John D. Holleyman

Steer Wrestler, Team Roper, & All Around Cowboy
“John D.”
1920-2013

Always known as a roper's roper, John D was born on January 7, 1920, in Sipe Springs, Texas.  With the country being in the depths of drought and hard times, the Holleyman family moved many times to different parts of Texas and New Mexico. 

          After graduating from the Mertzon school system, Holleyman worked for the Noelke Estate, and the McElroy Ranch Company and then joined the Army Air Corp.  After serving in World War II, John D went to work for Joe Davidson in Ozona, Texas.  He trained horses and roped for Mr. Davidson for the next four years.  Mr. Davidson is the one who helped him the most with his roping.

          John D started traveling in the fall of 1946 and roped at Madison Square Garden in New York City.  It was there that he and Eva Mae Wilken became better acquainted.  Eva Mae was riding at the rodeo there as a ranch girl doing publicity for the rodeo.  The two became engaged and married on July 9, 1947, in El Paso.  After their marriage, John D continued to rodeo for a living.

          Holleyman won his first money at the West of the Pecos Rodeo in calf roping in 1940 and he quickly developed into a really fast roper.  His speedy roping helped him to place at New York City, Phoenix, Tucson, Denver, Pecos, Las Vegas, Colorado Springs, and many, many other RCA rodeos.  At the West of the Pecos Rodeo, John D won the Steer Wrestling in 1947 and the Team Roping in 1955, 1970, and 1974.  In 1955, he was named the All-Around Cowboy at Pecos.

          Along with being such a competitive roper at rodeos, John D was always the favorite at the many matched roping events he entered.  Of all of those matches Holleyman competed in, the one he remembers the most vividly is the ten-calf match against Toots Mansfield, a fellow 2006 TRHoF Inductee, at Pecos in April of 1949.  On those ten heads of snorty Brahmans, these two great ropers finished in a split-second draw - both ropers had a 155.5 total.

          John D later worked for James Kenney and then partnered with Walton Poage, a fellow 2008 TRHoFInductee.  Poage and Holleyman bought a ranch together out of Corona, New Mexico.  He then bought Poage's half in 1978 and he and Eva Mae continued to live and ranch there.

          The Holleyman’s have three children - Lois Ann Ratliff, Karen Kibbe and Lon Holleyman.  Today, Lon works the ranch and is a partner on the cattle.  John D’s wife, Eva Mae is a fellow 2014 Texas Rodeo Hall of Fame inductee.  John D. Holleyman passed away on May 12, 2013, at the age of 93, at the family ranch in Corona, New Mexico.