A Boot Collector Feature
Slavko Drazic left Yugoslavia in 1974, took the name Shane O'Neil, and built a Texas bootmaking reputation on the feet nobody else could fit.
Shane O'Neil — born Slavko Drazic — immigrated from Yugoslavia in 1974 and settled in Rankin, a small West Texas oil town, where he adopted the name O'Neil and built a bootmaking business on Texas Highway 329. He learned the trade from C.W. Cannon of Dickens, Texas, and at the time of a Texas Monthly feature on the state's bootmakers was training his own son, Shawn, to carry the craft forward into a third name on the family tree.
Boots built specifically for hard-to-fit feet, a specialty that set the shop apart from Texas bootmakers chasing showpiece styling. At the time of the Texas Monthly feature, pairs started around $750 with a turnaround ranging from a few months to a full year depending on the fit involved.
A Yugoslav immigrant's Texas bootmaking name, now training a third generation.
Pairs from smaller, custom, or long-closed makers rarely come up for sale, so this search may not find anything. It’s worth checking back now and then.