ProRodeo Sports News - June 23, 2022

NOTABLE

“It’s very cool to be the sec ond notable to go into the Hall. I was very shocked. I had no clue that was coming. It’s great that the Hall of Fame is recognizing the women of the sport. Where else would we show our his tory for the GRA/WPRA?” – CINDY ROSSER

PRCA ProRodeo file photo

Cindy Rosser Rodeo secretary named notable

BY JOLEE JORDAN, Special to ProRodeo Sports News I t’s highly likely that Cindy Rosser doesn’t remember a time she wasn’t involved in the rodeo business. The daughter of Linda and the legend, Cotton Rosser of Flying U Rodeo Company in California, Rosser was born into the industry but has left her own mark upon the sport after a lifetime of service. In 2022, Rosser will be inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame under the umbrella of the Women’s Pro Rodeo Association (WPRA) as just the second Notable since WPRAmembers have been allowed inclusion in the Hall. “It’s very cool to be the second notable to go into the Hall,” Rosser said. “I was very shocked. I had no clue that was coming.” That humility comes from a lifetime of keeping her head down and doing the work to improve the business through every avenue available to her. Rosser has been a competitor, rodeo secretary, board member and production coordinator along with her passion project, raising bucking bulls. As a trailblazer, she was the first female member of the Board of Directors of American Bucking Bull Inc. (ABBI).

On the ProRodeo side, Rosser joined the then-GRA in 1969 and spent more than 20 years on the Board of Directors, serving through the early 1980s when the ladies took a stand to get equal purse money for the barrel racers. “I remember those days and getting equal money. I think about what the WPRA breakaway ropers are facing now and how it was back then,” she said. Rosser won the California Circuit as a barrel racer in 1982 and four years later was named the PRCA Secretary of the Year. She secretaried the National Finals Rodeo in 1998 and the RAMNational Circuit Finals Rodeo in 2012. She also spent a decade producing the NFR opening ceremonies and often trained the horses used in the Flying U’s legendary openings. Among her many accolades are the 1995 Coca Cola Woman of the Year, the 2015 Lenora Reimers Heritage Award, the National Cowboy &Western Heritage MuseumHall of Fame’s Tad Lucas Award in 2019, and the 2020 Donita Barnes Contract Personnel Lifetime Achievement Award. Rosser said she’s tickled to be inducted alongside her father, Cotton, making them the first father-daughter duo in the Hall. Cotton was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1995. “It’s great that the Hall of Fame is recognizing the women of the sport,” Rosser said. “Where else would we show our history for the GRA/WPRA?”

ProRodeo Sports News 6/24/2022

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