Samuel was born during the Civil War, 1864, in central Texas. His parents were ranchers and they called him "Little Red" because he had a shock of bright red hair, according to magazine and newspaper articles about him supplied by the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum of Oklahoma City, where Red was inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1975. At 13, he was disfigured by an explosion when he and some other boys stuffed a hole in a tree trunk full of gunpowder and lit a fuse in it. When the attempt to create a firework didn't immediately catch fire, the boys went to check on it. It then exploded, killing one of them and riddling Red's face with burns and wood splinter, thus creating the nickname "Booger Red" which he was known by the remainder of his life. Red had already become a proficient horse rider and tamer. His parents died before he turned 15 and he began earning a living at what he already knew from his boyhood on the ranch, breaking horses. His reputation rose and it is said that Red was never thrown from any horse, and as his reputation grew, envious people would bring the orneriest horses they could find to try to upset his record. He married Molly Frances Webb in 1895. In the 1880s and 1890s, he toured with his own Wild West show. His wife and children all had parts in it. Later he was part of the 101 Wild West Show, the largest Wild West show of the era. Historical accounts say Booger Red never found a horse that could throw him. He was sought out by figures such as Buffalo Bill, all of the big circuses and carnivals and large ranch owners of the day. Booger Red performed at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. In 1915, he won the title of best wild horse rider at the San Francisco Panama Exposition. "With fans screaming themselves hoarse, 5-foot-4, bowlegged Booger Red would stick to the back of a bronc like a tick to a longhorn," reads his biography in the Oklahoma City museum. He also offered a cash bounty, some reports say $100 and others $500, to the person who could produce a horse he could not ride. "He never had to pay off," the biography reads. He was reported to be good-natured, even about his disfigured face. He was announced at rodeos this way: "Come see him ride! Booger Red! The ugliest man, dead or alive." Charlsie Poe wrote the book entitled, "World Champion Cowboy - Booger Red." Booger Red's Saloon in the Fort Worth Stock Yards is named after Booger Red. He died on March 1924 of Bright's Disease with his children at his side.

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