New Lea County Cowboy Hall of Fame Inductees

Charlie Butler “C.B” Cochran

Charlie Butler “C.B” Cochran was born near Spur at Bells Plains, Callahan County, Texas, to Confederate veteran Levi Thomas Cochran and Sara Rose Proctor Cochran, one of seven children.  He first came through Lea County, NM in 1902 while driving cattle to Queens, NM from Dickens County, TX.  He met and married Stella Pearl Sowell (1886-1979), the niece of Walter Greer, the cattle owner, while on the cattle drive.  The couple married during the cattle drive. At their marriage, C.B. had just turned eighteen years old and Stella was sixteen. Following the drive, the couple lived in the Guadalupe Mountains, making their home in a “dug-out” and had to filter and boil “run-off” rain water for the family.  It was there that they lost the first of two children, Oscar, when the five-year-old wandered away from the house and fell off a cliff.  Following that incident, Stella declared that she was unwilling to raise a family in that area.  The couple remembered driving cattle through the Hobbs area and relocated there, first to Nadine and then to their homestead south of Hobbs in 1909.  In 1916 their then 2-year-old son, Joel Thomas, was out with his mother gathering “prairie firewood” when he was bitten by a rattlesnake and, despite the efforts of several doctors, died from the bite.  

During their 62 years of marriage, C.B. and Stella filed on, proved up and ranched two homesteads, both Southwest of Hobbs.  The first one was located where the Drag Y is on the southwest corner of Hobbs and took up most of two sections.  C.B. received the patent for that ranch in 1914. The next claim he filed, in 1922, also took up parts of two sections and was located about six miles south of Nadine. State Road 18 now goes through where the homestead 

was.  C.B. was a charter member, officer and Vice President of the Open Range Cowboys Association in Lovington.  He attended every reunion of the association from the first organizational meeting in 1938 until his death in 1966.  He was a sheep and cattle rancher for 57 years in the Hobbs area, cowboying and ranching under the Drag Y brand. He raised mostly Hereford Cattle.  As one of the original Hobbs pioneers, the city of Hobbs name Cochran Street in his honor. Family legend has it that C.B. was in Hobbs for the 1928 oil boom where it is known that he purchased the first ice cream freezer sold in Hobbs. He was a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge, the Taylor Street Church of Christ and was proud of his charter membership and association in the Open Range Cowboy Association.  

He and Stella had six children, four of whom survived beyond childhood: Lila (1905-1995); Wayne Ayers (1909-1993); Charldee (1919-2003) and Dee Alto “D.A.” (b. 1927).  D.A. and his wife, Gerry raised their four children in Hobbs.  D.A. and Gerry still live on land near the homestead. C.B. Cochran died at his ranch home on July 7, 1966 after a lengthy illness.  Stella passed on December 22, 1979.  Both are buried in Memory Garden Cemetery in Hobbs.

Herbert Neil Love

Herbert Neil Love was born in Cottonwood, Texas and grew up in Spur Texas, son of boot makers, Herbert and Donnie Lee Love. He admired the cowboys from the surrounding ranches (including the 6666, the Pitchfork, and Matador Ranches) and when they came into the boot shop, he enjoyed listening to their stories. At a very young age, he developed a passion and love of horses and rodeo. His folks knew that Neil was happiest when he was on a horse and they encouraged him to realize his dream.

As a teenager, working in the family business, Neil began tying up ropes to sell and for his own use. He entered junior rodeos and in 1950, at the age of 18, Neil won “All Around Cowboy” at the Southwestern Championship Junior Rodeo in Post, Texas, the first of many titles over a forty-year span. 

His family moved to Lovington, New Mexico in 1953 just as Neil was drafted into the Army. Neil served in Korea, and upon discharge came to make Lovington his home, learning the boot making craft from his parents. He attended Texas Tech University and was a member of the rodeo team. In 1955, Neil and his teammates captured the National Collegiate Rodeo Association title.

He and JoAnn Bryant married in 1959 in Lovington.  A few years before they married Neil joined the Rodeo Cowboys Association and enjoyed a highly successful career on the rodeo circuit, making the National Finals six of the first seven years that they were held. He won such prestigious events as steer wrestling at Cheyenne in 1963 and calf roping at the Cow Palace in San Francisco in 1964. He also won “All Around Cowboy” at the 1968 Lea County Rodeo. 

In 1968 Neil started “Neil Love Ropes.” Neil designed and built a vertical rope twisting machine still in use today at the rope factory. He operated his rope factory for many years and at the same time kept his horses ready to go. He turned to team roping in later years, and always looked forward to saddling up for another roping. After a crippling stroke in 1995, he no longer competed.  He counted among his friends the rodeo legends Jim Shoulders, Clark McEntire and Sonny Davis. 

In 1970 Franklin Daines, a cowboy and western wear owner from Alberta, Canada invited Neil to his home to conduct a roping school. During instruction time Neil would tell about some of his rodeo experiences. He reminded the students often of how commitment and regular practice would allow the accomplished cowboy to “hang out their shingle” someday. The last evening of the school, the students presented Neil with a shingle of his own which read, “Neil Love – Cowboy.”  Neil passed away in August, 2014.  Neil’s wife, JoAnn passed away in 2018.  He and JoAnn are buried in the Grandview cemetery.  He is survived by his daughter Laurie Harris, son Ray Love, and sister Melba Hamby.