Earl Wesley Bascom FRSA (June 19, 1906 – August 28, 1995) was an American-Canadian painter, printmaker, sculptor, cowboy, rodeo performer, inventor, and Hollywood actor.

Raised in Canada, he portrayed in works of fine art his own experiences of cowboying and rodeoing across the American and Canadian West.

[3] His father had been a Uintah County deputy sheriff and later a constable in the town of Naples[4] in northeast Utah, who chased members of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch Gang and other outlaws including Harry "Mad Dog" Tracy.

[30] In 1914, the Bascom family loaded their belongings into a covered wagon, traveled a week to the nearest railroad in Price, Utah, and rode the train to Canada.

Over the following years, the Bascom family lived at Welling Station[31] and ranched along Pot Hole Creek,[32] ran cattle on the open range at New Dayton on the Fort Whoop-up Trail near Deadman Coulee, and Milk River Ridge, and ranched east of Lethbridge on the Old Man River and near Stirling east of Nine Mile Lake.

It was not long before a Canadian Mountie, who was visiting the Hyssop Ranch, thought that one of the cowboys was just too young looking to be a seasoned cowpuncher and bronc peeler.

[citation needed] In 1918, Bascom gained a stepmother and a stepbrother, Frank, when his father married Ada Romeril Dawley.

[35] Charles was a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force, who died a hero during the war having saved two fellow soldiers before losing his own life.

[36][37][38][39] Bascom was known as the Cowboy of Cowboy Artists due to his wide range of western experiences as a professional bronc buster, bull rider, cowpuncher, trail driver, blacksmith, freighter, wolf hunter, wild horse chaser, rodeo champion, cattle rancher, dude wrangler, and Hollywood actor.

Bascom reminisced: I worked for some of the big open-range outfits from Purple Springs to the Sweetgrass Hills and Kicking Horse Creek to the Milk River Ridge and the Canadian Rockies.

He worked on ranches where he chased and gathered horses, cows and even donkeys in Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Texas, Mississippi, Washington, California and western Canada.

He made saddles and stirrups, quirts, chaps, spurs, bridles and bits, ropes and hackamores, and even patched his own boots.

[64] Sam Hickman and Earl Bascom went to New Orleans where they purchased brahma bulls for the rodeo bucking stock.

The Bascom brothers were honored fifty years later for being the "Fathers of Mississippi Rodeo" and given the "Key to the City of Columbia," along with a congratulatory telegram from President Ronald Reagan.

[65] In 2016, Earl Bascom and his brother Weldon were officially recognized by the ProRodeo Hall of Fame as the "Fathers of Brahma Bull Riding.

[71][72] While working for the Nilsson Rafter-E-N Ranch, Bascom happened to read a story in a western magazine about Native American Jim Thorpe, who had excelled in sports and became an Olympic champion.

In 1924, a team of palomino horses from the Bascom Ranch was used by Hoot Gibson in a Roman race in the movie The Calgary Stampede.

When the Roy Rogers Riding Stables operated in Apple Valley, California, managed by Mel Marion and later Billy Bascom,[101] Earl and his son John worked there wrangling horses and driving the hay wagon.

[104] Earl Bascom was a published historian with his writings on cowboy and rodeo history printed in books, magazines and newspapers.

[105] His first-known published writing was in 1926 for the Cardston newspaper, narrating a week-long trek into the Canadian Rocky Mountains that he and his friends took on horseback and pack horse.

[106] Earl also assisted his nephew Billy Bascom in teaching horsemanship, as well as cowboy and rodeo history at the Victor Valley College in Victorville, California.

[107] Bascom became internationally known as a cowboy artist and sculptor[108] with his art being exhibited in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia.

[113] "It was an honor to memorialize Earl Bascom," said Steve Witt, vice-president of European Rodeo Cowboy Association.

"[114] Equestrian historian Kathy Young said, "Earl Bascom was noted for bridging two worlds, that of rodeo competition and western art.

"[116] "As a Canadian rodeo athlete and cowboy artist, Earl Bascom is a national treasure", stated Helena Deng, senior curator of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.

[121] Bascom said of his own art work, "I've tried to portray the West as I knew it – rough and rugged and tough as a boot but with a good heart and honest as the day is long.

"[134] The Guide to the Calgary Stampede published, "With the induction of Earl W. Bascom in 2015, Canada's Sports Hall of Fame welcomed its first Honoured Member known for Rodeo.

"[135][97] In 2016, Bascom and his brother Weldon were the first rodeo cowboys to be given the ProRodeo Hall of Fame Ken Stemler Pioneer Award.

[66] At hall of fame ceremonies, director Kent Sturman declared Earl Bascom to be a "true rodeo pioneer."

Considered the "Father of Modern Rodeo", Bascom gained fame as an actor, artist, inventor, and writer.