble. I’m pretty sure that Jerome has forgotten more about the sport of rodeo than most of us will ever know. Jerome’s legacy lives on through every one of us that he guided into and throughout the sport. He will be greatly missed, but my hope is that he is eternally celebrated.” –Andy Watson
“He was the best. I never saw him mad. He was always laughing and helping people. If he could help you, he would help you. This is my 13th year, and I never saw him face down. I am sad. He was a great part of the PBR.” – Silvano Alves
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“One of my favorite things was to walk up to Jerome with my friend Richard Jones and we would say, 'What buckle you wearing today?' Jerome would get that little smile and tell us all about it. The city, the bull, how many points he was, and who all was there! He knew everything and was willing to teach anyone. Like many, my course changed when I got to work one of Jerome’s events. He was a pioneer, a great friend, and mentor!! He will be missed. There’s an empty spot here, and now Heaven’s events will run better!” –Scott Grover
“I can’t believe we lost Jerome Robinson. The Western sports industry will not be the same without him. What a great man, mentor to so many of us, and such a kind soul. I was lucky enough to be able to learn so much from Jerome. He had so much knowledge and was extremely willing to share it. When he told old rodeo stories, I would sit like a little kid and listen and hope he would just keep going. I heard a lot of them several times, and they just got better. For all of us that got to listen and learn, we are so lucky. He was there for my entire career in Western sports and helped me in every aspect, from announcer to music director to chute boss to event producer. He taught me so much. Even more than that, he was my friend, and I don’t know of anyone who earned or deserved more respect. He had 100% of mine. I’m sure going to miss him.” –Richard Jones
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“Jerome Robinson taught me and countless others so much about production and the sport of rodeo. He was a mentor to us all. Whenever I was at an event with him, I would try to spend time with him to listen to his stories and just take in all I could absorb to learn more. I will miss him dearly. My condolences to his family, friends and fans.” –Casey Duggan
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Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media