| Rex Cauble | |
| Birth Name: | Rex Carmack Cauble |
| Occupation: | Banking, ranching, construction, real estate |
| Discipline: | NCHA cutting |
| Birth Place: | Vaughan, Texas |
| Death Place: | Durant, Oklahoma |
| Resting Place: | Sparkman Hillcrest Memorial Park, Dallas, TX |
| Major Wins: | 1964 NCHA Non-Pro World Champion |
| Lifetime Achievements: | Honorary Texas Ranger 1978 American Medical Center Research Center Humanitarian Award, |
| Horses: | Cutter Bill |
Rex Cauble (August 15, 1913—June 23, 2003) was born in Vaughan, Texas to cotton farmers, Lou Butts and Fred C. "Buddy" Cauble.[1] He was a self-made millionaire known for his flamboyance as a Texas-size businessman who struck it rich as a wildcatter.[2] In the 1970s, he founded two high-end retail western wear stores comprising Cutter Bill Western World named after Cauble's world champion cutting horse, Cutter Bill; one store was located in Houston, the other in Dallas.[3]
At age 67, Cauble became infamous when he was indicted under suspicion that he was bankrolling what was "reportedly the largest marijuana smuggling operation in Texas during the '70s."[3] A U.S. Attorney "labeled the dapper 67-year-old Denton, Texas, millionaire a 'general' in the 'Cowboy Mafia' of drug smugglers".[4] Members of the Cowboy Mafia were "caught in the seizure of a shrimp boat carrying 22 tons of high-grade Colombian marijuana to Port Arthur, Texas."[4] Many people who knew Cauble believed his ranch foreman Charles "Muscles" Foster had deceived Cauble and was the real leader of the smuggling operation.[3]
Cauble was indicted on a total of ten counts including three violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute (RICO), three violations of the Travel Act and four counts of misapplication of bank funds.[2] [5] In 1982, the jury convicted him on all counts. The trial judge sentenced Cauble to serve concurrent five-year sentences for each count and ordered forfeiture of his share in Cauble Enterprises.[5] [6] After serving five years, Cauble was released from prison based on a combination of time served and good conduct.[7] Cauble pleaded innocent to the charges[4] and maintained his innocence until the day he died.[7] [8]
Rex Cauble grew up on his parents' cotton farm in Vaughan, Texas. As a young boy, he had his own horse but not one he bred and raised on his own; an aspiration that followed him into adulthood.[9] In the 1930s, Cauble worked as an oilfield roughneck and wildcatter which developed into a lucrative business that eventually made him a multimillionaire.
Rex married Josephine Hughes Sterling in 1952, and adopted her young son Lewis Rex Cauble.[2]
By the 1960s, Cauble owned several ranches where he stood the legendary Quarter Horse stallions Wimpy P-1, Silver King P-183, Hard Twist P-555[10] and Cutter Bill. It was during that time when Cauble first met Charles "Muscles" Foster, a professional rodeo cowboy but a very troubled man who Cauble took under his wing.