Rodeo cowboy Trevor Brazile eyes record-tying 7th all-around rodeo title

Trevor Brazile eyes record-tying 7th rodeo crown

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — To hear Trevor Brazile tell it, the skinny cowboy blends in inconspicuously with the rest of the hard-traveling ropers and riders hustling from rodeo to rodeo at this time of year.

But when the Decatur, Texas, roper and his horse pop out of the chutes in hot pursuit of a steer, lariat circling overhead, the six-time all-around world champion’s signature skills come into focus.

“Luckily I’ve got great partners in my horses that make up for my weaknesses,” Brazile said this week during a break at Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo. “And like I say, I’m a realist and I work hard.”

Thirteen years after joining the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, the 32-year-old is careening through the summer rodeo circuit with his sights on the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo and a chance to become only the second cowboy to ever win seven all-around gold buckles.

Brazile has bagged about $140,000 in prize money so far this year, adding to more than $3 million he’s amassed over his career. He became the first PRCA cowboy to surpass the $3 million mark last season.

“You couldn’t ask for the season to be going any better,” Brazile said. “The season, the horses, the momentum — everything is going the way I want it to go.”

Brazile competes in steer roping, tie-down roping and team roping. As of Monday, he was first in PRCA standings in tie-down roping, seventh in steer roping, and sixth in team roping among headers (the cowboy in the team that ropes the steer’s head).

Those results, which are based on dollar winnings at PRCA-sanctioned rodeos, put Brazile at the top of the all-around standings.

The top 15 finishers in each event qualify for the finals held in November in Oklahoma and December in Las Vegas. If Brazile qualifies in each of his events, he would be tough to beat for the all-around title.

Brazile has won two world titles in steer roping and one in tie-down roping. He’s also won the world all-around title for six of the past seven years. A seventh all-around championship would tie him with Ty Murray of Stephenville, Texas, the rodeo great of the 1990s who appeared on “Dancing With the Stars” this year.

“I’ve always taken world championships one at a time,” Brazile said. “So the world championship that I’m looking at right now happens to be the one that’s finally rolled around that’s going to tie some records. So yeah, I look at it. It’s nice to be here. It’s been a long time coming.”

Brazile’s friends and competitors attribute his success to a dogged work ethic. Walt Garrison, a former PRCA competitor and fullback for the Dallas Cowboys, first met Brazile through his father, Jimmy Brazile, a pro steer roper.

“I don’t know how old Trevor was, he was probably 7 or 8, the first time I ever saw him,” said Garrison of Argyle, Texas. “But he always carried a rope and he was always roping something. It didn’t matter, he was always roping something.”

Garrison, a consultant for U.S. Smokeless Tobacco, one of Trevor Brazile’s sponsors, competed in rodeo during the offseason while he played professional football from 1966-74.

“The rodeo cowboys in the old days, they’d come from one rodeo to the next and they didn’t work on anything,” Garrison said. “They’d just come and rope and they might practice a little bit. But I went up and watched Trevor practice one day, and he works harder at rodeo than I ever did at professional football.”

Rodeo cowboys say it’s tough to be competitive in a single event, more so in multiple.

“Trevor’s a superb athlete and superb cowboy, and he works harder than anybody at it,” said Josh Peek, 29 of Pueblo, Colo., who’s sixth in the PRCA’s all-around standings. “He deserves everything he gets, and it’s tough to compete against him. But I feel that I work just as hard and have a chance. Trevor’s just got the step on me.”

Success hasn’t come without its rewards for Brazile. Besides winning more than $3 million in the arena, he has numerous sponsors including Wrangler and U.S. Smokeless Tobacco. A new sponsor recently provided a motor home for Brazile, his wife and 19-month-old son, making travel between rodeos more comfortable, he said.

“The sponsors have been really good to me,” Brazile said. “I’ll make more outside the arena than I do in.”

Staying in the hunt for the national finals requires a grueling travel schedule for contestants who want to hit as many rodeos as possible to boost their earnings, especially during the summer season.

Over a recent seven-day period, Brazile competed in rodeos in Idaho, California, Wyoming, Utah and South Dakota, traveling by road and charter flight.

“I mean I love the sport and I love the rodeos, but it’s the in-betweens, getting to them, that takes a toll on us and our horses,” Brazile said.

“I think it won’t be too long before I’ll probably be trying to pump the breaks a little bit, slow it down, just because when (my son) starts school I don’t want to miss anything,” Brazile said. “I want to be there and be a daddy, because it’s hard when we’re traveling.”