WILLCOX Cowboy Hall of Fame inductees

Billy Resor (136)
1959-
2024 COWBOY HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE

Billy Resor was born on the edge of Phoenix and attended at Chandler High School. During this early time in his life, he had some choices to make that would that would have a huge impact on his future. It was a choice that most of us here tonight never had to face. As Billy said, “I could have become a gang banger or a cowboy.” Being here tonight we all know what his decision was.

Who knew this kid from Chandler would end up on the Three Links Ranch, one of the largest ranches in Cochise County, located just outside of Willcox, AZ. For Billy, it has been a journey of long hard days, endless hours in the saddle, eating dirt, smelling burnt hair, driving a tractor and literally working in the mud, the blood and the drink of your choice. All this, and he never complained about anything, ever. It is this work ethic that has led Billy from the halls of Chandler High School to this Hall of Fame.

Let’s go back briefly to those earliest days. Billy was born in 1959 to parents that were not ranch or cowboy oriented, but Billy developed a love for horses and cattle anyway. In high school, Billy played basketball and baseball till about his junior year when he found rodeoing. You would have thought he was a team roper, but in those early days Billy rode bulls and bareback horses. He said, “That was all I could afford.”

We can say the best decision Billy made as a young man was not to become a gang banger, but I can say the smartest decision he made in his entire life was in 1979, when he married his high school girlfriend, Laurie Dobson. They were off to run some desert ranches just outside of Florence where they received, processed, and pastured 5000-6000 steers a year. They were there only a few years before they moved to the Three Links Ranch to work for Billys’ father-in-law Jay Dobson.

Those of you who knew Jay Dobson (who was inducted into the Willcox Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2011) you knew he was a no nonsense, work from sun-up till sun-down kind of guy. Jay thought people should work 8 days a week, so working for Jay was not easy, but Billy worked with him side-by-side until Jay died in 2014.

Even though they had their moments, Billy said, “Jay was my best friend.” They had lots of cool things together but they still had their arguments.

Like when Billy suggested they “pull the bulls” so all the calves would be born in a 2–3-month window instead of calving year-round. Or let’s put in miles and miles of pipeline with storage tanks and drinkers. Or can we talk about vaccine protocols. It was Billy’s ideas that brought the Three Links Ranch into the modern era of ranching.

Billy also worked on the Three Links farms down on the San Pedro River. He said, “I liked to run the hay baler. You would be out their all-night baling hay at night. It was peaceful and quiet with no one around.” When the sun came up Jay would be there pick Billy up from the farm and they were off to build fence. Billy could rest later.

Billy also ran a cattle buying business on the Mexico-Arizona border for over 10 years and he has always traded ranch and rope horses

While on the Links, Billy and Laurie had two boys, Tanner and Cody. Their boys learned how to work hard and how to be a cowboy. Some of Billy’s best days were when his family was headed to the junior rodeos.

And now Billy is following the grand kids down that same rodeo trail. What fun!! In fact, Billy said, “The best part of his career was raising our boys on the ranch, teaching them how to work knowing everything was not going to be easy unless you worked hard.”

In 2021, the Three Links sold, but Billy has not left ranching behind, in fact, Billy and Lauire own the Antelope Ranch. Billy has built a place about 8 miles out of town where he can trade his rope horses or buy roping cattle or work on his small F-1 herd. And maybe best of all he can get away to haul his “kids” or go rope himself.

The people that know Billy the best told me:

Billy Resor was the son that Jay Dobson never had.

Billy Resor likes taking his grandkids to the jackpots.

They say Billy never met a stranger and is always the first one to help someone in need.

Billy is always positive and wants everybody to do good.

Billy loves horse sales and loves trading horses.

To Billy, his family is everything.

Billy Resor always puts everyone else first.

Billy Resor is the kind of man that is kind to people when nobody is watching.

(One of the very interesting parts of this story is that some of these very nice comments were in reference to Billy Resor’s actions over 30 years ago.

A kind gesture made 30 years ago was not forgotten.) Pretty Cool.

We as a community of friends and family are most grateful that you, Billy Resor, decided to become a cowboy not a gang banger.

Please welcome Billy Resor into the Willcox Cowboy Hall of Fame.