LEGENDARY COWBOY JOHN R SCOTT PASSES AWAY AT 87
LEGENDARY COWBOY JOHN R SCOTT PASSES AWAY AT 87
Feb. 28, 2011
John R. Scott Jr., 87, truly a legendary cowboy, passed away on Tuesday, Feb. 22 in San Angelo, Texas. Funeral Services will be held Tuesday, March 01, 2011, at 10:00 a.m. at Johnson’s Funeral Home Chapel located at 435 W. Beauregard, San Angelo, Texas.
Scott had deep roots in horses, cattle and Texas and all three helped proliferate him into a great cattleman. His great grandfather settled on West Texas land long before it became a state. Fast-forward to the 1920s and it was his father John R. Scott Sr, who, with a stallion named Jazz and 10 broodmares started the bloodline that now includes such great horses as Royal Jazzy, Jazabelle Quixote, Jazzote, Son Ofa Doc, Bob Acre Doc, as well as 2010 NCHA Futurity Open champion One Time Royalty. John R Scott Jr, born Sept. 6, 1923, to Agnes and John R. Scott Sr. was therefore, no doubt born to be a cowboy.
Scott grew up on the Mertzon family ranch, even attending school there. He then attended Texas A&M University until World War II broke out, at which time he joined the Naval Air Corps and served as a bombardier on B24s in the Pacific Theatre. After the war ended, Scott returned to the West Texas ranching life, met June Owens and the couple wed on Aug. 3, 1947.
Besides ranching Scott, an avid roper competed in rodeos. During the late 1940s drought was taking its toll on West Texas ranchers and while competing at the 1948 Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo Scott learned about green grasses in Montana. According to the S Ranches website, after a quick look for himself, Scott returned home where he, his farther and brothers “agreed to partner on three ranches near the Miles City, Mont., area. John then shipped 800 head of cattle and 25 horses from his family’s Texas ranch to the Big Sky country by train, and the foundation of the modern S Ranch was laid. In 2008, the S Ranch celebrated 60 years of ranching in Montana.”
For 40 years Scott managed two cattle ranches near Miles City and Billings while also building an outstanding remuda of Quarter Horses, “At one time, the ranch encompassed 280,000 acres and employed 25 cowboys to tend 10,000 head of cattle.”
In 1969, John Scott and Sons made headlines in the cattle industry when they sold 5,300 head of branded yearlings for $1,135,000. At that time the sale was noted for being the largest sale of cattle owned by one ranch at one time in recent history.
In August 2000, at the Scott Ranch near Billings, Mont., they again made headlines, this time with a dispersal sale of 243 horses, mostly the product of their ranch sires Paddys Irish Whiskey and Doc O Dynamite. Also in that sale were five 2-year-old Peptoboonsmal daughters and three of those, Meradas Boonsmal, Boons Freckle Lena and Freckles Lena Boon, went on to make names for themselves. That dispersal netted $3.5 million.
Scott and his wife, June, returned to Texas in the 1980 and settled on a ranch near Miles Texas. John was honored in 2001 with the Foy Proctor Memorial Cowman’s Award and later was inducted into the Montana Pro Rodeo Hall and Wall of Fame. In 2007 the S Ranch, Pryor, Mont., won the AQHA Best Remuda Award.
Scott is survived by four children: John R. Scott III (Cindy) Maggie Scott Brown, Sissy Croft (Charlie) and Jim Bode Scott (Marcie). He is also survived by10 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
A luncheon will follow the Memorial service. Scott will be buried in Montana beside his wife, June.