Women's Professional Rodeo Association

Last updated
Women's Professional Rodeo Association
Women's Professional Rodeo Association logo.jpg
Sport Rodeo
Founded1948
CountriesFlag of the United States.svg  United States
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia
Most recent
champion(s)		 Flag of the United States.svg Nellie Miller
Official website WPRA.com

The Women's Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) is one of the largest rodeo sanctioning bodies in the world and is open exclusively to women eighteen years of age and older. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the Association currently has over 3,000 members from all over the contiguous United States, Canada, and Australia. [1]

Contents

In 2004, WPRA members competed for nearly $5 million in total prize money at rodeos in the United States and co-sanctioned Canadian Professional Rodeo Association (CPRA) events in Canada.

History

Formed as the Girls Rodeo Association (GRA) in 1948, several of the original members were female ranchers who had been forced to take over family operations as husbands, fathers, and brothers were called to service in World War II.

Though women had played an important role in rodeo's formative years in the mid-to-late nineteenth century, competing and winning against their male counterparts, by the time of the GRA's formation women's role in rodeo had been reduced to beauty pageants, with prizes (instead of prize money) such as cigarette cases. These women were exceptionally competent riders and ropers, whose skills had been honed working the open ranges of the American west, and they found it demeaning to be pushed to the extreme edges of rodeo.

On February 28, 1948, determined to stake their own special place in rodeo, 38 women met in San Angelo, Texas, to form the GRA, with the primary purpose of advancing the position of women in rodeo everywhere. They drafted rules and created a point system for determining year-end champions. Then they went to work, persuading rodeo committees and producers to hold women's contests according to GRA rules. Committees were given the option of choosing which event they would hold, and most picked barrel racing. In its inaugural year, the GRA had 74 members and held 60 events.

In its first year, it paid out $29,000 to contestants. In the beginning, the women were performers in the events of calf roping, bronc riding, and barrel riding. The events and membership grew, and in 1981, the name of the Association was officially changed from the GRA to the WPRA. Their next major goal was to promote equality between the women's barrel race and the other events held at PRCA rodeos by demanding prize money equal to the other men's events. They achieved their goals in 1985, becoming the first professional women's sports organizations to have fiscal equality with their male counterparts. The WPRA is now the "oldest women's sports association in the country and the only one governed entirely by women". [1]

Current events and structure

The WPRA's primary sanctioned event is barrel racing. Contestants on horseback run a cloverleaf pattern around three barrels set in a triangle in the arena. The quickest time determines the winner, with five second penalties assessed for each tipped barrel.

The majority of the WPRA's barrel racing events are held in conjunction with Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) events. Contestants are ranked nationally, based on how much money they earned in competition. The top fifteen contestants at the end of the regular rodeo season are invited to compete at the PRCA’s National Finals Rodeo (NFR), held in December each year to determine the world champion in each event. Barrel racing has been a part of the NFR since 1967.

The WPRA also has an All Women's Division which sanctions rodeos exclusively for women. These All Women's rodeos feature four events - breakaway calf roping, tie-down calf roping, team roping, and barrel racing. Contestants count points earned in competition to qualify for the WPRA World Finals formerly held each autumn at the Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas. Since 2014, the event has taken place at the Extraco Events Center in Waco, Texas.

Since 2019, breakaway roping has been part of some PRCA events, making it along with barrel racing the two women’s rodeo events. The WPRA breakaway roping world championship used to be determined at the WPRA World Finals. However, since 2020, the National Finals Breakaway Roping (NFBR) has been held to determine the WPRA’s world champion breakaway roper. The event is held in conjunction with the PRCA’s National Finals Rodeo.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rodeo</span> Competitive sport

Rodeo is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States, western Canada, and northern Mexico. Today, it is a sporting event that involves horses and other livestock, designed to test the skill and speed of the cowboys and cowgirls. American-style professional rodeos generally comprise the following events: tie-down roping, team roping, steer wrestling, saddle bronc riding, bareback bronc riding, bull riding and barrel racing. The events are divided into two basic categories: the rough stock events and the timed events. Depending on sanctioning organization and region, other events such as breakaway roping, goat tying, and pole bending may also be a part of some rodeos. The "world's first public cowboy contest" was held on July 4, 1883, in Pecos, Texas, between cattle driver Trav Windham and roper Morg Livingston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barrel racing</span> Competitive equestrian rodeo sport

Barrel racing is a rodeo event in which a horse and rider attempt to run a cloverleaf pattern around preset barrels in the fastest time. In collegiate and professional ranks, it is usually a women's event, though both sexes compete at amateur and youth levels. It requires a combination of the horse's athletic ability and the horsemanship skills of a rider in order to safely and successfully maneuver the horse around three barrels placed in a triangle pattern within a large arena.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breakaway roping</span>

Breakaway roping is a variation of calf roping where a calf is roped, but not thrown and tied. It is a rodeo event that features a calf and one mounted rider. The calves are moved one at a time through narrow runs leading to a chute with spring-loaded doors. The horse and rider wait in a box next to the chute that has a spring-loaded rope, known as the barrier, stretched in front. A light rope is fastened from the chute to the calf's neck, releasing once the calf is well away from the chute and releasing the barrier, which is used to ensure that the calf gets a head start. Once the barrier has released, the horse runs out of the box while the roper attempts to throw a lasso around the neck of the calf.

