Seventy years ago, the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) was started. It is one of the oldest sports association dedicated to women competing in rodeo. Women wanted to change the face of rodeo. Texas is one of the biggest rodeo states. According to WPRA, thirty-eight women met at a hotel in San Angelo, Texas on February 28, 1948. All of these women who got together at the hotel were from Texas. They met there, because they wanted to change the way that they were treated in the rodeo world. These girls created the Girls Rodeo Association (GRA).

They knew they still had a lot of work to do before the association was official, but it was something they all wanted to try. The main purpose of starting this association was to allow women to compete in rodeo. According to WPRA, they drafted the rules and regulations and got them approved. The rules took effect in May of 1948. The GRA board members got to work, trying to convince rodeo committees and producers to hold women’s contests according to GRA rules. WPRA says that Charmayne James was one of the women that helped create the GRA. Charmayne is now a retired barrel racer who has also gone to the NFR nineteen times to compete.