Peggy LeDoux speaking at the dedication of the sculpture GOOD RIDE COWBOY. The 2,300 lb. bronze sculpture is of her husband, Chris LeDoux on the bare back bronc Stormy Weather, depicting the ride which won LeDoux the 1976 National Finals Bareback Bronc Championship. The sculpture sits in a beautifully landscaped park in downtown Kaycee, WY. LeDoux passed away in 2005.

GOOD RIDE COWBOY

Chris LeDoux sculpture
dedicated 19 June 2010

Kaycee, WY

D. Michael Thomas, sculptor

photographs coutesy of

Mary Rhoads

Chris's sister-in-law

A beautiful warm day in southern Johnson County, WY. A large crowd gathered to take part in the dedication. Speakers included Peggy LeDoux, Chris's wife, Allen Streeter, the Mayor of Kaycee, Thomas, the sculptor, who created the monument, Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal, and Mark Sissel, LeDoux's friend and road manager.

Vietnam

Sadly four (4) young men from our county lost their lives in Vietnam.
You can read about them @ http://www.virtualwall.org/
click on the state and then on the city.

Chris LeDoux

Chris LeDoux was one WY's favorite sons. As a teenager, Chris loved music and dreamed of being a rodeo champ. He was the Little Britches Rodeo bareback champion in 1964. In 1967, he was the Wyoming State High School bareback champion. He won the National Intercollegiate bareback championship in 1969. And in 1976, he won the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association bareback championship. he retired from rodeo in 1984.

LeDoux recorded his first album in 1971, and went on to sell nearly 6 million records. Chris toured the country with his band, Western Underground. GOLD BUCKLE DREAMS : THE RODEO LIFE OF CHRIS LEDOUX was written by David G. Brown and published in Boston by Quinlan Press in 1986.

Chris married Peggy Rhoads and they and their five children had a home on a ranch just outside Kaycee, WY in southern Johnson County. LeDoux became ill in 2000 and underwent a liver transplant. Chris died March 9. 2005, at a Casper, WY hospital.

In July of 1005 Chris was posthumously inducted into the pro Rodeo hall Of Fame in Colorado Springs, CO. And Wyoming Governor, Dave Freudenthal proclaimed July 30, 2005 as "CHRIS LEDOUX DAY" IN WYOMING. That was the last day of Cheyenne Frontier Days (2005).

On Saturday, June 19, 2010 at 1 PM a monumental sculpture of LeDoux riding a bareback bronc will be unveiled at the Chris LeDoux Memorial park in Kaycee, WY. The sculpture, titled "GOOD RIDE COWBOY" is the work of Johnson County artist, D. Michael Thomas and is approximately 1 and 1/3 life size. There will be bareback and saddle bronc riding events on Friday evening. Saturday there will be additional events, with the unveiling of the sculpture at 3 PM and evening entertainment by WESTERN UNDERGROUND and Chance Williams and the Younger Brothers Band.