In celebration of 75 years of the CNFR, C&I is looking back at where it all began.
In east-central Wyoming, on the North Platte River, sits the city of Casper, a place where the prairie and the mountains meet. This time of year, on a spring day, the Great Plains of this region are dotted with brilliant Indian paintbrush wildflowers, the shallow shelves of the river flush with trout, and a Western meadowlark sings its song atop a fence post. Due south sits Casper Mountain, home to elk, mountain lions, black bears, and one of the country's largest migratory populations of bald eagles.
Beyond Casper's rich ecological story, there is also a rich cultural story. Close to the historical route of the great 19th-century Oregon, California, Mormon, and Pony Express Trails, this region witnessed the immigration of more than 400,000 pioneers.
A more modern pilgrimage is still occurring in this quintessential Western town. The annual College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR), hosted at the Ford Wyoming Center, is a marquee event at which more than 400 cowboys and cowgirls from dozens of colleges and universities come to compete in Casper each year.
Celebrating 75 years of competition (25 of those in Casper), the CNFR is the culmination of the top talent in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA). Officially created in 1949, the NIRA provided an environment in which young adults interested in ranching and agriculture could pursue academics and athletics.
College rodeo athlete Lynn Perry competes in steer wrestling at the 1972 CNFR.
Though cowboy competitions were relatively commonplace by the late 1800s in states such as Colorado and Texas — and Wild West Shows were popular during the turn of the 20th century — the first known college campus rodeo didn’t occur until 1920 at Texas A&M. With the establishment of NIRA in 1949, college rodeo took the first step to be recognized as a full-fledged sport, as opposed to simply entertaining crowds. After World War II, the G.I. Bill provided financial and educational support to an influx of veterans, dramatically increasing school enrollment and interest in college sports.
Hosted in San Fransisco in 1949, the inaugural CNFR was an exciting moment for the progress of the sport of rodeo, but it was missing an integral component: female competitors. In 1949, women were members of the NIRA but not invited to compete in the finals because of social norms of the decade — rodeo was seen as too rough, even though many women had rodeoed earlier in the century and had filled in at family ranches during (and before) World War II. The dissonance wasn’t lost on observers. A humorous quote shared in Sylvia Gann Mahoney’s impressive book, College Rodeo: From Show to Sport, comes from a rodeo columnist of the era: “If one of the cowboys ‘gits bucked off, his gal friend most likely kin jump into the saddle an’show him how it really should have ben did [sic].”
This omission was resolved in the 1950s and 1960s when cowgirls’ persistence and skills were too obvious to disregard, bolstered by a “Girls National Director” added to the administrative staff in the ’60s. Further solidified by Title IX and student interest, female athletes began to have more opportunities in rodeo culture beyond pageants and parades. In 1968, breakaway roping was added to the roster for women's events, followed by team roping in 1977.
The 1972 NIRA Champion Women’s Team poses after their CNFR win.
Ushered in by crossover rodeo-music star Chris Ledoux, who won the 1969 NIRA bareback champion (as well as a world championship), the 1970s and 1980s brought star power and an influx of corporate sponsors to the NIRA. Scholarships came in from sponsors, including U.S. Smokeless Tobacco, Miller Brewing Company, Wrangler Western Wear, and Bailey Hat Company. By 1981, CNFR was financially solvent and had become a multi-day affair consisting of Western art shows, bucking horse sales, award ceremonies, banquets, and parades. (The extensive celebration is still seen today in Wyoming, with a tradeshow, CINCH style show, Casper’s Western Fest, art shows, and more.) By 1989, there were over 25,000 spectators at the CNFR, and the NIRA had 2,300 members across 200 colleges and university campuses.
By the 1990s, NIRA had established a thriving and competitive network of top-notch rodeo athletes while simultaneously encouraging academic excellence. The rodeo events had been finalized to saddle bronc, bareback, bull riding, calf roping, steer wrestling, team roping, barrel racing, breakaway roping, and goat tying — with opportunities for both men and women to compete. The unique nature of athletes being able to compete both on an individual level and a team remained.
From the early days of college teams sharing one or two horses for eight riders to the high-performance mounts and individualized athletes of today, the NIRA serves as a strong example of how resourcefulness can lead to excellence. With a pedigree of top-tier athletes and rodeo legends including Ty Murray, Tuff Hedeman, and Betty Gayle Cooper-Ratliff, among its ranks, the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association has firmly established itself as a highly respected collegiate sports organization in the United States, and the College National Finals Rodeo is its grandest arena.
College rodeo athlete Pat Greany competes in tie-down roping at the 1972 CNFR.
PHOTOGRAPHY: Courtesy National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association Alumni, Inc.
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