Rodeo women honor Reba McEntire ahead of ACM Awards

Fort Worth’s Pam Minick presented McEntire the Lifetime Achievement Award named in her honor

Country music stars are in town and rehearsing for the Academy of Country Music awards Thursday night at The Star in Frisco. Host Reba McEntire is here, too, and getting honors from women in rodeo.

The Women’s Rodeo World Championship (WRWC) honored the entertainment icon with its 2024 Pam Minick Lifetime Achievement Award.

“They were looking for someone who loved ‘Dear Rodeo,’ who was a little ‘Fancy’ and who knows ‘Cowgirls Don’t Cry.’ No one has shined a bigger spot on women in rodeo than you, in all seriousness,” said Pam Minick as she used a few of McEntire’s songs to present her with the award named her in honor.

Minick was the inaugural recipient in 2023. Minick was Miss Rodeo America in 1973, Calf Roping World Champion in 1982 and she continues to compete in the sport.

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McEntire is now the second woman to receive the honor.

“We are honored to celebrate Reba and her passion for the Western industry. She’s the perfect representative for cowgirls and encourages them to strive to compete on a larger scale. With the popularity of the Western lifestyle, Reba has shown our industry what it means to have the heart of a champion cowgirl and gives all cowgirls permission to have the same try in any aspect of life,” said Linsay Rosser Sumpter, Commissioner of the Women’s Rodeo World Championship.

To watch a video of McEntire’s acceptance speech, courtesy of WRWC, click here.

McEntire grew up immersed in the Western lifestyle, traveling alongside her father Clark McEntire, a three-time PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association) world champion steer wrestler, who has since been inducted into the National Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1988. She went on to race barrels.

Rodeo helped launch her now legendary performing career. She was discovered at the National Finals Rodeo in 1974. She sang the national anthem and it perked the ears of recording artist and North Texan Red Steagall. Steagall was so moved by her performance that he helped McEntire land her first recording contract.

Five decades later, she’s now brought the Western lifestyle and country music to some of the world’s biggest stages, mounting a career that spans music, television, film, theater, retail and hospitality.

The 2024 Women’s Rodeo World Championship continues with qualifying rounds through Thursday, May 16, at Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth before concluding with the championship round on May 18 during the PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast – Championship at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

The WRWC is the largest annual purse for a women’s rodeo event and will pay more than $750,000 while crowning World Champions in the Women’s Rodeo disciplines; Team Roping, Breakaway Roping and Barrel Racing.

For more information about the Women’s Rodeo World Championship, go here.