PRORODEO Sports News - July 2, 2026

RECENT PASSINGS

NFR QUALIFIER, COWBOYS TURTLE ASSOCIATION MEMBER T. BARRETT PORTER PASSES AWAY

BY PRCA STAFF

T. Barrett Porter in action. Photo courtesy of the Porter Family

T . Barrett “T. Berry” Porter of Leesville, La., the state’s first professional rodeo cowboy and a qualifier for the inaugural 1959 National Finals Rodeo in Dallas in tie down roping, passed away June 13. He was 99. In 1959, his lone appearance at the NFR, Porter won Round 8 (11.9 seconds), finished third in Round 7 (14.3 seconds); and fourth in Round 6 (16.8 seconds) and Round 10 (13.3 seconds). He was ninth in the average 174.1-second time on nine head. Porter also was the first rodeo figure to enter the Loui siana Sports Hall of Fame, joining Peyton Manning, Les Miles, five-time Olympic volleyball star Danielle Scott and Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame high school coach Charles Smith, among others, in the LSHOF’s Class of 2019. At the time of his induction, he was the oldest person ever enshrined, and he was the oldest surviving Hall of

Famer when he passed away. Porter, who also was a steer wrestler in addition to com peting in tie-down roping, was inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy and Western Heri tage Museum in Oklahoma City in 2015. At the age of 16, Porter became a member of the first professional cowboy association in the country, the Cowboy Turtle Association, which developed into the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (he held PRCA membership card No. 325). His events were tie-down calf roping and steer wrestling. At 22, Porter won a month-long competition at Madi son Square Garden in New York City to become the 1949 Champion Calf Roper, and he was presented his trophy saddle by “The Singing Cowboy” Gene Autry. He won numerous titles at major rodeos around North America, including the famed Cheyenne Frontier Days

54 PRORODEO SPORTS NEWS DIGITAL MAGAZINE July 2, 2026