World’s Toughest Rodeo: How One Cowboy Blazed a Trail for Western Sports is a biography about Steve Gander written by Ted Harbin and produced by W. Brand Publishing. It releases Nov. 11 but can be purchased now at https://books.by/w-brand-publishing/worlds-toughest-rodeo.

 

Harbin pens World’s Toughest Rodeo as a memoir about success

 

When his parents needed help on their small, family farm in northeastern Iowa, Steve Gander was the first one to help.

It comes with being the oldest of seven children raised on the rugged and hilly terrain in that part of the state. There were hogs to feed and crops to manage, and every helping hand was important to the family’s bottom line.

“We were poor, but we didn’t know we were poor,” Gander said in World’s Toughest Rodeo: How One Cowboy Blazed a Trail for Western Sports, a biography about the man and his brand of entertainment from W. Brand Publishing. “Everybody in northeastern Iowa was poor at the time.”

There may not have been much financially, but the rewards were plenty, which is how Gander became one of the most prolific promotors and producers in rodeo history. The biography details how Gander forged his own brand through work ethic and innovation.

The book was written by Ted Harbin, a longtime rodeo journalist and owner of TwisTed Rodeo, a marketing and media-relations business that focuses on rodeo. He collaborated with Gander over the last two years to pen the memoir.

“Steve Gander’s story fascinates me,” said Harbin, one of eight who has been recognized with media award from both of rodeo’s premier sanctioning bodies, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association. “Having spent time with Steve over the last few years, I love hearing his stories about creating World’s Toughest Rodeo and the things he was doing 40 years ago that nobody had even considered.”

Gander was raised in the 1950s and ’60s near the Iowa towns of Waukon and Postville, not far from the Mississippi River, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Faith and family were foremost in the household, but there was work to be done. Whether he was slipping and sliding through the muck of a hog pen or driving the tractor – he first got behind the wheel of the family’s John Deere 50 at age 7 – Gander’s foundation was formed.

It carried him to extraordinary things. He produced hundreds of events, including the return of rodeo to Madison Square Garden in New York City and the Command Performance Rodeo, a special and spectacular event produced specifically for President Ronald Reagan and thousands of other dignitaries in 1983 near Washington, D.C.

World’s Toughest Rodeo featured elaborate openings and closings, and some of the acts were enthralling. In addition to the intense action of rodeo, Gander’s shows featured drama, comedy and instant video replay long before other rodeos ever considered it. It wasn’t just Gander, though, and he pointed that out in the book.

“Much of my success can be attributed to having attracted hardworking, talented people who bought into my production and marketing concepts, and they contributed by making my ideas better,” he said. “Our marketing, production and business plans were revolutionary.”

They were, and it set a standard the rodeo industry has followed. At 75, he remains active, serving on the PRCA board. He and his wife, Peggy, live in Rockwall, Texas, with a move planned soon to Tucson. Arizona.

Originally from western Kansas, Harbin operates his business in Maryville, Missouri. He and his wife, Lynette, have two daughters, Laney and Channing.

“After two decades in newspaper and another two utilizing my journalism skills with TwisTed Rodeo, this book is like a dream come true,” Harbin said. “Steve gave me the opportunity to step outside my comfort zone and create something that will outlive me, much like he did with World’s Toughest Rodeo. This is a work of passion, not only for the sport of rodeo, which Steve and I share, but also for the storytelling that I love so much.

“I have been able to tell some incredible stories in my lifetime. This one might just be my favorite.”