Marysville bronze statue honors local rodeo legend Cotton Rosser
MARYSVILLE — A legend in the Marysville rodeo community has a new bronze statue in the city's Washington Square.
Some people call Cotton Rosser the king of cowboys.
"The hall of fames he's been inducted, the recognition, the accolades that he earned in professional rodeo, but every time people said, 'Who are you? Where are you from,' [he responded with] 'Cotton Rosser, Marysville, California.' He had a sense of pride about this place," said Anthony Lucia, a Texas Rodeo announcer and family friend.
Rosser's life had such a big impact on the community of Marysville and beyond that more than two years after his death in 2022 at the age of 93, a several ton bronze statue of him doing what he loved was unveiled.
"When they unveiled it, I got a little emotional," said Jeff Wolf, sculptor of the statue.
"Then we met jeff wolf. And the great part about jeff's story is that jeff had a tenure career as a professional bull rider and his first ride and his last ride were on flying u livestock," said yuba sutter arts council executive director david read.
The Yuba-Sutter Arts Council started looking for an artist to commission a piece of public art back when Rosser was still alive. It seems like it was meant to be. Wolf knew Rosser four decades ago during his own riding days.
"When we brought the mock head up, we got to spend a couple hours with him and take pictures of all his equipment—his saddle, shack," Wolf said.
Lucia emceed the unveiling to pay homage to the man he's known since he was a little kid. He sad that for more than 90 years, Rosser was a cowboy to the core, but his real love was for people.
"He cared about people whether he just met you or he'd known you his whole life. Cotton always said, 'I may not have made a million dollars in this business, but I made a million friends, so I'm a rich man,' " he said.
The unveiling came at the right moment, just in time to kick off Marysville Stampede Week. The arts council said it expects people from all over the state and country to view this statue and get a glimpse into Cotton Rosser's legacy.