Hometown Honors

Honoring Rodeo Legend Cotton Rosser…

It only seems right that a man with special honors in the ProRodeo Hall of Fame and Museum of the American Cowboy in Colorado Springs, Colo., and three distinctions in the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Okla., should have honors in his own hometown.

Last September, rodeo icon Cotton Rosser of Flying U Rodeo received the distinction of being cast in bronze at one-and-a-quarter life-size and now stands as a grand statue in Marysville’s Washington Square Park. “There’s just something about it that’s just so historic,” says David Read, executive director of Yuba Sutter Arts and Culture. “There’s something grand about this huge metal sculpture that rises up out of the ground in a high traffic area of Marysville.”

Rosser, a producer of professional rodeos and provider of world-class livestock, was a champion of the sport and his hometown of Marysville, a place that helped pick him up in one of his darkest times. “Cotton became known as the one that cared about the people in the seats,” says his wife Karin Rosser. “He never forgot a face. He would always take time to visit with people. Cotton was famous for his opening ceremonies. He was always very patriotic. He was a promoter of the western lifestyle, for sure.”

Born in 1928, Cotton had a promising career in rodeo as a young man when tragedy struck in a ranching accident that left him with severely disfigured legs. He was on track to be a world champion rodeo cowboy and had purchased a ranch in Marysville. While the accident left him in a wheelchair at the time, it did not knock him out of the sport. He judged local rodeos from his chair and then took up an opportunity to provide livestock to the Hollywood production of the Misfits. Along the way, his community held a benefit that allowed him to establish Cotton’s Cowboy Corral, a western wear store in Marysville that provided an income and is still open today.

His stature continued to rise in the sport throughout a long and storied career that ended at age 93 when he died in June 2022. “He was riding until April 2022,” says Karin, noting that “he proved doctors wrong and walked. Unless you knew there was an injury, you wouldn’t know.”

While Rosser didn’t see the installation of his statue, he was involved in its development, and he approved its construction after seeing a maquette developed by artist Jeff Wolf of Spanish Fork, Utah. Taking the creation of the statue from concept to completion was a joint effort of the family, community and Yuba Sutter Arts and Culture under Read’s direction.

The call for artists revealed Jeff Wolf, a former rodeo cowboy who had both his first and final professional rides on Flying U Rodeo stock. “His resume spoke for itself,” says Read. “Phenomenal work. And he speaks fluent rodeo.”

Wolf, now a full-time artist, notes that he grew up idolizing the likes of Cotton Rosser and the Western lifestyle and spent much of his eight-year professional rodeo career competing in rodeos produced by Flying U. He began playing with modeling clay at 5 years old and often came up with models of cowboys and longhorn cattle. “My first sculpture that I had cast was in 1975. I was 17,” he says. “That went on to be the highest-selling bronze at an art show in Prescott, Ariz.”

While he’s seen his share of honors as an artist, he says his highest was hearing from Karin Rosser, “I never thought I’d see Cotton” when she first viewed his maquette. Cotton also saw himself in the piece and approved it going forward for production as a large piece. “You couldn’t get a better compliment than that,” he says.

“If Cotton hadn’t have seen it, I probably wouldn’t have had it finished,” says Karin, noting the large undertaking of creating a large piece of public art.

Still, the large coordinating and fundraising efforts have been worth it in terms of providing an art installation for the community and tribute one of its larger-than-life sons. ”I think the community was yearning for something special and different,” says Read. “I see it every time I go from Marysville to Yuba City,” says Karin.

Wolf, who spoke at the statue reveal in September, describes the day as emotional as well as a reunion of rodeo friends he hadn’t seen in 40 years. “It was just an honor of a lifetime,” he says. “Anytime you can be selected to do an image for a legend like Cotton is like a lifetime opportunity. Cotton was a legend and he still is a legend. He’ll always be a legend.” •