Dr. Evans was born August 5, 1930 in Dallas, Texas to James Cook Evans and Johnie Alma Henson Evans. His father was a teller at First National Bank. Dr. Evans was one of two sons of the couple. He grew up in Dallas. After high school, he headed for Whitworth College, a small Presbyterian school in Spokane, Washington on a football scholarship. Whitworth, now known as Whitworth University, has been a member of several athletic conferences over the years, usually competing in a small college division. Various biographical articles note that while at Whitworth, Evans suffered a knee injury which ended his playing career. However this led him to the path he pursued in sports medicine as he remained with the team as athletic trainer.
Upon completing his undergraduate work, Dr. Evans returned to Dallas where he enrolled in a physical therapy school at Grady Vaughn School of Physical Therapy, a part of what was then known as Baylor University Hospital. Upon completing his studies there, he began to work at the hospital as a physical therapist. His supervisors suggested that he should consider becoming a doctor and heeding this advice, he was accepted into University of Texas Southwestern Medical School where he earned his medical degree.
He was married to the former Joan Turnley Dyer on May 24, 1957. She was a few months younger than him. Two children were born to the couple.
Dr. Evans interned at Baylor Medical Center and was offered a staff position. He remained associated with the hospital for over 30 years. He became board certified in orthopedic surgery. His interest in athletics naturally led him to focus on sports medicine. Dr. Evans had a sufficient following that he was able to limit his practice solely to sports medicine. In addition to his medical practice, Dr. Evans joined Dr. Marvin Knight in 1970 as a team physician for the Dallas Cowboys and maintained his association with the club for 19 years. Dr. Knight had served the club since its inception in 1960. Dr. Evans could often be seen on the sidelines during Cowboy games. Dr. Evans became known as the team physician while Dr. Knight remained associated with the team until the mid 1980s. Around 1980, Dr. Evans began his association with the Dallas Mavericks professional basketball club and served as team physician for the next 12 years.
Various accounts mention longtime Cowboy player Walt Garrison and Dr. Evans. They became acquainted because of the Cowboys. Walt, as most people know, enjoyed participating in rodeo events in the off season. Garrison played nine seasons for the club from 1966 to 1974. During his lifetime, Garrison saw and benefited from the development of sports medicine and how it extended to rodeo. Dr. Evans had worked for many years to see this branch of medicine grow. In 1978, after his retirement from pro football, Garrison invited Dr. Evans to attend the Copenhagen/Skoal Super Stars rodeo in Fort Worth. A 1981 article by James Masters in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram three years later recounted the time. Dr. Evans and Don Andrews, an athletic trainer with Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine’s Department of Rehabilitation/Sports Medicine, came together at the rodeo. They observed that at that time there was essentially no organized medical care for the contestants.
After attending the following year and discussing it, the two submitted a proposal to the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association the next August. It did not take the PRCA long to approve it. Their first formal event was the 1980 National Finals Rodeo. Beginning in 1980 Andrews initially began going to more than two dozen of the major rodeos each year, providing on-site care to injured contestants. The article noted that the program was subsidized by Fort Worth’s Justin Boot Company.
Now known as the Justin Sportsmedicine Program, Dr. Evans and Don Andrews are considered to be its founders in 1980. Within a few years, the Justin Mobile Sportsmedicine Program was providing free or low cost medical treatment out of a trailer that was positioned by the various rodeo arenas.
As far back as 1988 the program was studying the various benefits of protective gear such as helmets and facemasks, which had been known to reduce head injuries but due to the added weight on the head might contribute to increased spinal injuries. Some contestants at the time were cautious and had some concern that spectators might be put off by riders wearing protective gear. Others worried about the design such as facemasks that could hang on the horns of a bull. Regardless of any early objections, protective gear has since become commonly used.
A 1991 article in the El Paso Times noted that at that time the program was providing an on-site mobile facility that brought modern technology to some, but not nearly all, arenas. Don Andrews was quoted as saying that the program was fielding three vehicles including a 55 foot long tractor-trailer rig with sophisticated medical equipment but lamented that it could only schedule some 55 rodeos out of an estimated 750 PRCA rodeos each year. Andrews noted that the majority of the cost was still being provided by the Justin Boot Company. He added that they also maintain a crisis fund for severely injured contestants. The article also included a graphic, outlined below, that gave statistics for rodeo injuries.
| Area of injury | Percentage |
| Head | 2.82 |
| Spine and back | 20.84 |
| Shoulder | 10.62 |
| Knee | 14.55 |
| Arm | 17.84 |
| Groin | 9.88 |
| Ankle | 8.22 |
| Lower leg | 3.65 |
| Other | 11.58 |
A year later, an article in the May 13, 1993 issue of the El Paso Herald-Post provided some basic statistics for the program. Over the past ten years, it said, the program had treated 2,240 injuries in 2,000 rodeos. Not surprisingly, the greatest percentage of injuries were sustained by bull riders, at 43%. Also since those initial years, the program has developed a network of physicians and other medical personnel who provide more coverage. It is estimated that by the time Dr. Evans retired in 2000, the program had treated some 100,000 injuries. It was also noted that physicians had donated invaluable medical services to the contestants.
Dr. Evans continued to be involved with sports medicine after his retirement. He passed away at the age of 88 on July 22, 2019 in Dallas, Texas. A memorial service was held early the next month at Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas where he and his wife Joan had been active members. Dr. Evans’ many honors include being inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame (2002) and the ProRodeo Hall of Fame (2004), being named as the founder of Justin Boots’ Cowboy Crisis Fund (1988), and awarded the Jim Shoulders Lifetime Achievement Award by the Professional Bull Riders Association (2018).
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