Roy Cooper is a Hall-of-Fame cowboy and an eight-time world champion.

He also is “Riding for the Brand” as part of the Tate Branch Auto Group team, and he will carry that brand with him to numerous rodeos throughout the year and as a broadcaster on Ride TV, where he will be broadcasting from Western sports events from across the country.

Born in Hobbs, N.M., and raised on rodeo and ranching, Cooper won his first two Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association title in 1976, finishing that season as the top tie-down roper in the game and the Rookie of the Year. He followed that with five more gold buckles in that discipline and added the most coveted crown in the game in 1983 as the World Champion All-Around Cowboy.

That same season, he won the steer roping title, establishing himself as one of the greatest all-around ropers to have ever played the game, polishing off a Triple Crown season in which he won three titles in a given season. He owns 32 qualifications to the National Finals, most of which came in tie-down roping. In 1981, he also appeared at the NFR, heeling for World Champion H.P. Evetts.

Cooper has been inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame, the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame and the Rodeo Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. He also is the father of three sons: Clint, a five-time NFR qualifier who grew up in Lovington, N.M.; Clif, a four-time NFR qualifier; and Tuf, a seven-time NFR qualifier and a three-time and the reigning world champion tie-down roper. Both Clint and Clif are part of the Tate Branch Auto Group team.

For his promotional work with “Riding for the Brand,” Cooper has received a newly wrapped Ram Truck, courtesy of Tate Branch Auto Group in the New Mexico communities of Hobbs, Artesia and Carlsbad.

“We are extremely excited to have Roy Cooper join our team of cowboys and cowgirls who are ‘Riding for the Brand,’ ” said Joby Houghtaling, the director of operations of the Tate Branch Auto Group. “Roy is a living rodeo legend who will be fun to watch covering rodeos and other events across this great nation of ours on Ride TV.”