It wasn’t always easy, but Cindy and other leaders kept fighting hard for their peers. “Those were trying times,” she said. “Some committees jumped on board and equaled the prize money right away. Then, there were some rodeos we lost for a couple years, but they eventually came back and brought the prize money up. It took us quite a few years, and we went from 50 percent to 75 percent to 100 percent. “The WPRA has come a long way in 74 years, and those ladies in San Angelo would be proud of the sport today.” A family affair
Lucas Memorial Award from the National Cowboy Museum in Oklahoma City and joined her father as a winner of the PRCA’s Donita Barnes Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020. Following their lead Cindy’s passion was fueled by a love for all things rodeo, and she admired the pioneering women who laid the groundwork for the GRA and WPRA.
“The GRA started with a group of ranch women in San Angelo, Texas, in 1948,” she said. “It is the oldest women’s sporting organization in the nation. Where can a 14-year-old girl from Clayton, New Mexico, on a feedlot horse win a record 10 world championships and become the first million-dollar cowgirl? Or the over $3 million cowgirl today, Sherry Cervi, raising and training her horse alongside her honoree dad, Mel Potter. “It’s a sport where grandmothers can compete with girls less than half their age, make the NFR with a chance to win hundreds of thousands of dollars and Mary Burger winning the world championship at the age of 68. Now, that’s pretty cool in an organization.” Cindy’s service to the WPRA as a Board member was at least partly inspired by her desire to seek out equality in the industry. “The 20-plus years I spent on the Board of Directors on the GRA and WPRA were the years we asked committees for 50 percent of the prize money,” she said. “If you can think about it back in the day, barrel racers ran for $50, $100, $200. So, we as the Board asked the committees for half and worked toward equal money for the women.”
Cotton knew his daughter would be joining him in the Hall after the Class of 2022 was announced in mid-April but passed away on June 22 at the age of 93. Cindy was proud to know her legacy will live on forever in the annals of history thanks to her induction. “I’ve been told that my dad and I are the first father-daughter inductees into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame, alongside the mother- daughter [pair] Ellen and Sunni Backstrom,” Cindy said. “Ellen was my mentor in learning how to secretary rodeos. There were no schools back in those days, so it was trial by error.” At the end of her memory-laden, heartfelt speech, Cindy recounted something her father often told her and remembered her late son. “Like my dad said, I have a million dollars’ worth of friends in this business,” she said. “My two angels—my boy, Mikel J., and my dad—are watching down over us today.”
Cindy Rosser and her father, Cotton Rosser, become the first father- daughter duo to be inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. Cotton passed away on June 22, 2022, just a few weeks short of seeing his daughter’s induction. Photo courtesy Cindy Rosser
Cindy Rosser becomes just the second WPRA notable to be inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. Florence Youree was the first. Both ladies have dedicated their lives to carrying out the vision of the 38 women who founded the Girls Rodeo Association, which stands as the oldest women’s sports organization in the world. Photo by Amanda Dilworth
DECEMBER 2021 WPRA NEWS 27 AUGUST 2022 WOMEN’S PRO RODEO NEWS 27
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