Trevor Brazile
Trevor Brazile (born November 16, 1976, Amarillo, Texas, U.S.) is an American rodeo cowboy who dominated the sport in the early 21st century. He set records in lifetime earnings, single-season earnings, and greatest winnings at a single rodeo and became the third cowboy to win more than one triple crown.
Brazile’s father, Jimmy, had been a professional rodeo cowboy, and his mother, Glenda, had also competed in rodeos. Under their tutelage, Brazile began riding and roping at an early age. He earned an associate’s degree in arts and sciences from Vernon (Texas) Regional Junior College, which he attended on a rodeo scholarship. He then attended West Texas A&M University in Canyon, but he left before graduation to join the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association in 1996. He first qualified for the NFR—the rodeo season’s final event, in which only the best cowboys compete—in 1998 in team roping, which involves two participants: the header, who ropes the steer’s head, and the heeler, who ropes the legs.
Brazile earned his first all-around title in 2002. He dominated rodeo through his strength in steer roping, team roping (as both header and heeler), and tie-down roping, in which a calf is roped. Such breadth allowed him to surpass other cowboys who tended to be more specialized. He won six more all-around titles (2003–04 and 2006–09) as well as titles in steer roping (2006 and 2007) and tie-down roping (2007 and 2009). In 2003 he became the first to qualify for the NFR in four events: tie-down roping, steer roping, and team roping as header and as heeler. Three years later he set the single-season earnings record by winning more than $329,000.
By winning the all-around, steer-roping, and tie-down roping titles in 2007, he became the first cowboy since 1983 to win the rodeo triple crown. (The previous triple crown winner was his father-in-law, Roy Cooper.) That year he also broke his own single-season earnings record, winning $425,115, and by 2010 he was the highest-earning cowboy in the sport, with more than $3.5 million in lifetime winnings. In 2010 he won a second triple crown with all-around (a record eighth title, surpassing the record of seven titles set by Ty Murray in 1998), team roping (with partner/heeler Patrick Smith), and tie-down roping titles. He was the third cowboy to win more than one triple crown and the first since Jim Shoulders in 1957. He also shattered his previous single-season earnings record in 2010, winning $507,921 (more than $300,000 ahead of second-place cowboy Curtis Cassidy), and the record for most money won at a single rodeo, winning $211,509 at the NFR. In 2011 Brazile won his ninth all-around title. With the victory, his 16th world title, he tied Shoulders for second place in winning world titles in multiple categories. Brazile won his 10th all-around title in 2012.
Brazile won an 11th all-around title and a fourth steer-roping title in 2013. With those victories, his 18th and 19th, he passed Guy Allen to become the cowboy with the most world titles. He duplicated that feat with steer-roping and all-around victories in 2014 and 2015. Brazile did not compete in 2016, and the following year he failed to win any world titles. However, in 2018 he captured his 14th all-around championship, which raised his world titles to 24; both were records. Brazile subsequently retired from full-time competition. However, he won the world title in steer roping in 2019 and 2020.