Trevor Brazile is a 26-time World Champion, $7 million cowboy that hails from Decatur, Texas. With 31 National Finals Rodeo qualifications, 23 National Finals Steer Roping qualifications and five NFR average titles to his name, he earned the nickname ‘King of Cowboys’.
Brazile announced his retirement in 2018 yet he still finds himself in the rodeo arena every now and again and he still finds his way to Las Vegas every December. Although Las Vegas has a little different look for Brazile these days, he recalls what it was like as a competitor.
“The good thing about it is, you’re so busy out here, it’s hard to overthink something… You would go straight to appearances, maybe grab lunch, maybe not. Usually, we had lunch at the room, have some kind of room service at the room because I would go up there, change from those clothes to run out to practice,” he said on what his days looked like.
It was no more than 30 minutes a day in the Las Vegas practice pen for the World Champion and when Round 10 rolled around, sometimes all Brazile wanted was for that year to be over, sometimes it came down to Round 10 for a World Title and other times, it was a completely different feeling.
“There were some Round 10’s where you may have clinched, like Stetson did this year, I clinched the All-Around or certain races early and Round 10, finally got the monkey off your back and you’re just able to go make a run with nothing but money on the line. Every scenario can play out, out here,” he said.
Another huge aspect to the National Finals Rodeo is the accessibility that fans and the public have to meeting the rodeo athletes and getting autographs or pictures. For those two weeks of December, making appearances, Brazile says it is a small price to pay and you never leave an appearance mad that you did it.
“We have sponsors, we have friends, people that help us get down the road and this is the one time, not necessarily the one time, but the biggest time of the year that it’s kind of like time to pay the piper. This is where you can give back to the people that helped get you here,” Brazile said.
The King of Cowboys’ work now extends outside of the arena as well as he works to expand his brands and grow the sport of rodeo. It is safe to say that Brazlle’s face is one we will continue to see around the sport for a long time to come.
