Hub Hubbell was a cowboy's cowboy.
A rodeo star, exhibition shooter and trick roper, Hubbell was the consummate entertainer, who worked with the likes of Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Gene Autry, Montie Montana and dozens more from the golden age of Hollywood Westerns.
Clayton Moore — the Lone Ranger himself — once helped Hubbell install kitchen cabinets.
These Western genre elite were more than just Hubbell's co-stars. They were his friends, said Hubbell's biographer, Judith Leipold.
"He is a legend," Leipold said. "His passing will be mourned by people throughout the nation.
Harold Joseph "Hub" Hubbell, 94, died Saturday on the back porch of his ranch — the property on University Parkway with the roadside rodeo props.
He was preceded in death by his wife Eunice, who died of cancer in 2009.
Ellian Rosaire knew Hubbell for more than 25 years. She owns one of his favorite hangouts, a stable and riding academy in Sarasota.
"He was world famous, the shining star of Sarasota's cowboy scene," Rosaire said. "He was a cowboy gentleman through and through."
"He was devastated by his wife's death," Rosaire said. "They were really in love. They had a wonderful relationship. It has been difficult for him, but he's had plenty of good company."
Hubbell was born in Connecticut and enlisted in the U.S. Army Cavalry Corps in 1942, during World War II.
He was stationed in Georgia, and ended up tending government-owned cattle. He even managed to talk an Army colonel into granting him permission to wear a cowboy hat and western boots.
Hubbell met his wife at a rodeo. The couple were married on horseback in 1952, and moved to Sarasota in 1963.
Known as "The Shooting Hubbells," they toured the country for more than 40 years with an exhibition shooting act.
"He would shoot articles that his wife was holding, and shoot over his shoulder using a mirror," Rosaire said.
Hubbell had uncanny abilities as a horse trainer.
In the 1980s, Hubbell trained Oakie, a 10-year-old quarter horse to play "Mary had a Little Lamb" on a set of sleigh bells mounted to a post.
Oakie would tap the bells with a contraption mounted to his bridle.
Training the horse to play the song was a two-year process, Hubbell told the Herald Tribune for a story published in 1981.
Oakie went on to appear in two made-for-TV movies.
The Rodeo Historical Society Oral History Project recorded and archived an interview with Hubbell, which it makes available to authors, researchers and others interested in rodeo history at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
Hubbell has been the subject of numerous news stories, which have chronicled his bronc busting, trick shooting and knowledge of all things cowboy.
Leipold's biography is not yet complete.
"He left a legacy of a huge amount of friends," she said. "Our project may have started as a book, but it evolved into learning about this tremendous human being. Every time I interview someone for the book, they tell me how much he helped them. He was a tremendous source of positive energy. I never heard him say a bad word about anyone."
Sarasota County fairgoers will remember Hubbell for his authentic 1800s chuck wagon, and for teaching rope tricks to children, Rosaire said.
She'll remember him for his stories.
"He loved talking to people," she said. "He had a world of stories, all real things from the real west."
Rosaire last saw Hubbell Friday.
He waited on her porch for more than an hour, while she was riding bareback, rounding up her stock.
"He got a kick out of it, saying how horse gals didn't need any tack to ride," Rosaire said. "I'm happy that the last time I saw him I made him laugh."
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