Travis Calvin Holloway began his career as a professional cowboy in the family's living room near Eagle Butte, South Dakota, where he rode his first bucking horse - his brother Chuck. When Chuck would no longer unseat his younger sibling, their father built T.C. a bucking barrel. The aspiring bronc rider offered his other brothers and sisters a dollar for every hour they would buck him on the contraption. So practiced, T.C. entered his first rodeo at the age of five.

Born to rodeo champ Johnny Holloway and his wife Sharyn on April 4, 1977, T.C. felt the cowboy blood in his veins as a very early age. Not only was his great-uncle Casey Tibbs, a six-time world saddle bronc rider, but his parents staged rodeos for a living, giving T.C. ample chances for practice. As a teenager, T.C. qualified for the National High School Rodeo Finals three times. During his first year of college, he qualified for the College National Finals Rodeo, where he finished third.

His successes landed him in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association in 1997. He took the rodeo world by storm, winning the Saddle Bronc Championship at the Badlands Circuit Finals and the coveted Resistol Saddle Bronc Rookie of the Year award during his first year on the professional circuit. He went on to compete in the National Finals Rodeo in 2000, the same year that he won the saddle bronc event at the Days of '76 Rodeo in Deadwood, where he was a regular contestant.

T.C. was killed on August 28, 2001 in a car accident near Faith, South Dakota. This half life-size bronze, titled Ride High, T.C., Ride High was sculpted by western artist Tony Chytka and is based on several photographs of T.C. riding broncs in rodeos. It was dedicated on May 27, 2005.

The statue is being displayed in Deadwood at the request of the Holloway family, who has special ties with the community. Members of the Holloway family remain regulars at the Days of '76 Rodeo in Deadwood.

For more information, please visit the History and Information Center at 3 Siever St.

Sorry, but we don't have a picture of this historical marker yet. If you have a picture, please share it with us. It's simple to do. 1) Become a member. 2) Adopt this historical marker listing. 3) Upload the picture.

Show me all markers in:  Deadwood, SD  |  Lawrence County  |  57732  |  South Dakota  |  United States of America

Generations of Change
Waite Block Annex
Serving the Black Hills
Deadwood's Carnegie Library
Spanish-American War Memorial
Deadwood City 1876
Deadwood 1876
Deadwood Changing — 1884 1902 and Now
The Fire of 1879
The Great Flood

• GPX
• KML
• LOC

Have you seen this marker? If so, check in and tell us about it.