12/30/2025
Sammy Thurman Brackenbury passed away in December 2024 at age 91, just days after her birthday. Tonight at the National Finals Rodeo's Memorial Night, we honor a woman who didn't just compete in rodeo - she helped invent the modern version of it.
Born in 1933 on a ranch near Wikieup, Arizona, Sammy grew up as the only daughter of Sam Fancher, a rodeo cowboy who taught her to ride, rope, and chase wild horses across the desert. When the family moved to California when she was five, her father continued competing to pay the bills. By her early teens, Sammy was match racing and riding her father's bucking horses. But there was a problem: women had almost no events to compete in at rodeos.
Then she heard about something called "barrel racing" happening at rodeos in Texas. She'd never seen it performed, so she started training her roping horses on a barrel pattern, teaching herself through experimentation. When her father helped promote a rodeo near Las Vegas, they added barrel racing. The event exploded across California.
But Sammy considered herself a roper first. At the Santa Maria Rodeo, her father was entered in team roping when his partner didn't show. The Rodeo Cowboys Association didn't allow women to compete, but secretary Bill Linderman made an exception - Sammy could rope with her father. While Sam was a nervous wreck, his daughter handled it like the professional she was. She went on to rope at California Rodeo Salinas, placing second in a round and becoming one of the first women to break rodeo's gender barrier.
From 1960 to 1970, Sammy qualified for the National Finals Rodeo 11 consecutive times. She tied for the average win in 1960, earned Reserve World Champion in 1961, and won the World Championship in 1965. She competed in five go-rounds between 1960 and 1968, consistently ranking in the top five.
But Sammy didn't just compete - she revolutionized the sport. Seeing that no one was teaching barrel racing technique, she became the first to hold barrel racing clinics, educating an average of 1,000 students per year from 1965 to 1975. Her innovations included changing hands between the first and second barrels, designing specialized barrel racing saddles, and creating protective leg boots for horses. Techniques she pioneered are still standard today.
Between rodeo seasons, Sammy worked as a Hollywood stunt woman, falling off horses and performing dangerous stunts for some of the industry's biggest stars. She became a charter member of the United Stuntwomen's Association, adding yet another pioneering credit to her name.
Over her career, Sammy served as California Circuit Director, Event Director, Vice President, and President of the WPRA. She married seven times, raised three daughters and three step-children, and lived every single day at full throttle.
When barrel racing was finally included at the NFR in 1967, Sammy was there to compete in that historic first event. "We were happy to finally be with the rest of the events," she said in a 2018 interview. "All you had to do was listen to the people clap their hands during the barrel race to know it was popular with the crowds."
In 2019, at age 85, Sammy Thurman Brackenbury was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. She lived to see the sport she helped build become one of rodeo's most beloved events, watched thousands of young women follow the path she cleared, and knew she'd left the world better than she found it.
They don't make them like Sammy anymore. She chased mustangs, broke barriers, trained champions, risked her life for Hollywood, and won a world title - all while refusing to let anyone tell her what a woman could or couldn't do.
Rest easy, champion. The arena will never forget you.
~Oddly Fact Club
Who was the first person who showed you that you could break the rules and achieve something "impossible"?
