Three generations of this long-time Wyoming ranching and rodeo family have been regulars at Cheyenne Frontier Days™. All avid ropers, the family has competed for over fifty years at Cheyenne Frontier Days™ in calf roping, steer roping, team roping, and steer wrestling. Bud Tillard started roping at Cheyenne Frontier Days™ in the mid-1940s and made the short round going in at fourth place at the age of 65 in 1989. His sons continue to compete here with his late son Andy beginning in 1970. Bud’s two other sons Marty and Tim followed in 1974 and have continued to compete every year with Marty winning Steer Roping in 1991. “I taught all the boys to rope,” says Bud Tillard. “We roped calves to start.” Bud built a calf-roping arena below the house and doubled the size to accommodate steer roping. “We roped every night,” recalls Marty Tillard. “Steer roping was my passion because it was available.” Little did he know at the time that Bud was making sure his boys were too tired to drive to town. “He was keeping us off the road,” explains Marty in a 2004 Rocky Mountain News Article. “It was great. We didn’t know any different.” The first of Bud’s grandsons, Casey Tillard, began to compete at Cheyenne in 1997 and was followed in the next year by other grandsons Ty and Troy. In 2004, Troy Tillard brought home another of the Cheyenne Frontier Days™ buckles as Steer Roping Champion. In 2001, T.K. Tillard, the youngest in the family, followed the family tradition, becoming a steer roping competitor at Cheyenne Frontier Days™. When the Tillard family enters a roping event, there are a slew of entries with the same last name. “The whole family steer ropes,” explains Marty. “It’s a bad habit.” As DeDe Merritt wrote on her nomination ballot, “It’s not a Cheyenne Frontier Days™ if there’s no one from ‘Tillardsville’ competing.”