The National Finals Rodeo (NFR) is the premier rodeo event by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). The NFR showcases the talents of the PRCA's top 15 money-winners in the season for each event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association</span> American rodeo organization

The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) is the largest rodeo organization in the world. It sanctions events in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, with members from said countries, as well as others. Its championship event is the National Finals Rodeo (NFR). The PRCA is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ProRodeo Hall of Fame</span> Hall of fame in Colorado Springs, Colorado

The ProRodeo Hall of Fame and Museum of the American Cowboy was opened in August 1979 as a museum designed to "preserve the legacy of the cowboy contests, the heritage and culture of those original competitions, and the champions of the past, present and future." It is located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and only inducts Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and Women's Professional Rodeo Association members. It is the "only museum in the world devoted exclusively to the sport of professional rodeo."

History of rodeo tracks the lineage of modern Western rodeo.

Martha Josey is an American professional rodeo cowgirl who specializes in barrel racing. She has been in active rodeo competition since 1964. She won the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) barrel racing world championship in 1980. She has earned numerous other titles at competitions such as the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) and events sanctioned by the National Barrel Horse Association (NBHA), and WPRA. She also competed in barrel racing as an exhibition event during the 1988 Calgary Olympics, and is the founder and co-owner of the Josey Ranch Barrel Racing Clinic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charmayne James</span> American barrel racer

Charmayne James is an American former professional rodeo cowgirl who specialized in barrel racing. In her career, She won 11 Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) barrel racing world championships, the most in history. She won ten consecutive world championships from 1984 to 1993, and then a final one in 2002. She qualified for the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) 19 times and also won seven NFR barrel racing average titles in 1984, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1993, and 2002. James retired her horse, Gills Bay Boy, nicknamed Scamper, whom she won the bulk of her titles with, in 1993 after winning her tenth world championship. James herself would retire from barrel racing in 2002 after winning her 11th world championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elite Rodeo Athletes</span>

The Elite Rodeo Athletes (ERA) was a professional rodeo organization founded in 2015. Its only season was in 2016, and it ceased operations the following year.

Sherry Cervi, is an American professional cowgirl who has won four world titles in barrel racing. Cervi won the barrel racing title at the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in 1995, 1999, 2010, and 2013. She was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Professional Rodeo Association</span>

The Canadian Professional Rodeo Association (CPRA) is the governing body of professional rodeo in Canada. Its championship event is the Canadian Finals Rodeo (CFR) held every November.

Mary Burger is an American professional rodeo cowgirl who specializes in barrel racing. She has won two Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) barrel racing world championships in 2006 and 2016. Burger was 68 years old when she won the championship in 2016, setting a new record for oldest professional rodeo world champion in any rodeo event, male or female. She broke the existing record set by Ike Rude of 59 years old in steer roping set back in 1953. She also broke the record set by Mary Walker in 2012 at 53 years old. Also In 2016, she became the third WPRA barrel racer to wear the No. 1 back number at the National Finals Rodeo (NFR). She set a new record for season earnings, and she set a new record by becoming the oldest WPRA qualifier to the NFR at 68 years old. Her horses, Mo and Fred, whom she used to win her titles with, she trained in barrel racing herself. In 2017, she was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame.

Mary Walker is a world champion barrel racer. She won the World Barrel Racing Championship in 2012. Despite several traumatic events in the two preceding years, she persevered. She also became the oldest woman, at 53, in rodeo to win a world championship in the barrel racing event at the National Finals Rodeo. She was later surpassed by Mary Burger in 2016 when Burger won at age 68. She lost her only child to a car accident in 2011. Two months later, Latte, her horse, fell on her during competition and severely injured her. It was about a year and a half after these incidents that she won her world title. Walker was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wanda Harper Bush</span> American barrel racer (b. 1931)

Wanda Harper Bush was an American professional rodeo cowgirl. She competed in the Girl's Rodeo Association (GRA), now known as the Women's Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA), and won two barrel racing world championships, in 1952 and 1953. She was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 1978 and the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 2017. The August 2017 induction ceremony was ProRodeo's 38th annual event, and marked the first time in the event's history that the class of inductees included barrel racers from the Women's Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA).

Hailey Kinsel, also formerly known by her married name Hailey Kinsel Lockwood, is a four-time World Barrel Racing Champion. Kinsel won the title in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2022 at the National Finals Rodeo. She has also won the NFR Average title once in 2020. Kinsel and her horses have qualified for the NFR six times in her years in professional rodeo, in 2017 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. Kinsel has been competing in rodeo since adolescence, winning awards through high school and college in both barrel racing and breakaway roping, as well as professional rodeo. Her horse, Sister, won the Barrel Racing Horse of the Year Award in 2018.

Nellie Miller is a World Barrel Racing Champion. She is a professional rodeo barrel racer who won the championship at the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in Las Vegas, Nevada, in December 2017. Her horse, Sister, also won the AQHA/WPRA Barrel Racing Horse of the Year that season

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billie McBride</span> American barrel racer

Billie McBride was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame for barrel racing in 2018. She won the World Barrel Racing Championship title four times.

Lisa Lockhart is an American professional rodeo cowgirl who specializes in barrel racing. In December 2014 and 2016, she won the Average at the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Gail Petska is a two-time American World Barrel Racing Champion. In December 1972 and 1973, she won the championship at the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) at the State Fair Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

References

  1. 1 2 "About Us". Women's Professional Rodeo Association. www.wpra.com. Retrieved November 9, 2018.
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