Bee Ho Gray

Bee Ho Gray (born Emberry Cannon Gray on April 7, 1885 in Leon, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory - August 3, 1951 in Pueblo, Colorado) was a Western performer who spent fifty years displaying his skills in Wild West Shows, vaudeville, circus, silent films and radio. While he was primarily known as an expert at trick roping, he was also skilled with knife throwing, bullwhips (specifically the Australian black snake whip), trick riding and the banjo. He wove all of these skills together in a homely comic routine. Throughout his long career he was constantly compared to Will Rogers, which was befitting, considering the two performers worked together several times and developed their acts together in the early 1900s.

Emberry Cannon Gray was born on April 7, 1885 in Leon, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory, in what is present-day Oklahoma. His family moved to the small town of Cache (near Fort Sill), Indian Territory within two years of his birth. Bee Ho's mother was one-quarter Chickasaw; his father had been a Texas Ranger in the Trinity Division, and later served in the Confederate Army.

Gray grew up among the Apache, Comanche and Kiowa, as Cache was the commercial center of their territories. He and his brothers played with the children of Comanche Chief Quanah Parker, and his parents became good friends with the Parker family. By the time Emberry was five years old, he began going by the name "Bee Ho," a name meaning "Brother of the Cripple" given to him by Chief Quanah, because Bee Ho's brother, “Ho” Emmet Gray, was stricken with polio as a small boy and walked with a crutch for the remainder of his life.

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