Funeral Services for Harry will commence at 10:00 AM Tuesday, July 3rd, at the Cowboy Church of Erath County in Stephenville.

His visitation will be the night prior, from 6-8 PM at Harrell Memorial Chapel.

Interment at Old Dublin Memorial Park.


Harry Frank Tompkins
1927 – 2018

The rodeo world lost a legend on June 29th, 2018.  ProRodeo Hall of Famer Harry Tompkins, an eight-time world champion – including five bull riding titles (1948-50, '52, '60), one bareback riding title (1952) and two all-around crowns – (1952, '60), passed away in Stephenville, Texas.  He was 90.

Tompkins, a quiet kid from the Peekskill Mountains of upstate New York, who never saw a bull until the day he climbed on one as a representative from the Cimarron Dude Ranch, became one of the best cowboys in the long and storied history of rodeo.
Known for his sense of humor – he was photographed waving to a cameraman while riding a bull in 1949 – Tompkins was a popular champion with fans and his fellow competitors.  A superb athlete and a stylish rider, the 5-foot-8, 150-pound Tompkins possessed exceptional balance and coordination.

He took pride in living a clean-cut lifestyle – no cigarettes or alcohol, and no gambling – but he traveled hard by car and airplane with friends and fellow champions Jim Shoulders, Casey Tibbs and Jack Buschbom, the first group to hit the road with the intensity and dedication characterized by modern-day cowboys.  To quote Harry, "Really, I was always doing it for the fun, and it was fun for years and years. I wouldn't trade it for anything".

Born in 1927, less than 50 Miles north of New York City, in Furnace Woods, NY, Tompkins learned to ride horses while working on a dude ranch, which held rodeos on Sunday to entertain guests.  In 1946, at 19 years old, Tompkins prepared to pull his first bull rope alongside the pros at Madison Square Garden because of a special rodeo promotion where area wranglers – sponsored by the dude ranches which regularly employed them – had a chance to try their luck.  By 1948, he was atop the rodeo world, winning the first of three consecutive bull riding championships.
He married Rosemary Colborn, the daughter of famous stock contractor Everett Colborn, in 1950, and moved to Dublin, Texas.  He had a cattle ranch, a dairy and also designed the portable steel chutes that were used at rodeo in New York, Boston, Dallas and San Angelo, to name a few.  Wrangler made him one of the first cowboys to have a corporate sponsor.  He was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame with the inaugural 1979 class.  He married his current wife, Melba, in 1977.

Tompkins is survived by his wife, Melba and her family, including her son Ronnie McConnell (Sharon), granddaughters Misty Grady (Brad), Mindy Mathis and greatgrandchildren Mikayla and Mason Grady and McKenzie Mathis.

Harry is also survived by his children Martha Jordan (Larry), Mark Tompkins (Laura), Neal Tompkins and his grandchildren Jake Tompkins and Ava Tompkins.

Funeral services will take place July 3 at 10 am (CT) at the Cowboy Church of Erath County at 4945 US Hwy 67, Stephenville, TX  76401.  There will be a celebration of life and visiting on Tuesday before the service from 9 am to 10 am at the church.  Internment will be in the Old Dublin Cemetery.