Carl Olson was born in a sod shack on a farm just outside of Fir Mountain and went on to conquer the rodeo world.
Olson is the first Canadian-born cowboy to win a World Rodeo Championship in saddle bronc in 1947. Olson earned $8,765.10 for his win ($123,731.77 in 2024 U.S. dollars) at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
Born in 1914 to homesteaders from Norway, Olson’s mother died when he was 15 and Carl took on work breaking horses for neighbours and other ranchers to help support his family. He made a living as a ranch hand during the 1930s and began his rodeo career in 1933. He won the local Wood Mountain Rodeo – the longest continual rodeo in the country – in 1936 when he was 22. Olson began to compete on the circuit in the area, travelling from rodeo to rodeo on horseback. Olson moved to Cardston, Alberta – right on the Canadian border – to find better competition in Alberta and easier travel into the United States in an era where travelling great distances was an ordeal.
Olson won saddle bronc titles at major rodeos in Cheyenne, Wyo., Houston, Tex., and Tulsa, Okla. during the 1940s. In 1948, he won the International Rodeo Association’s saddle bronc title. He had twice been the runner-up at the World Rodeo Championship before finally winning the title in 1947. At the height of his success, he was sponsored by the Great Western Garment Company (GWG) which supplied him with custom chaps with his name stitched into the leather.
One of the things that set Olson apart was the use of newsreels to study some of the stock he might end up riding on. He would adapt the way he rode a horse depending on what he expected it to do. He could make a weaker horse look difficult and make a tough ride look easy. That practice is common today in the judged event, but Olson was among the first to do it.
Olson won the first Canadian Protective Association (now the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association) All-Around Rodeo title in 1945 and earned the All-Around title again in 1948. He was the national saddle bronc champion in 1945, 1946 and 1948. He also won the Canadian steer wrestling title in 1948 making him the first person to win two individual events at a national rodeo championship. In total he won six national titles and may well have won many more had they been there to be won before 1945 when he was 34 years old.
In 1954, he won the Southern Alberta Circuit and retired from full-time competition. He was a regular competitor at the Calgary Stampede in both the saddle bronc and steer wrestling events. In addition to those two events, he also competed in wild horse racing at rodeos across Saskatchewan and Alberta during the 1940s and 1950s.
He was inducted into the Canadian Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1982 and passed away in 1983.
Installed in the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame on September 28, 2024.
