May 2: Mesquite’s Don Gay finds fame as bullrider, rodeo commentator

Published 5:00 am Saturday, May 2, 2020

By Danny Mogle
dmogle@tylerpaper.com

Don Gay 

During one of the greatest rodeo careers, Mesquite native Don Gay was an eight-time Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association world champion bullrider.

On this date in 1997, Gay was featured in the video “Bullriders: Chasing the Dream.” 

After retiring, he was a commentator on televised rodeo competitions and helped produce rodeos. 

His many honors include being inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and ProRodeo Hall of Fame. 

 In the Spotlight



— 2014: Terrell native Jamie Foxx stars as a villain in “The Amazing Spider Man 2.”  He is a guest on “Good Morning America” and “Live! with Kelly!” and appears on “Entertainment Tonight.”

— 1992: Rusk native Caroline Williams has a guest role on “Sisters.”

— 1988: Tyler native Sandy Duncan appears as herself on the TV sitcom “ALF.”

— 1981: Palestine native Gene Watson’s “Between This Time and the Next” peaks at No. 17 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs hart. 

— 1979: At the Academy of Country Music Awards:

  • The Oak Ridge Boys, with Panola County native, Duane Allen, win Album of the Year (“Ya’ll Come Back Saloon”) and Top Vocal Group.
  • Tyler native Johnny Gimble is named country music’s top fiddle player.

— 1972: Gilmer native Johnny Mathis is a guest on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.”

— 1964: “The File” by Cherokee County native Bob Luman, peaks at No. 24 on the Hot Country Songs chart.

— 1961: Whitewright native Guy Wilkerson performs in an episode of “Stagecoach West.”

— 1960: Johnny Horton, who grew up in Rusk, has the No. 6 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart with “Sink the Bismarck.”

— 1968: Anjanette Comer, a native of Navarro County, stars in “Guns for San Sebastian” with Anthony Quinn and Charles Bronson.

— 1949:  Whitewright native Guy Wilkerson appears in “Red Stallion of the Rockies.”

— 1937: Corsicana native Mary Brian and Henry Fonda star in “Spendthrift.”

— 1926: Corsicana native Mary Brian stars in the silent film “Brown of Harvard.”

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