One of the best tie-down calf ropers ever to come out of South 
Texas, Juan Salinas grew up on a 15,000-acre ranch near Laredo, 
with the finest of horses to ride and hundreds of head of cattle to 
practice on. He roped in Texas rodeos large and small from the 
mid-1920s to 1935. From 1936 to 1946, he followed the national 
rodeo circuit, competing from Texas to New York's Madison 
Square Garden. At the time, few if any other Mexican Americans 
competed in rodeo, and Salinas drew a lot of attention.

    Salinas also operated his family's Texas ranch, where he ran 
cattle and raised prize roping quarter horses. In this account of his 
life and career, Salinas's nephew, Ricardo Palacios, recounts the 
many tales his uncle told him—tales of friendship with Gene 
Autry, going to Sally Rand's wedding reception, riding on the 
Rodeo Train, and sponsoring seven-time world champion tie-down 
calf roper Toots Mansfield. He also narrates life on the range, with 
his uncle riding across a pasture at full speed, gingerly holding the 
reins and a thirty-five foot coil of rope in his left hand while 
swinging the roping loop overhead with his right hand as he chased 
a three-hundred-pound calf for the throw.

    The story of Juan Salinas is also the story of the people of 
Mexican origin who live on the ranches of the South Texas brush 
country. Strong, rugged, independent, and hard-working, they 
knew social and economic success that has all too seldom been 
chronicled.

    Tío Juan was the family cowboy, the hero, the rodeo star, and 
Palacios tells his uncle's story with warmth and admiration. In 
1991 Salinas was inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame of the 
National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. He was also 
named Rancher of the Year by Laredo's Borderfest and won the 
Ranching Heritage Award given by the King Ranch and Texas 
A&M–Kingsville. In 1993, he was inducted into the LULAC 
International Sports Hall of Fame. These were, Palacios writes, 
"fitting tributes to a champion and fine additions to his collection 
of trophy roping saddles, silver trophies, and champion's buckles."

_________________________________________________________

RICARDO D. PALACIOS is an attorney and rancher living in 
Encinal, Texas. This is his first book.


Number Five: Fronteras Series, sponsored by Texas A&M 
International University


What people are saying about this book

"Topics include culinary practices, religious celebrations, ranch 
fencing, snake lore, cattle drives, landmark names, Spanish language 
curiosities, and cowboy humor. . . . touches upon changes in 
ranching in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, crafts, ethnic 
relations, prejudice and discrimination, and family life. . . . This is 
more than a biography—it shows the contribution that genealogy, 
oral traditions, and local history can reveal about the context of 
history."—East Texas Historical Journal, Fall 2007

"Tio Cowboy is more than a story about a nephew's hero, it is about 
the people of Mexican origin who live on the ranches of South Texas. 
Strong, rugged, independent and hard working, their stories have 
seldom been told . . . The book is as much about these people as it 
is about his beloved uncle."—Mexia Daily News, September 2007

“Tío Cowboy is a marvel of a book, and it brings resonance and 
depth to our understanding of the Tejano people, and of the wondrous 
life of Juan Salinas.”—Roundup Magazine, April 2007

"Palacios gives us a glance at the raw, unvarnished life of the South 
Texas cowboy, a direct descendant of the vaquero. And he casts a 
fleeting light on those early professional ropers, almost a fraternal 
order, who made their money with good horses, gutsy one-on-one 
matches and lots of bets on the side."—Art Chapman, Fort Worth 
Star-Telegram

"[Palacios] captures the grit and independent spirit of his subject."
—Jack Jackson, author of Indian Agent: Peter Ellis Bean in 
Mexican Texas