Col. William T. Johnson, the powerful promoter who turned rodeos into a big business, was blindsided by a cowboy walkout minutes before a show at the Boston Garden on Oct. 30, 1936.
At the end of the nineteenth century, the rodeo had not strayed far from its traditional roots in Texas, the Southwest and parts of the West. Most Americans east of the Mississippi had never seen a real rodeo even thoug…
