When he started swinging a rope at seven years old, being inducted into various halls of fame wasn't what was on a local champion tie-down roper's mind.
"It's not really (something) you think a whole lot about when you're doing it," said Larry Robinson, interviewed in his home on an acreage outside of Innisfail.
Despite it never being an intentional goal, Robinson is to be inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in Red Deer at a banquet in May.
The formal announcement that Robinson, 54, would be inducted as a rodeo athlete came March 1. This will be the second hall of fame Robinson's been inducted into ó he was inducted into the Canadian Professional Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2006.
Those initial swings at his family's acreage near Innisfail ended up leading to a long pro rodeo career that saw Robinson travel all over North America. He won six Canadian tie-down titles and competed in the National Finals Rodeo seven times, including a year where he finished third.
Robinson said he started throwing rope at age seven and started doing it off of a horse at age 12, competing in "Little Britches" rodeos in the area. He moved on to the newly started high school rodeos and made his debut at the Canadian finals at 17.
Robinson won the Canadian title in 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1992 and 1994. He was second in 1983 and 1986 ñ but in 1986 he also won the Calgary Stampede's $50,000 bonus competition held on the last day.
He made the National Finals Rodeo in the U.S. in 1977, 1979, 1981, 1982, 9184, 1985 and 1986. He said 1985 was "the best year that I had" as he was leading the standings most of the year, coming in fourth in the final standings partially due to a penalty for a broken barrier.
Robinson's father Edgar also is a former roper, and the same year Robinson debuted at the Canadian finals as the youngest participant, Edgar was the oldest. Edgar helped get Robinson started on learning how to rope, then Robinson started going to roping schools.
His youthful efforts were helped by the fact that the family had an indoor arena, enabling Robinson to practise year round.
"That gave me the chance to really do it," he said.
Robinson said his rodeo career was something that came about because he enjoyed roping.
"I just did it for the fun," he said.
He stopped roping about eight years ago and stopped running roping schools five years ago, having taught hundreds of ropers over the years.
"I bet that I had close to 1,000 (students)," he said.
Perfecting roping a calf from the back of a moving horse and then tying it down takes a lot of constant practice, Robinson said. "When I was home I would rope every night," he said.
One of the perks for Robinson was travelling and meeting people from around North America.
"That's a good part of it ó you get to go lots of places," he said. "You're gone for 80 per cent of the year."
The majority of Robinson's rodeo time was spent between the ages of 19 and 35. Now he mostly farms out on his family's property.
Roping hasn't left the Robinson family yet though, as his two sons and one of his daughters all have taken up roping.
While getting into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame was an unexpected honour, he said his proudest rodeo achievement came the first time he won the Canadian championship when he was 23. He said he'd been in the finals seven times before when that win finally came.
Robinson will be inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame May 25.
