Crawford and Hampton Bullish on Women’s Rodeo and the Future of Breakaway Roping

By: Darci Miller

PUEBLO, Colo. – In her 40-something years of barrel racing, 18-time WPRA breakaway roping champion J.J. Hampton has seen some things.

But entering All State Arena in Chicago for the Windy City Roundup in 2019 was a moment she’ll never forget.

“When we got to go to Chicago and rope at the WCRA there, and walk out and see all the people and all the bright lights and the big screen and stuff, that was really a cool moment,” Hampton said. “I haven’t won one of those yet, but I don’t know that I’m going to give up until I do.”

The 50-year-old is one of the pioneers of breakaway roping, an event that is only just getting its due on rodeo’s biggest stages. Since the WCRA added breakaway roping to its events, women are able to compete for big money alongside the men – in Chicago, the winner got $50,000, and the purse for the inaugural Women’s Rodeo World Championship in November was $750,000.

“I’ve gone and watched (nephew) Marty (Yates) rope on these stages and cheer for him at the NFR, but I actually got to rope out there,” Hampton said. “The WCRA opened up some doors for us that I don’t think other doors would’ve opened if it wouldn’t have been for them. They stepped up and believed in us and got some stuff going that started the big ball rolling.

“I’m proud to see that women get to rope for big money just like the men do. It’s been a long time coming. There’s a lot of people before me and with me that we’ve all put out a lot of effort to grow the sport, where these big events pay $20,000, $50,000, $100,000. So it’s great to see that women have the same opportunity as me, and to be able to compete and make a living rodeoing. It’s always nice, because you can’t do it forever, to have something else to fall back on. But now women can make a living roping, and that’s pretty cool.”

The winner in Chicago two years ago was breakaway roping legend and 19-time World Champion Jackie Crawford, and it was a moment that Crawford counts as one of the highlights of her illustrious career.

It was also an achievement that she does not take lightly, as she was the first woman to win more than $50,000 in a single breakaway roping event.

“I ask myself this all the time, like, ‘Why have I gotten to experience these things?’” Crawford said. “And I can’t tell you why. I just hope like heck that I’m doing a good job, and I’m serving the purpose that I’m supposed to be serving, and representing women in this industry, because I feel like it’s almost out of my control. That’s just so fortunate, and I’m so blessed to have been a part of that and be able to be at the forefront of this movement.”

Rodeo has always been a male-dominated field, but the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) was formed in 1948 (then called the Girls’ Rodeo Association) and, according to its website, is the oldest professional sports association created for women, by women.

Barrel racing was historically the only avenue for girls growing up wanting to rodeo, and growth came in small increments. Now, however, both barrel racing and breakaway roping are ubiquitous in the rodeo world.

“I think the thing everybody’s looking forward to is that we’re at every rodeo,” Hampton said. “If there’s a rodeo, and they’re having other events, they’re going to have breakaway, and that’s what it should be. We shouldn’t have to pick and choose where we go. We should be able to go to every rodeo they have, and I think that’s what everybody’s striving for now, is that we’re equal in every rodeo. Just like the barrel racers, the calf ropers, the bulldoggers and team ropers. If they have a rodeo, they should have breakaway.”

While full equality is still the goal, Crawford is already noticing a change in the next generation of rodeo superstars.

“For so long, if you wanted to rope and have that side of it, you didn’t have the goals to work towards. You didn’t have the things to look forward to,” Crawford said. “And now, I see little girls not only watching the NFR and setting up barrels and running around them, I get films all the time of these little bitty girls picking up their ropes and roping something, roping a bucket or roping off their toy horses. And so they have something to work towards, and they have dreams to look towards in the roping side of it, so that’s awesome.”

 
Hampton and Crawford both credit their mothers with instilling their world-class work ethics in them and hope to set the same example for the next generation. Crawford has a daughter, Kaydence, who is already roping, and is expecting another daughter any day now.

“Of course I hope to one day be seated in the stands or in the box helping them and seeing even bigger things than what we’re getting to see as breakaway ropers now,” Crawford said. “My dream for them is, I hope they follow in my footsteps. I hope they follow in all these women’s footsteps that have laid the groundwork for them to be a part of rodeo and accomplish big things in the breakaway roping.”

Moving forward into this new era of women’s rodeo, and breakaway roping in particular, the one message that today’s legends want women to take away from them is clear: if you believe in something, the sky’s the limit.

“I hope that I’ve been a good influence to women and let them see that if you have a passion for something and you work hard enough at it, you can achieve what you want to achieve, and you can keep going,” Crawford said. “When we were doing this, we were just die-hards. We wanted to be out here just going because we loved the sport. And it’s grown and grown and grown, and it’s given us more of a platform. That just is proof that if you can dream it, you can do it, and it can come true. If it’s big enough, and you work hard enough, you can achieve it.”

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