Ike McSwain, played by Travis Fine, was the mute rider who faced a lot of troubles of his own due to his unusual circumstances. However, not having the ability to speak never proved to be a handicap with Ike. He showed the others that he was just as good as they were and that he could face danger as well. After all, he had his share of childhood tragedies like the others, and he overcame them until another tragedy struck.

As a child, Ike was struck with the popular disease of the time, Scarlet Fever, a disease that killed many. If you were lucky to survive it, then you could live your life as usual, but most of the time it left those who survived it without any hair, and this is why Ike never had hair. But he was a survivor and accepted this condition for the rest of his life. The disease also left Ike without the abilty to speak. This caused Ike terrible pain when he watched his family massacred. He was the only one who witnessed it and he was unable to cry out for help. Later in life, it became a nightmare that he had difficulty facing.

Many times his handicap brought him sorrow. He felt out of place and many of the children at the Catholic Mission where he stayed picked on him a lot. Until the day when he met Buck Cross. Ike felt he was a lot like Buck and felt sympathy for him. He knew what it was like to be treated badly due to appearance and ignorance. He was often considered a freak of nature or some kind of phenomenon. Of course, Ike contributed to those thoughts. He usually went around making faces at people to try to scare them. Maybe he did this to keep those people from bothering him. One day while Buck was in a fight with some others boys for being a half-breed, Ike stepped in and helped Buck out, without Buck even realizing it. Ever since then, they were inseparable and they became each others protector.

Although we would have loved to hear Ike's voice, his character had not one single speaking part. However, his inability to speak never stood in the way of Ike communicating with the others. After he became friends with Buck, Buck taught him the Kiowa Indian Sign Language, and if Ike was fortunate to find someone who could sign, then he could communicate with them. But if someone didn't know the sign language, Ike usually got his point across with a quick glare, a brilliant expression on his face, or a mischievous grin.

Even though there wasn't too much for Ike's character to do, he was one of the favorites. He was a good person and he was loved by all of his friends at the Pony Express station. But in all cases, there is an expression that goes along when you encounter a person like Ike: "Only the good die young."

In the third season of "The Young Riders", Ike was killed while protecting the life of the only girl he really loved. Ike fell in love with Emily Metcalfe after she moved to Rock Creek with her alcoholic, gambling father. Emily's father was killed soon and the next day she went after the murderer. When the killer turned his gun on Emily, Ike jumped in front of the bullet, which ended his life. His death affected all of the lives of the riders, but none took it as hard as Buck. Ike was his best friend and brother. He was never the same after this. And not only did it effect the riders, it also affected the viewers. It seemed that the show lost a few viewers after Ike was killed, but in an era where survival was meant for the strongest, it would have been hard to imagine if we didn't lose at least one.

At this point you can't speculate what would have happened to Ike after the show because we lost him before he could have been given a future, but some of us like to imagine that he never died. Despite all of this, Ike was one of a kind that holds a special place in our hearts and in the show. He will always be missed.

As Ike McSwain on ABC's "The Young Riders", Travis Fine played the tragic victim who went through everything from Scarlet Fever, losing his hair, losing his ability to speak, being horse kicked, falling in and out of love, being shot about every third week, then losing his life. But that was Ike McSwain's life, not Travis Fine's.

Travis Fine is one of The Young Riders who has gone on to other projects pretty successfully after the series ended in 1992. Even though Travis left the series early in 1991 when his character was killed, he has had good luck with finding work in Hollywood. He has appeared in several TV movies, miniseries, and made several guest appearances on network shows. Often times, he has had villainous roles, but at least he now has a chance to 'voice' himself.

In "They've Taken Our Children: The Chowchilla Kidnapping" (1993), he played one of the real-life monsters who kidnapped a busload of children and then buried them (alive!). He was a murderer in the mini-series "Cruel Doubt". Then he had the unique opportunity to portray the youngest of two brothers he went to Hollywood High School with, , although he didn't know the boy at the time because they were three years apart in age and had no classes together. The role he played? Killer Erik Menendez in a mini-series called "Menendez: A Killing In Beverly Hills."

Travis Fine was born on May 26, around the year 1969 (he was 20 when the show started.) He is from Atlanta, Georgia, but it isn't clear if he was born there or not. Travis wanted to become a stage actor after seeing his first play, and from the looks of it, he fulfilled that dream.

Travis began his acting career at the tender age of six, appearing in local plays and in small parts in TV movies. When he was 14, he moved to Minneapolis, MN to attend the Children's Theatre School. A year later he moved in with his father in LA (his parents split up when he was six) "to get away from acting, if you can believe it".

For a time he was like any regular guy. He went to high school and the prom. He played football and started college at Pitzer College. A knee injury playing football helped him make up his mind once and for all about acting. He then left college.

It was only a short time after dropping out that he got his chance to audition for a new western series called "The Young Riders". Initially, he read for the part of Cody but he "sounded just like Jed Clampet" (of "The Beverly Hillbillies") and the part went to Stephen Baldwin. But, it's just as well, as he was cast as Ike instead, a role he made truly his own.

On Valentine's Day, 1993, Travis married his wife Jessica, another former classmate with a connection to Erik Menendez (she once dated him in high school!). Travis and his wife have one child.

Since the end of The Young Riders, Travis has still been keeping busy with a few appearances here and there. In 1998, he played Weld in The Thin Red Line and Girl, Interrupted in 1999. Travis appeared in the CBS mini-series, "Shake, Rattle & Roll".

Since 2000, Travis has appeared in We Married Margo, Jack the Dog and Tomcats.

If you are also lucky enough to find a rare gem in an obscure video store, you might want to check out The Others (1997), which Travis wrote and directed.

For more information on Travis Fine, please visit IMDB.com.

Information for this page provided by wCw, Ishani, & Silvia Barlaam.
Pictures provided by Wendy