Daredevil ‘Buckskin Jack’ dies

Thursday, Nov. 8, 2001 | 9:17 a.m.

"Buckskin Jack" McElrath, a longtime pro rodeo cowboy and a daredevil who thrilled audiences at county fairs and carnivals by riding a snow shovel through fire, died Sunday in Las Vegas. He was 68.

Services for the Las Vegas resident of 29 years will be 2 p.m. Monday at the Desert Spring United Methodist Church. Palm Mortuary handled the arrangements.

McElrath was a daredevil into his early 60s, performing such stunts as lying on the hood of a car that sped through a wall of fire. He called it "the human battering ram trick." He claims to have set the world record for his "fire slide" stunt at 171 feet at a county fair in Montana in 1992.

McElrath spent most of his life as a rodeo cowboy, retiring from the pro circuit in 1988 at 55.

"He was a blue collar, old-school guy who did what he did because he liked doing it," said Las Vegas publicist and former newspaper reporter George McCabe, who interviewed McElrath in 1992.

"He said his daredevil work was easy compared to riding bulls on the rodeo circuit -- and he was serious about that. He was just a likeable guy who you'd want to go have a beer with. But you'd better not make a bar bet with him, because he would do just about anything."

Born Sept. 14, 1933, in Moville, Iowa, McElrath joined the Professional Rodeo Riders Association at 18 and was a member of that organization until his death.

McElrath was an Air Force veteran of the Korean War.

His one-man-act called "Buckskin Jack McElrath's Thrill Show" was performed at more than 1,000 fairs and other large gatherings over three decades.

In 1990 he was on a bill with Marie Osmond and Paul Revere and the Raiders at the Ozark Empire Fair in Springfield, Mo.

McElrath also appeared in the 1972 Cliff Robertson film "J.W. Coop" and on the television series "Stuntmasters."

McElrath is survived by his sister, Janice Long of Las Vegas.

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