Tad Lucas on Juarez, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1924. Photo courtesy of the National Rodeo Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Early Days
Tad Lucas was one of the great riders in the early days of rodeo in the 1920s and 1930s. She has been described as the quintessential cowgirl of the twenties. Born in 1902 in Nebraska, Barbara Inez Barnes Lucas was the youngest of 24 children. Her family nicknamed her Tadpole because she was tiny and always darting about like a tadpole. She later shortened it to Tad and was known by that name for the rest of her life. She began riding very young, and by age seven she was helping her brothers break colts. At age 12, she rode bulls on the dusty main street of her hometown of Cody, Nebraska, to raise money for the American Red Cross in World War I.
Rodeo Career
Tad’s professional career began at age 15 when she entered a steer riding competition at the 1917 Gordon, Nebraska Fair. A photo of this ride is at the Pro-Rodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colorado. From there, Tad traveled with her brother, riding broncs in Texas rodeos and living with her sister in Fort Worth. By 1922, she could support herself full-time as a professional rodeo cowgirl. In 1923, she rode in Colonel Frank Hafley’s Wild West Show. Tad learned trick riding from the Colonel’s daughter, Renee Shelton. She toured with the show in Mexico, the East Coast, and New York City. She first competed in Madison Square Garden in New York in 1923, where she took second in bronc riding. On a trip to California with the Wild West Show, she practiced trick riding with Russian Cossack acrobats who were performing in the area. In 1924, Tad married fellow rodeo rider, James Edward “Buck” Lucas. Following their wedding, they traveled to London on their honeymoon where they both competed in Tex Austin’s rodeo at Wembley Stadium, where Tad made her trick riding debut. Tad and Buck had two daughters, Dorothy Lynn, who had no interest in rodeo, and Mitzi Ann. Mitzi Ann Lucas Riley also became a famous trick rider. She first performed with her mother at age 6.
Tad traveled extensively throughout the United States, competing at rodeos on both coasts and Cheyenne, Fort Worth, and Burwell, Nebraska. In an interview with Teresa Jordan for her book, Cowgirls: Women of the American West, Tad said they had to travel by train so they could bring their horses. She said the train rides were great fun. They would play cards, tell stories, and sew the beautiful costumes they performed in. Most of the cowgirls sewed their own costumes, which were bright and colorful. Some rodeos included awards for the best dressed cowgirl. During the 1932 season, she traveled more than nine thousand miles competing in trick riding, bronc riding, and relay racing.
Awards and Prizes
Tad Lucas receiving the All-Around Cowgirl Trophy from Amon Carter in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1929.
As western films grew in popularity, Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios commissioned a $10,000 silver MGM Trophy awarded annually to rodeo contestants. Tad was a five-time winner of the prestigious trophy from 1928 through 1932. At Madison Square Garden, she won the trick riding championship title in 1925, 1926, and 1928 through 1932. She also took home the all-around cowgirl title in 1926 and again in 1928 through 1932. Tad won the Cheyenne Frontier Days trick riding competition for eight consecutive years.
Tad was among the cowgirls with the highest winnings, collecting between $1,500 and $2,000 every two or three rodeos between 1924 and 1926. By 1935, she reported an annual income of $12,000, three times the earnings of the average rodeo cowgirl.
Injury at Chicago’s World Fair
Tad was performing one of her trademark trick performances at the 1933 Chicago’s World Fair, going under the horse’s belly at a full gallop, when her horse stumbled on rain-slick dirt. Tad slipped, was caught in the horse’s legs, and suffered a traumatic injury to her left arm. The horse kicked her again and again until she broke free and rolled away. The doctors initially suggested amputation, but Tad adamantly refused. After performing six operations, including several bone grafts with bones from her legs, and an infection in her bone, they said she would never ride again. She proved them wrong a year later by competing with a cast on, but only using her right arm. After the cast was removed three years later, her left arm was an inch and a half shorter than her right and she could no longer bend her left wrist, lift her little finger, or turn her arm over.
All Cowgirl Rodeos
In the early 1940s, many rodeos began limiting events for cowgirls. Some producers, including Gene Autry, claimed that women were stealing the show from the cowboys. So, the cowgirls literally “took the bull by the horns” and created their own events and associations. In 1942, Vaughn Krieg formed the Flying V All Cow-Girl Rodeo Company. Tad Lucas was among the contestants at the first show in September 1942, in Paris, Texas. Cowgirls competed in calf roping, wild cow milking, bronc riding, steer wrestling, cutting horse contests, and steer riding. After World War II, opportunities for rodeo cowgirls dried up as the movement to stereotype women as incapable of any roles outside the home became increasingly popular. As a result, cowgirls formed the Girls Rodeo Association (GRA) in 1948 and sanctioned rodeos for cowgirls competing in barrel racing, roping, bronc riding, relay racing, trick riding, and steer riding. Tad Lucas was active in the new GRA serving several terms on the board of directors. Tad also competed in GRA rodeos in bronc riding and trick riding exhibitions. And, surprisingly, she shared the rodeo clown spotlight with Dixie in 1949 and 1950. The Girls Rodeo Association changed their name to the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association in 1981, and currently has over 3,000 members.
Later Years
Tad retired from trick riding competitions in 1958, when her horse became too old, and she said she didn’t want to train another one. She rode her last rodeo bronc at age 62 in 1964.
Tad Lucas served many years on the board of directors of the Rodeo Historical Society. She became an Honoree in the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1978. Tad was also honored in the National Rodeo Hall of Fame, and she was inducted into the Pro-Rodeo Hall of Fame, making her the first person to be awarded all three honors.
She died in 1990 in Fort Worth at age eighty-seven. After Tad died, her daughter Mitzi established the Tad Lucas Memorial Award for women who exhibit the same grit and talent as Tad while promoting Western heritage.
Tad with daughter, Mitzi
Works Cited and Further Reading:
Heidi M. Thomas. Cowgirl Up! A History of Rodeo Women. Published by Morris Book Publishing, LLC, in 2014.
Mary Lou LeCompte. Cowgirls of the Rodeo: Pioneer Professional Athletes. Published by University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago, in 1993.
Teresa Jordan. Cowgirls: Women of the American West. Published by University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, in 1982. Revised edition published by Bison Books in 1992.
Rodeo’s First Family, Fort Worth Texas Magazine, by Jessica Strange, published January 9, 2023.
Women of the West: Mitzi Riley, Western Horseman Magazine, by Ross Hecox, published August 7, 2019.
