Cowboy Kid Roy was born in 1954 on a big farm in Anderson, South Carolina. He was raised by his big brother, Leroy Cowan, and has been cowboying all his life. Everyday after school he watched the Lone Ranger at 3 o’clock. At the time, he didn’t know Black cowboys existed, even though being a cowboy was in his blood. As a teenager in South Carolina, he worked cattle on the ranch owned by Merrill Lynch. He moved to New York to work as an operator engineer and began to drift away from his cowboy roots. 10 years later he joined up with the Federation of Black Cowboys after he saw some members in a Harlem parade. His heroes include his big brother, his father, Roy, and Stage Coach Mary, Bill Pickett, and The Lone Ranger.