Glen McIlvain

By Abe Morris

My Cowboy Hat Still Fits

Glen McIlvain was born in August 1960 in Dallas, Texas. He was exposed and raised in a rodeo family and naturally became attracted to the sport. His father Frank McIlvain, Sr was a professional rodeo clown and bullfighter for several years. His mother’s name is Wanda. His younger brother Chris was a bullfighter who sadly passed away in 1995. Another younger brother Terry has appeared in major motion pictures such as “Platoon” and “Pure Country” with famous country and western singer George Strait.

Older brother Frank McIlvain, Jr at the age of 16 was the youngest person to ever get a PRCA card to fight bulls. Frank, Jr. still works the barrel and does acts on the Senior Pro Rodeo circuit.

The McIlvain family lived in Mesquite, Texas which was the home of the world renowned Mesquite Championship Rodeo that was owned by Neal Gay and Jim Shoulders.

When Glen was about eight years old the family attended a rodeo performance at Mesquite and he tried on a grizzly felt cowboy hat from a traveling vendor. Larry Mahan was one of Glen’s heroes and his family said he looked exactly like Mahan sporting that brand new hat. Not to disappoint his young son, his father Frank purchased the new hat and it became Glen’s new pride and joy. Over the years, he took very good care of that cowboy hat and literally wore it out.

Glen’s first taste of success was when he won the steer riding contest in a local rodeo. After that, riding bulls in professional rodeos became a lifelong dream. The Mesquite Championship rodeo arena was practically in McIlvain’s back yard. That plus the fact that he was surrounded by world class rodeo icons and talent. Pete and Don Gay, Monty “Hawkeye” Henson and Ricky Bolin all lived and grew up in Mesquite, Texas. Glen also got to watch a few of his heroes such as Larry Mahan and Myrtis Dightman on a regular basis. It wasn’t just the rodeo cowboys that intrigued the young McIlvain. He also got to watch some really good bucking bulls such as Sandy Jo who was selected to perform at the National Finals Rodeo.

Jim Shoulders had a rank little bounty bareback horse named Ho Chi Minh. When Glen was nine years old, he became the first to make a qualified ride and collect the $25.00 prize money. The rodeo crowd rewarded Glen by singing “He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.”

When Glen was 15 years old he attended a five day Jim Shoulders rodeo school in Henryetta, Oklahoma. Learning from one of his childhood heroes did a lot to mold his entire future rodeo career.

Rodeo stock contractor Neal Gay periodically would venture to Van Horn, Texas and haul a couple of trailer loads of green bulls to Mesquite. These bulls were real man eaters and not even chute broken. Neal Gay would reach out to “Glenny” as he was called way back in the day and tell him to call all of his buddies to come to the Mesquite rodeo arena and get on some try out bulls. Just like most of the younger kids, Glen was a little nervous about getting on these mean acting bulls, but deep down inside he was more afraid of disappointing his heroes such as Neal Gay and Jim Shoulders.

No matter what the outcome, Glen would gather up his bull rope and go back to the bucking chutes for another ‘crash test dummy’ scenario. A few of the future wanna be bull riders had endured enough and headed to the bleachers to lick their wounds and call it quits for the evening. But young Glen got on bucking bull after bucking bull because he was determined to become a world class professional bull rider.

At the Fort Worth PRCA rodeo in the late 70’s, Neal Gay had asked Glen to mount out a bucking bull that he’d been on a few times in the past. The bull was branded G60 and his name was Killer. The bull was so mean that even rodeo clown Frank Rhoades was a little nervous whenever the bull was in the rodeo arena.

Miles Hare was the bullfighter and knew all about the bull because he had already gained a reputation for hooking the gate man as soon as the chute gate was opened. Miles pulled young Glen aside and convinced him to dismount after a couple of jumps. Glen followed his instructions only later to be asked by Neal Gay, “Don’t ever purposely jump off of one of my bulls again.” Glen mounted out the bull several times at Fort Worth. But he always made a legitimate buck off look a lot more convincing after Neal’s request. McIlvain also mounted out bareback and saddle broncs to make a little extra money.

When he was a teenager McIlvain worked for Neal and his take home pay was only $25.00 a day. But Glen felt like he was gaining far more than that with the knowledge of just being around such an iconic and legendary rodeo legend.

After getting his PRCA permit, Glen quickly found out that it was almost impossible to enter the rodeos in Texas and other nearby states. Back then there was a plethora of rodeo entries and thus the permit holders were drawn out of the better rodeos on a regular basis.

McIlvain opted to enter a Bob Barnes rodeo in Blue Earth, Minnesota. Neal Gay called Bob Barnes and told him that he had a young kid headed his way and asked Bob to look out for and take good care of him. Glen packed his suitcase, caught a Greyhound bus and set out on the rodeo trail. McIlvain also entered the bareback riding a few times just trying to earn a little extra money to fill his permit. In those days a cowboy had to win $1,000 before he could apply to become a full fledged member of the PRCA. The first year on his permit Glen traveled alone, caught buses and even hitch hiked in order to get from one rodeo to the next.

In the summer of 1982, Glen was putting together a very successful season and was in the top 15 bull riders with a legitimate shot to qualify for his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. At the Calgary Stampede, Glen met up with the notorious 12W Bunny who was originally owned and raised by Howard Harris, III from Cowtown Rodeo in New Jersey. Bunny jerked McIlvain down twice and whacked him in the leg on the second collision. As a result of the wreck Glen sustained a hairline fracture in his leg. Like most rodeo cowboys back in that era he never had it checked out and choose to “cowboy up” and continue to compete with the pain.

