History of WRCA In March of 1995, 18 people met in Amarillo Texas to form WRCA. Initially, there were 200 founding members. Although many were ranch owners, foremen and actual ranch cowboys, there were also men and women from other walks of life across the United States who believed in the charter of the WRCA. All of our members have a common belief in the ideals and work ethic of the working ranch cowboy, and we want to keep our western heritage alive in our fast-changing world. Many of us grew up with cowboys as role models, and WRCA wants to ensure that future generations have the same opportunity. It is our desire to see WRCA grow throughout the world, supporting the ranch cowboy in every country. We all share the same needs, ideals and work ethics, regardless of the language we speak or the nation we call home.
WRCA selects teams that compete in each year’s World Championship Ranch Rodeo through an established network of sanctioned rodeos across the western United States and Canada. These rodeos are held throughout the year, and we estimate that each of the rodeos average an attendance of 3,000, with more than 75,000 attending all the sanctioned rodeos combined.
The Working Ranch Cowboys Foundation has grown out the WRCA. This group focuses on raising and distributing funds for the Crisis and Scholarship funds. The foundation has been contributed to by hundreds of people. The Norris family has made the largest impact on the Foundation with funds from their Pipe for Ranchers project that Randy started just after the devastating wild fires we had in this area in 2005. He obtained sponsored pipe that was sold to burned-out Ranchers. We then donated 50% of that money to the Ranch and disaster relief funds covered the remainder. The Foundation received over $75,000.00 from that program alone.
Numerous groups have raised money for a specific Cowboy and utilized the WRCF as the delivery system for the funds. Groups that want to make a difference can use the Foundations organization to further their cause. In 2007 the American Chuck Wagon Association presented the WRCF with funds for a scholarship for the WRCF to process. This type partnership is very important to see growth in our cause. The Foundation is growing at a rapid rate and we’re very proud to announce that our next project is to build the WRCA Retirement Ranch, a facility for retired Cowboys. This will Ranch will give lifelong Cowboys room, board, a place to work their horses, medical facilities and cows to raise. A Cowboy on the Ranch is a Happy Cowboy.
