He has also done commentary for televised rodeo and bull riding events. He also does live announcing at a number of them. Since 2002, Gay has been the general manager of Frontier Rodeo Company, providing livestock to professional rodeos and bull riding events across the United States. Don retired from professional rodeo in 1989.
He qualified for the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) 13 times (1972 to 1982, then 1984 to 1985). The record of eight world titles in bull riding still stands. He won the first of eight world titles in 1974. Don Gay won almost every major rodeo in the country at some point during his career. He soon got his pilot's license and began flying himself to rodeo events in a private plane. Gay got his PRCA permit shortly after graduating from high school and began traveling the rodeo circuit. He used Mesquite to perfect his skills on both bulls and broncs. His father ran the Mesquite Rodeo, which still operates today. Don grew up in Mesquite, Texas, and started rodeo at age six. Neal then married Kay Gay, who raised Don and his brother Pete as her own. He was only a year old when his mother died of leukemia. Don Gay was born on September 18, 1953, in Mesquite, Texas, to Neal Gay and Evelyn 'Cookie' Foster.
