09/07/2026
Her father won the World Championship the same year she was born. She set an arena record at the National Finals Rodeo at just twenty three years old. The Altizer name has never stopped winning.
Born in September 1959 in Del Rio Texas — the same year her father Jim Bob Altizer won the World Champion Calf Roping title at the very first National Finals Rodeo ever held — Sherry Lee Altizer came into a rodeo world that already carried her family name in the record books before she drew her first breath. Jim Bob was a two-time World Champion and ProRodeo Hall of Famer who changed the history of calf roping forever. Her aunt Blanche Altizer Smith was a legendary calf roper who competed against men. Her brother Mack built Bad Company Rodeo into a revolutionary stock contracting empire. The Altizer family was not just in professional rodeo. They helped build it.
Sherry entered her first rodeo at three years old. She never really stopped competing. She won multiple All-Around titles in the American Junior Rodeo Association — Champion Barrel Racer, Champion Optional Racer and Champion Optional Roping titles before she was old enough to vote. At eighteen she was named Miss AJRA. She joined the WPRA in 1978 and began competing in barrel racing, tie-down roping, breakaway roping, steer undecorating and team roping — a true all-around cowgirl competing in every event the women's circuit had to offer.
She represented Howard County Junior College and Sul Ross State University at the NIRA Finals across four consecutive years. In 1980 she was named Outstanding Cowgirl for Howard County Junior College. In 1981 she won the Texas Circuit Finals Championship. Then in 1982 everything came together at once.
She posted the fastest time in the first go-round at the College National Finals Rodeo. Then she walked into the Myriad Convention Center in Oklahoma City for the National Finals Rodeo — the most prestigious barrel racing stage in the world — and set the arena record on a horse named Savannah. A record in the building. At twenty three years old. The daughter of a World Champion had arrived in her own right.
She won the Sand Hills Rodeo in Odessa in 1982 and again in 1983. She won the San Antonio Livestock Show and Rodeo. She won the Las Vegas Helldorado Days Rodeo. She qualified for the NFR in 1985. A career built on grit and horsemanship and a family name that professional rodeo recognized from the moment she entered the arena.
Inducted into the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame. The Texas Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2024 — joining a legacy that includes her father Jim Bob, her brother Mack and her aunt Blanche. Four members of the same Del Rio Texas family honored across multiple halls of fame for what they gave to professional rodeo across four different generations.
She said it simply at her induction — it's a great honor to be in the same room with them.
She has been in the same room with greatness her entire life. She earned every inch of her place in it.
That is Sherry Altizer Ingham. 🤠🎀🏆
