Cindy Rosser Receives Donita Barnes Contract Personnel Lifetime Achievement Award
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – A lifetime of commitment to the rodeo industry earned Cindy Rosser the 2020 PRCA Donita Barnes Contract Personnel Lifetime Achievement Award, Oct. 27.
Rosser, 65, is the daughter of ProRodeo Hall of Fame stock contractor Cotton Rosser and has been involved in the rodeo business her entire life.
“I knew Donita Barnes and she was a grand lady, one in a million, and it is nice to put my name alongside hers,” Cindy said. “This is a great honor. It feels good that people recognize you and appreciate your hard work and all the effort you have put into the rodeo business.
“I was very surprised when I heard the news. I have been gathering cattle, and I have to brand some colts. It’s just another day around here at the Flying U.”
Cotton Rosser and his family operate the Flying U Rodeo and Rosser Rodeo stock contracting companies based in Marysville, Calif. They produce about 50 rodeos a year. In 1956, Cotton bought the Flying U Rodeo Ranch, now the oldest continuing rodeo livestock company in the United States. Cotton received the Donita Barnes Award in 2015.
“My mother made me a great horse woman and my dad made me tough,” Cindy said. “I’ve done everything in rodeo except tie up the barrier at the roping chute. I have picked up, I have flanked, I have untied calves, loaded stock, loaded steers, sorted steers, opening (ceremonies), been a secretary. I have done it all. When I was younger, I all-girl rodeoed, I won barrel racing in the California Circuit in 1982. The first year the NFR went to Vegas (1985) we did the opening and did that for 10 years. The way they line up and all that stuff, I designed all that.”
The Donita Barnes Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Cindy at the PRCA Awards Banquet on Dec. 2 at 6 p.m. (CT) at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. The Donita Barnes Lifetime Achievement Award was created to recognize PRCA members who have dedicated their lives to the rodeo industry for their commitment, work and contributions. Active members of the PRCA may nominate eligible contract personnel members for the award.
Nominees must have been a PRCA member for a minimum of 15 years and cannot have won a yearly contract personnel award within 15 years of the date of nomination.
All nominations were reviewed and selected by an external panel. The top five nominees were voted on by any contract personnel members who have participated in at least one rodeo within that rodeo year.
“I love this business, it is bred in me,” Cindy said. “I want it to be the best it can be, and I want to raise great livestock and put on good rodeos. I learned from my dad that you have to entertain the people. My dad’s signature song is “Thank you very much,” and when the crowd is walking out and they are singing my hope is they are saying they were entertained and they can’t wait to buy a ticket for next year.”
Other winners of the Donita Barnes Lifetime Achievement Award are: Donita Barnes (2011); Art and Linda Alsbaugh (2012); Fred and Norma Dorenkamp (2013); Quail Dobbs (2014); Cotton Rosser (2015); Karen Vold (2016), Jim and Julie Sutton (2017), Hadley Barrett (2018); and Roy and Virginia Honeycutt (2019).
Courtesy of PRCA