In March 1983 at the rodeo in Phoenix, Arizona Glen hung a spur in the flank strap and tore some ligaments in his knee. Dr. J. Pat Evans asked McIlvain about the hairline fracture in his leg. Up until that point Glen had no idea of the leg fracture, he just knew it hurt like crazy every time he competed. McIlvain reflected back on his rodeo career and said there was absolutely no other feeling in this universe than being able to ride in the Grand Entry at the WNFR. The electricity and the positive vibes in that building were simply out of this world. Having someone pin that extra heavy weight back WNFR contestant number that kind of pulled your shirt down was truly an exhilarating experience.

Glen McIlvain qualified for the National Finals Rodeo four times and even won the average in the bull riding event in 1984. Overall, winning that WNFR average was the defining moment and the highlight of his entire rodeo career. It boiled down to the 10th go round and he had drawn #105 the two time Bucking Bull of the year owned by Del Hall. Glen made a qualified ride and was scored 91 points. That sealed the deal and the average money and trophy belt buckle were his to take back home to Mesquite, Texas.

Glen gets the credit for putting together one of the first music videos of some classic bull rides and wrecks. He got the idea from watching MTV and parlayed his technological ingenuity. He distributed multiple copies of the VHS tapes and later switched over to digital DVD’s. That original bull riding video still remains very popular and requested amongst the rodeo fans.

During his career Glen McIlvain successfully rode some of the baddest bovines out there. That list included #105 (Del Hall), O18 Cowtown (Bennie Beutler), #124 Flying High/ Shades of Velvet (Bernis Johnson) J9 Fabian (Walt Alsbaugh) and Double Trouble (Jim Shoulders). He also was 7.9 seconds on Mr. T (Pete & Hal Burns) at a Casper, Wyoming Touring Pro rodeo before Marty Staneart successfully rode the bull in July 1989 at Cheyenne Frontier Days.

His successful rodeo career allowed him to travel abroad and visit parts of the world that he had only heard about or seen in geographical books and magazines. Glen was able to participate in rodeo events in Acapulco and Guadalajara, Mexico and also Paris, France.

McIlvain made a lot of friends and accumulated quite a fan base during his rodeo career. He met Chele Mecomber who at the time was selling Chris LeDoux tapes at a rodeo booth. Her father Walt Mecomber, who lived in Aurora, Colorado would let Glen borrow vehicles and often gave McIlvain and his traveling partners rides to and from the Denver airport. During the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo he always stayed at the home of rodeo announcer T.V. Tommy Jones. Max and Janet McCombs from Othello, Washington opened up their home and were very accommodating to several traveling rodeo cowboys over the years. The cowboys stayed with the McCombs during the rodeo in Omak which was well known for the thrilling and heart stopping Suicide Race.

In 2005, he successfully coordinated a big rodeo in Beijing, China. He took on a lot of responsibility in getting about 25 American rodeo cowboys plus finding livestock for the events. He was able to get some big, stout and bronc acting horses from Mongolia. The real impetus for accepting the China venue was because it was going to be a free trip to see that country. But Glen liked it so much that he has gone back and forth to China about forty times or more now. In fact that was where he met his future and current wife Yanling Qi. Glen has a step daughter named Yao who is a registered nurse.

McIlvain also has a son named Boomer and a daughter named Karissa who lives in Kaufman, Texas. Boomer lives at the McIlvain home and ranch in Canton, Texas and takes care of the rodeo livestock whenever Glen is on the road for his job. Glen has raised some notable bucking bulls on his place. These included Panama, Shanghai, and Gigolo. Gigolo is the sire of Chad Berger’s Smooth Operator who was the PBR Bucking Bull of the Year.

Nowadays, Glen has traded in his cowboy hat for a hard hat. He makes his living working for a company named Universal Plant Services. McIlvain says his company is one of the best oil refinery turn around companies in the world. He is an inspector at various oil refineries all over the nation. Chaps, boots and spurs are no longer a part of his outfit anymore. Glen is outfitted with PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) whenever he is on duty. The job environment is very similar to the rodeo arena. It can be a touch and go situation, so everyone has to be on their toes and must pay strict attention at all times.

Glen travels the western United States and can be onsite for various jobs anywhere from three weeks to three months at a time. He has even been stationed in Honolulu, Hawaii. Just like being on the rodeo trail he sees and works with a lot of the same guys on different refinery sites.

He has witnessed a lot of the same camaraderie in this current job that was very prevalent during his days on the rodeo circuit. The company has a safety meeting each morning and that always ends with a prayer. McIlvain always said a little prayer before climbing over the bucking chutes and nodding his head.

In reflection, Glen said he would like to be remembered as a guy who was very approachable and someone who never backed away from a challenge. He was quick to give or even mail his fans autographed photos.

One regret that Glen McIlvain has is that he wasn’t more business like minded during his time on the circuit. He was more of a “wild child” who loved to party and have a good time. For those of us who were able to witness his bull riding career, he will always be remembered as a world class bull rider. McIlvain not only dressed very flashy, but he backed it up by making some very flashy rides during his rodeo and bull riding career.

Photos provided courtesy of Glen McIlvain.