Cleo was born in Seminole Ok in May of 1939 to Doc and Gertrude Hearn. (Part Indian and part Black) His father graduated from Langston University in Langston Oklahoma. He played semi-pro baseball in the Kansas City organization of the Negro Leagues. Raised by his mother, Cleo attended Douglass High School in Oklahoma City instead of in Seminole due to the segregation there. Even though he lived in the city, horses were ever present in his mind. Not baseball, or football but cowboys. He told me he would walk two miles to ride a horse for 30 minutes. During his high school years, he worked stock, broke broncs and practiced roping. In 1955 at 16 years old he was refused entrance into the rodeo because of his race. Back then the whites decided everything and the blacks usually had to ride after the paying audience had left the arena. It wasn’t guaranteed that you would win the purse even if you had the best time.
After high school graduation, between the ages of 18 to 22 he pursued calf roping with a vengeance. In 1959 he became a PRCA member and rode in most of the rodeos in Texas and Oklahoma. He roped in the Forth Worth Rodeo for the first time in 1961. It was also during this time that he met rodeo announcer Clem McSpadden who would later become an Oklahoma State Senator and a major influence in Cleo’s life.As an early Black Pro Rodeo Cowboy, Cleo cut a striking image on the circuit. He was tall, handsome, and had a vivacious personality. His work ethic and roping ability coupled with his easy going and smooth talking personality made him an ideal candidate for many of his future endeavors. But he was drafted into the army in October of 1961. As fate would have it he would be chosen to become a member of the presidential honor guard in which he served for the next two years. The duties included serving the official functions in Washington D.C. as well as the burials in Arlington Va. On the weekends during 1961-63, Cleo rode in the Army rodeos in Virginia becoming a personality around the area, Black Presidential Honor and Champion Calf Roper. He left active service one month before President John Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas Texas in November of 1963. Upon leaving the military he was offered an opportunity to attend officer candidate school but choose to return to Oklahoma to attend college and pursue the Rodeo.
Cleo attended Oklahoma State University and graduated from Langston University with a business degree. He was the first African American to attend college on a rodeo scholarship. During this time while attending rodeos he attracted the attention of Philip Morris executives who signed him to become the first African American Marlboro Man. After college Cleo joined Ford Motor Co. in Sales and Marketing and worked for them for the next 33 years. He married his wife Verna during this time frame and has four sons all with college degrees through rodeo scholarships. His sons like their father all have professional jobs and all are calf ropers and help in the management of the Cowboys of Color Rodeo. During Cleo long 33 year professional career at Ford he continued to rope and was the first African American to win a major calf roping event in 1970 at the Denver National Rodeo. In 1971 he started producing the Texas Black Rodeo but changed the name to the Cowboys of Color Rodeo in 1995 to be more inclusive to all races for both the audience and the participants.
Cleo received his star on the Texas Trail of Fame in the Fort Worth Stockyards for his life long commitment to the rodeo and cowboy way of life. He also was received the Lane Frost award in February of 2016. The Cowboy Hall of Fame will surely be calling his name in the future. From the phases of Cleo’s life one can discern distinct periods that prepared and paved the way for the next phase. The Army taught discipline, honor, and service. The Rodeo taught him to be a man of action, a decision maker, an athlete. His professional career taught him business, communication, and people skills. All of these attributes can be seen today as his Cowboys of Color rodeo trains the next generation of Black Rodeo athletes for the PRCA and educates the audience about the cowboy life.
Don Russell