Rodeo legend Sammy Thurman Brackenbury sadly died in December 2024 at the age of 91 in late December. The ProRodeo Hall of Famer recently celebrated her birthday alongside her family. News of her passing was shared by the Women's Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA).
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"We are saddened to read that 1965 World Champion Barrel Racer and 2019 ProRodeo Hall of Fame Inductee Sammy Thurman Brackenbury has passed away. She recently celebrated her 91st birthday on Dec. 11," reads the statement shared by WPRA.
"She lived life to the fullest from chasing mustangs on the deserts of Arizona and Nevada, to a WPRA Barrel Racing World Championship, to roping and falling off horses in the movies Sammy Thurman Brackenbury did it all," the statement continued.
Remembering Sammy Thurman Brackenbury
According to Sports Illustrated, Brackenbury followed the steps of her father, who was a rodeo cowboy. Born in Arizona in 1933, she and her family moved to California when she was only a 5-year-old girl. California allowed her father to continue his rodeo career.
Eventually, the family moved to Nevada, where Brackenbury started her approach to the rodeo life. While riding through the Nevada desert, she was able to ride and then sell Mustang horses. Throughout her teenage years, she continued to ride horses and showed interest in competing. However, there was a lack of opportunities for women in the sport. They were not allowed to carry a contestant card in the Rodeo Cowboys Association (RCA).
It was only until her father's partner in a roping event became unavailable that Sammy Thurman Brackenbury was able to start her career. Thanks to Bill Linderman, president of the RCA at the time, she managed to compete. Brackenbury then became the first woman to rope in an RCA rodeo. She went on to qualify for the National Finals Rodeo 11 consecutive times, according to the WPRA. Moreover, she won the barrel racing world title in 1965.
She would then teach barrel racing for the following decades, educating thousands in the many techniques that, unfortunately, did not have a place to be taught at the time. She also became a stuntwoman in Hollywood back in the '60s. Brackenbury appeared in Horse of the West from the series Disneyland and In Cold Blood, a 1967 film based on the Truman Capote non-fiction book.
