10/21/2026
Most people who knew him believed Jim Tescher could have won the saddle bronc world title several times over. He skipped the big paydays to go home and take care of his cattle. “The family and the ranch come first,” he always said.
Jim Tescher was born August 15, 1929, in Beach, North Dakota, one of 15 children of Matt and Antoinette Tescher. He grew up on a stock farm near Sentinel Butte and followed his older brothers Alvin and Tom into the arena at sixteen. He joined the Rodeo Cowboys Association in 1948. In 1949, he entered 19 rodeos and won the ba****ck riding at 14 of them.
Then came the big stage. Tescher qualified for the very first National Finals Rodeo in 1959 and made history as the first saddle bronc average winner. He won the NFR average again in 1963, and in 1964 he finished second in the world standings. He won most of the big ones, including Cheyenne, Madison Square Garden, Calgary, and Pendleton. At Cheyenne Frontier Days, he won the saddle bronc riding in 1957 and 1965 and the all-around in 1957 and 1966. In 1965 he competed in only 13 rodeos, placed at all of them, and still qualified for the National Finals, where he rode every horse and threw every steer.
Then he went home. When cattle prices fell in the 1950s, Tescher used his rodeo winnings to keep the ranch going, but he was never a full-time contestant. He missed many of the big paydays that could have earned him a national title. In 1975, his last year, he entered only seven or eight rodeos and placed at every one.
With his brother Tom, Jim helped establish the Home on the Range Champions’ Ride at Sentinel Butte, a charity matched bronc ride that began in 1957. Jim won it four times, in 1963, 1965, 1966, and 1971. Together with Tom, Duane Howard, Dean Armstrong, Joe Chase, and Alvin Nelson, he was part of what became known as the “North Dakota Six Pack.” Early on, Casey Tibbs told a reporter from Look magazine, “There’s no telling how far those Teschers could go in rodeo.”
Then he served the sport. Tescher judged at the Denver and Fort Worth stock show rodeos and at the National Finals, served two terms as vice president of the RCA, and held a PRCA Gold Card. He was one of the first inductees into the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1998.
Jim Tescher died December 27, 2003, at 74. At his funeral, his horse Bonner was led graveside by Brad Gjermundson, who carried the saddle Tescher had won at Cheyenne Frontier Days in 1966. In 2004, a U.S. senator paid tribute to him on the floor of Congress, calling him one of his heroes. That same year, he was inducted into the National Rodeo Hall of Fame.
A bronc rider who could have won the world and chose the ranch instead. Jim Tescher believed the family and the ranch come first, and the sport remembers him for it.
Jim Tescher 🤠🐴🏆
