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ll-Around
January 2011 Volume 17 • Number 1 $2.00
Brazile Wins Second Triple Crown
PRCA Triple Crown Winner, Trevor Brazile won the Team Roping, Tiedown Roping and All-Around titles.
Story courtesy of PRCA ProRodeo Photos courtesy of Frank West - 4theride.com
Gold Buckles Dreams Are Realized at 52nd Wrangler National Finals Rodeo
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revor Brazile smiled from ear to ear, pumped his fist to the crowd and walked out of the Thomas & Mack Center arena with his second Triple Crown in four years. The Decatur, Texas, cowboy won the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo tie-down roping average and finished second with partner Patrick Smith in the team roping average to secure world titles in both events to go along with his record eighth all-around crown, which he clinched in Round 2. In front of a sold-out crowd of 17,683, Brazile won his first tie-down roping
average and first team roping gold buckle en route to becoming just the third cowboy in PRCA history to become a multiple Triple Crown winner. He joined ProRodeo Hall of Famers Jim Shoulders (1956-58) and Everett Bowman (1935, 1937) with that distinction and became the first contestant in ProRodeo history to earn $500,000 in a single season with his $507,921. “It means so much to me, because I think everything has got so specialized,” said Brazile, who now has a total of 14 world titles. “Nobody shows up and does three events on the same horse anymore, because it’s so competitive. That’s why I work my tail off every year, because of the respect I have for my competition. I don’t take these championships lightly, because I know how tough the field was. I’ve been blessed.” Brazile joined Bowman as the only cowboys to win Triple Crowns with two different event combinations, as his first trifecta came in the all-around, tie-down roping and steer roping four years ago. Brazile pocketed $211,509 at the Wrangler NFR, a PRCA record for the most money won at a single rodeo, and far more than the previous record of $149,099 he set in 2008. Because of those earnings, Brazile won the Wrangler NFR’s all-around title and also earned the inaugural Ram Top Gun Award – which included the keys to a 2011 Ram 3500. Brazile and Smith, the 2005 world champion heeler, won the team roping world championship ahead of Clay Tryan and Travis Graves. They had a 7.5-second run in Round 10 and placed in eight of 10 rounds in Las Vegas on their way to the world titles. Brazile and Smith earned a whopping $120,419 at the Finals to become the first
team ropers to eclipse the $200,000 in season earnings and jump from eighth to first in the PRCA World Standings. Brazile finished with $201,392, with Tryan in second with $184,739. Smith tallied $202,189, while Graves was second with $185,784. “When I won the team roping, that was something they weren’t expecting me to do at all,” said Brazile, who did not lead the heading standings during the season until the end of Round 10. “Then that put even more pressure on me in the calf roping; I’d already done it where they didn’t expect me to, I sure couldn’t screw it up where they thought it was a lay-up.” Their money totals broke the previous team roping single-season earnings record of $189,568 set by Matt Sherwood and Randon Adams in 2008. “What a difference a year makes,” Smith said. “Last year was a humbling experience. We came out here third in the world last year, had a great chance at a title and left here with $2,700. This year, we came out here eighth without really any chance and ended up winning the world title. It was an exciting and fun week, and I’m grateful to be standing here.” Luke Brown and Martin Lucero won the Wrangler NFR average with a 65.5-second 10-head total and climbed to third in the world after finishing as the only team with 10 qualified runs. In the tie-down roping, Brazile finished with $233,827 to claim his third gold buckle in that event in four years (2007, 2009), with his brother-in-law, Tuf Cooper, in second with $203,968. Brazile’s Wrangler NFR average crown came after he won one round and placed in at total of four continued on page 2