Larry Gene Jones of Wagoner died Friday after being thrown from a horse while practicing roping.

Jones, 61, was dead at the scene at a private residence owned by Clay Myers about one mile southeast of Okay, said Wagoner County Sheriff Bob Colbert.

“He loved roping — that was his passion, and he died doing it,” Colbert said.

Friends unsuccessfully tried to resuscitate him — but there was obvious head trauma, Colbert said.

“He died doing what he loved,” said Larry Jones’s uncle and his supervisor at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, Don Jones.

“He was an outstanding guy,” said Keith Deckard, Jones’ fellow ODOT employee and one of his best friends.

Deckard, 46, said he’d been around Jones since he was 10 years old.

“He was like a father to me,” Deckard said. “We went everywhere together.”

Deckard cried as he talked of Jones teaching him more about life and roping than anybody.

“He taught me I had to be my own coach and psychologist,” he said.

A group often met at Myers’ home to practice roping, and Jones died on his first time out Friday, his uncle said.

Witnesses said the horse was acting goofy. Jones lost his balance and the horse threw him, Colbert said.

Don Jones could barely speak two hours after the accident.

He said his nephew had been a professional roper most of his life. The horse Larry Jones was riding Friday was a young horse that just started bucking, Don Jones said.

“Larry was always a professional,” Don Jones said. “He’s won more money than anyone. He was the master — the king of team roping.