A
Letter from our Executive Director
Welcome to the official website of the Miss
Rodeo USA pageant. Our organization has a vibrant history
and a visionary future. Years ago, a group of cowboys
recognized the need to have a beautiful representative
promote the sport of rodeo across the country. Throughout
the years, both rodeo and the pageant have changed, but the
centerpiece of both rests in the desire to share our rodeo
lifestyle with the people of our country. The love of rodeo
is in our blood and it is what keeps us traveling down the
road.
After a recent re-structure of the Miss
Rodeo USA organization, our Executive Board now consists of
over 100 years' combined experience working with the Miss
Rodeo USA organization and the International Pro Rodeo
Association. This group of men and women are dedicated to
using this combined experience to grow the National Pageant
and the organization in years to come.
Miss Rodeo USA is unique in that you do not
have to win a state title to participate in our National
Pageant. You may represent organizations such as a local or
state rodeo, a rodeo sponsor, a stock contractor, a county
fair, or any similar organization. For instance, I
represented the David Bailey Rodeo Company the first year
that I entered, and I represented Rockin' K Rodeo Company
the year that I won the title. The experience I gained from
working with stock contractors like these, along with Wendel
Ratchford and the Wildhorse Rodeo Company, gave me a deep
respect for the backbone (the four C's) of the IPRA: its'
cowboys, cowgirls, contractors, and committees. I would
encourage any young lady wanting to participate in our
National Pageant to spend some time really getting to know
the people you desire to represent. It will change you
entire perspective on the life and obligations of Miss Rodeo
USA.
Miss Rodeo USA, like the IPRA, is blessed
with a wonderful range of sponsors. I encourage you to take
the time to look at our sponsor page and then visit the
websites and stores that carry the products of our sponsors.
Many of these sponsors have products that may help you in
your preparation for the National Pageant.
To the stock contractors and rodeo
committees across the country that have opened their
communities to Miss Rodeo USA, I say thank you. Your
decision to invite Miss Rodeo USA to help promote your event
not only benefits your event, but adds to the wonderful
journey of becoming Miss Rodeo USA. You are creating
memories that last a lifetime.
There is an old saying, that sums up what
being Miss Rodeo USA is all about to me. "Life is not a
having and a getting, but a being and a becoming."
Early in 1989, I "had" the crown and I
"got" the title that went with it. However, as I
traveled throughout the year, and as many Miss Rodeo USA's
have both before and after me, I realized that it was
somewhere through that journey that I "became"
Miss Rodeo USA. It is so much more than a title. It's
petting wild buffalo in New York, it's holding the hand of a
Vietnam War Veteran in Tennessee, it's reading to a burn
victim in Boston, and it's rolling down the hill in Cliff
Harris' barrel in Nebraska. It's calling on former
titleholders at four in the morning when you are road-weary
and homesick. It's carrying Old Glory into the arena for the
last time at the IFR, riding Pam Treadway's beautiful
Buckwheat, as Dan Dailey, Clarence LeBlanc, Jack Wiseman,
Randy Wells, Justin Rowe, and countless other IPRA rodeo
legends walk by and slap you on the leg with a knowing
smile. Friendships were forged and my life was changed
forever.
I welcome you to join our IPRA/Miss Rodeo
USA family. Whether you are a participant, parent, sponsor,
committee, contractor, or contestant, our door is open. I
wish you well on your journey to being and becoming.
Lisa Watson Lance
Executive Director
Miss Rodeo USA
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