Author to pen biography on Hub Hubbell

EAST COUNTY — A longtime rodeo man, East County resident Hub Hubbell misses no opportunity to relive his glory days riding bronc horses, shooting targets off his wife’s head and performing tricks with ropes. And now, even at 93 years old, it seems Hubbell’s glory days are still far from over.

Retired Braden River Elementary School media specialist Judith Leipold is helping to bring those memories — particularly those spent working rodeos — to life for others. Leipold is working on two books based on Hubbell’s life; one is a biography and the other is a children’s tall tale.

“I’m hoping to get (the books) published in about six months,” Leipold says. “It’s about Hub and local cowboys and his friends from out of state. There’s a lot of history on the University (Parkway) area. There used to be a rodeo on the land he owns.”

The longtime Sarasota resident met Hubbell last year during a training session at Rosaire’s Riding Academy for Braden River Elementary’s teachers. Hubbell and owner Kay Rosaire are longtime friends.

“I’ve always known him to be a folk legend of the area,” Leipold says. “Anything western, anything cowboy — it always came back to Hub. I never thought I would ever meet him, but just by coincidence, it will be a year ago this week (we met).”

Leipold began working on the book soon after retiring from education in March.

Hubbell has been busy hunting through old photographs, newspaper clippings and other mementos to aid Leipold’s cause from his home off University Parkway.

HAPPY AS HECK
Hubbell leaves his screened-in back porch and heads for the living room, where he can turn on an overhead fan. He opens the red back door and passes through a sparse laundry room. Three cowboy hats hang from the walls, offering a taste of Hubbell’s passion for all-things cowboy as well as his day-to-day chores, which include caring for his trick pony, Silver, and other tasks.

“I had an interesting life, really,” says Hubbell, who turned 93 Aug. 3. “It’s been a lot of good memories.”

Hubbell steps into his cozy living room and points first to a stack of poster boards, each complete with photos and articles — more than 80 in total — before taking a few steps toward a coffee table and reaching for an old photograph. Everything here is potential fodder for the book, and Hubbell has stayed busy hunting through his old keepsakes and relishing the memories.

He reaches next for a belt buckle he earned at rodeo and smiles as he runs a finger over it. At least a dozen more sit on the table nearby, giving testimony to the stunts he and his wife, Eunice, completed over the years.

Hubbell worked on a farm as a teenager before painting houses for a living with his uncle. But the rodeo, in particular, always drew his interest.

He entered his first “real” rodeo in 1932 and agreed to ride for nothing — or rather for no pay if he did win — just to try it.

“I didn’t have chaps; I didn’t have spurs,” he says. “I rode a horse later that night. I enjoyed it.”

But when World War II started, Hubbell enlisted in the military. While stationed in Georgia, he also worked cattle, cared for horses and also learned skills that would bode well for his future career rodeos.

“I learned to make belts and do trick roping,” Hubbell recalls.

After completing four years of military service, Hubbell again headed back to the rodeo, drawn by the travel, the girls and the excitement, he says.

“And if you win, boy, you are happy as heck,” he says.

‘THE SHOOTING HUBBELLS’
Hubbell, who spent much of his time promoting and announcing rodeos, literally roped his wife at their first meeting and took her out for a piece of pie. Three weeks later, they were married on horseback at a rodeo in Ocala in 1952.

“I was tired of chasing girls,” Hubbell says of why he settled down. “She was real nice — had a nice Southern accent.”

The couple moved north and worked at dude ranches, where they put their rodeo acts together to perform at rodeos and fairs and other venues.

Eunice, a champion barrel racer and trick rider, also had her own dog act and a goat she had trained to push a baby buggy, and she could cut things with a whip, among other tricks. Hubbell became a well-known bronc rider and horse trainer, even training one who appeared in a movie more than 30 years ago. Hubbell also would use his wife as a prop for his own shooting tricks.

“I’d shoot things off her head,” Hubbell says. “We were ‘The Shooting Hubbells.’ It was making a living.”
The couple also sold hats, boots and chaps at a little shop they opened to help cover their living expenses.

“It was nothing fancy,” Hubbell says. “We were open seven days a week.”

Eunice died two years ago in September. She was Hubbell’s one true love and life partner.

“She was like me,” Hubbell says. “She had about an eighth-grade education. She could read. She was a beautiful girl.”

BACK ON THE RANCH
Hubbell grins, thinking about what he most likes about working rodeos, before giving his reason.

“Maybe showing off, I guess,” he says, smiling. “You’re proud of yourself. You like to be seen, heard.”
At his Flying H. Ranch on University Parkway, Hubbell hasn’t slowed much. His front yard is filled with props to practice roping and other tricks, and Hubbell visits them regularly. He says he’s careful, though, because he doesn’t want to distract motorists and cause an accident.

He fell off his horse, breaking his neck, when he was 89 years old, while doing a stunt in his backyard. That horse has since died, but Hubbell still works with Silver regularly. The trick pony counts and paints with a paintbrush, among other tricks.

Sometimes, Hubbell sells the pony’s paintings at events.

“I’ll go crazy if I don’t do something,” Hubbell says. “I enjoy (public relations) work. I like to stay busy.”
Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].