A native son of San Benito County is about to get a singular
honor. Later this month, Charles Maggini will be inducted into the
Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Hall of Fame.
Hollister – A native son of San Benito County is about to get a singular honor. Later this month, Charles Maggini will be inducted into the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Hall of Fame.
Maggini passed away in 1982, so his daughter Karen will accept the award for him at the ceremony July 16 in Colorado Springs, Colo. But she says he would probably be embarrassed by the fuss.
“He wouldn’t think he deserved this award,” said Karen Maggini.
Maggini’s grandson Charles agreed, and said the entire Maggini family was proud of their grandfather.
“It’s a great honor for us,” his grandson said. “We’re glad he is being recognized for what he has done.”
Former state Assemblyman Pete Frusetta said that, as far as he knew, Maggini is the only native of San Benito County to be inducted into the PRCA.
Maggini was born in San Benito in 1894. He quickly became a rising star in the rodeo world. In 1929, Maggini became the first PRCA member to hold world titles in more than one event, winning both the team roping and steer roping events.
Family and friends describe Maggini as a real cowboy, unlike today’s professional cowboys who ride in rodeos across the country, appear on television and earn six-figure salaries. Maggini just liked to work, his daughter Karen said.
She tried to follow in her father’s footsteps, but was never as good as he was, although she was crowned Miss Santa Clara by the county’s Cattlemen’s Association in 1975.
“His motto was: Live it up for 99 years, then take it slow,” she said. “He always said he wanted to die with his boots on.”
And he did. The last horse Maggini trained, two years before he died at age 86, went on to win in the reigned horse class at California Rodeo Salinas and Cow Palace.
Maggini wasn’t just a horse trainer, said life-long friend Michael O’Connell of Hollister’s Ranchers Feed, Inc. O’Connell, whose father was good friends with Miggini, said he could perform all ranch chores skillfully.
“He was a real cowboy,” O’Connell said. “He could do it all.”
And unlike modern professionals, Maggini didn’t practice.
“He did it on the ranch for real, to get the job done,” O’Connell said.
Once, when trying to get a stubborn horse into a trailer, Maggini got down on the ground behind the horse to grab its hind legs and the horse kicked just above Maggini’s head and jumped into the trailer, O’Connell said.
“He said to me ‘see, that’s how you do it,'” O’Connell said.
Although Maggini never made much money, he always worked. Maggini used to drive thousands of cattle on epic journeys through several states when he worked for Miller & Lux, a large meatpacking conglomerate started by two San Francisco butchers in 1858.
“He didn’t ever think he had done anything spectacular,” Karen said. “He was just doing his job.”
Maggini liked to get his work done, but he also liked to have fun. His daughter said he once took famous actor Will Rogers to a branding in Oklahoma and chided him for being unable to get his horse to face the right direction. In California the header turns so both horses face the steer.
“He said ‘Will, you need to turn around, that’s a California horse,'” Karen said. “And Will replied ‘Well it’s in Oklahoma now.'”
O’Connell also described Maggini as a jokester. Once when separating cows and calves on his father’s ranch, O’Connell said Maggini encouraged him to work as quickly as possible in order to see if his father could handle the increased traffic. After that incident O’Connell’s father always kept the two separated while working on the ranch, O’Connell said.
“(Charles) liked to test people, but it was always good-natured fun,” O’Connell said. “He was full of hell.”
Maggini loved figure-8 roping and participated for many years in both the San Benito County Saddle Horse Association Rodeo and the Salinas rodeo. In fact, Maggini rode on horseback to the first-ever rodeo in Salinas in 1911. His daughter also said Maggini enjoyed horses, dogs and drinking.
“Everybody always said he loved good whiskey,” she said.
Karen began trying to get her father recognized five years ago, but few paid attention, she said. But in 2003, she succeeded in getting Maggini inducted to the National Cowboy Hall of Fame & Western Heritage Museum. Her success continued this year when her request for her father to be admitted to the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame was granted.
“I wanted my father to be honored and to fulfill my duty to him,” Karen said. “Next week I’ll be on cloud nine.”
