Career
Born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, Tom Ferguson moved to California at the age of 3 and was selected for the California Polytechnic State University rodeo team at age 11. The team took home multiple National Intercollegiate Rodeo championships, before Ferguson turned professional and returned to Miami, Oklahoma in 1973. Though Larry Mahan was the first to have six world all-around titles, Ferguson earned the distrinction of winning six consecutively.
The 5-foot-11 Native American rodeo cowboy excelled in timed events.
His speciality was calf roping and steer wrestling. In his first year as a professional rodeo cowboy, Ferguson came in second in the All-Around World Cowboy title.
He accumulated more than $1 million in his rodeo career and among the first rodeo cowboys to hire a manager.
