In Joe Gaskin's final rodeo ride in Houston, none of his family showed up.
He was scheduled to defend his title in Nacogdoches a week later. Instead, he packed up and ended his career as a bull rider.
This April, Jewett's Gaskin was inducted into the Texas Rodeo Cowboys Hall of Fame. Members of his family came from across the country for the ceremony. It was a good stop on a very long road that has been filled with challenges, triumphs, a treasure chest of memories, a few regrets and even some fear.
Gaskin, who now works in the Boyd Unit for the Texas Criminal Justice System, was born into a rodeo family. His father rode bulls until he was in his late 50s. His uncle was in his 60s before he gave it up.
"My granddad was sort of the original cowboy," Gaskin said. "He worked on a big ranch in West Texas, the Henderson Ranch in San Angelo. I still have his old saddles, his old Winchester and his old Colt .45."
Gaskin didn't wait long to join in the cowboy lifestyle.
"We started riding sheep, me and my sister, when we were 4 or 5 years old," Gaskin said. "We held on to the wool. When I got a little bigger, my dad grabbed a calf and said, 'Get on it.'"
The livestock got a lot bigger over the years, but Gaskin stayed on and became one of the country's top bull riders.
He started riding in the Fort Worth area but also rode in smaller rodeos in Central Texas, like the Teague rodeo. Once he got his International Association permit in 1976, he could no longer compete in amateur rodeos -- a rule that no longer exists. It didn't matter much to Gaskin at the time.
"When I was 18 years old in Lafayette, Louisiana," Gaskin said, "and had won $1,700, I said, 'Man, I'm where I need to be.'"
He thought he was headed for the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association and a championship in 1977 but broke his leg.
Gaskin became the International Professional Rodeo Association world champion in bull riding in 1978. He qualified for the National Finals Rodeo and finished fifth in the world standings in 1981.
Even in the beginning, there was money to be made if you won and were wise enough to save it. There's much more now.
"In the PBR [Pro Bull Riders], they can make about $100,000 in about 40 events," said Gaskin, who estimates he rode in 200 pro events. "Justin McBride retired two years ago at age 28 with over $5 million in earnings, not counting endorsements."
That kind of money was never available in Gaskin's era, but the competition certainly wasn't lacking. Gaskin competed alongside Donnie Gay, a legend in the sport.
"Donnie Gay won eight world titles but could not retire," Gaskin said. "I saw the best bull riders that's ever been, but they didn't make any money. We just loved what we were doing. We were craving those bulls."
Bull riding provides an exhilarating feeling Gaskin admits is hard to describe, but he has a firm grasp on what it took to succeed.
"Riding a bull goes off reaction and reflexes," Gaskin said. "You don't have time to think about things like lift on the rope or reach forward. Everything is about timing and balance. The animal makes a move, and you're making a countermove to stay on the center and back."
Gaskin tore his ACL at a time when the surgery to fix such knee injuries sidelined athletes for much longer than they do today. In fact, he thought the injury had ended his career, but it didn't. He also tore a groin muscle, a common injury for bull riders but one that didn't stop Gaskin.
Cross-country drives were standard fare, with as many as eight in a pickup camper. The timed-event riders could have a horse trailer behind it. In one week, he drove from Louisiana to Chicago to Las Vegas and to Portland, Maine.
Gaskin fondly recalls when a group of guys could afford a hotel room but had to split up the bed.
"You were lucky if you got the box springs," Gaskin laughs.
But it was always worth the miles.
"I think we got hooked on an adrenaline rush as much as anything," said Gaskin, who admits his sport requires overcoming a fear factor. "I don't care if I'm Donnie Gay or Jim Shoulders, if I say I've never been scared, I'm lying. OK, I'll say I was never scared, but I sure was concerned about what might happen."
Gaskin was good at what he did, and he and his fellow bull riders were tough men. Most of the time.
"We were in Canada and I was trying to get to Calgary, and I was hurting and I had checks out," Gaskin said. "You could write checks for cash at those rodeos. I called Mom and said 'Would you put some money in my account?'
"She said 'I thought you were calling to wish me a happy birthday.' Big old tears started rolling down my face."
In the constant effort to get to the next rodeo, Gaskin says he missed plenty along the way, something he regrets.
"I was the Black Hills Stock Show champion I don't know how many times, but I've never seen Mount Rushmore," Gaskin said.
While it tugged hard at his emotions, Gaskin was able to walk away from the sport that he loved.
Not all of his friends and competitors could. He remembers riding at the Fort Worth Stock Show in 1988.
"I beat Lane Frost that day," Gaskin said. "Within a year, Chuck Simonson was paralyzed from the waist down and Lane was dead."
And Gaskin never defended that title in Nacogdoches.
The Hall of Fame induction and 35th annual reunion ceremony was held at Belton's Bell County Expo Center, probably for the last time. The Hall of Fame moved to the Fort Worth Stockyards this summer. If it is the Belton finale, it is one that Gaskin will always remember.
"We had six or eight tables," Gaskin aid. "Every one of my cousins was there. One came from Indiana. People I went to school with were there, all of my employers. It was pretty special."
Belton was a more centralized location for Gaskin's family, and he hates that the Hall of Fame is leaving the city.
But Gaskin has seen a lot of changes and has driven a lot of miles and knows how to roll with the times.
"You get to compete with legends in the sport that you love and actually beat them sometimes," Gaskin said. "It's the greatest feeling in the world."
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