Blanche Altizer Smith

Barrel Racer, Champion Calf & Team Roper, & Rodeo Secretary & Timer
1928-1998

Blanche was born into a South Texas ranching family on July 16, 1928. She was a very accomplished cowgirl and horsewoman with a strong devotion to the sport of rodeo. Blanche was a champion calf roper, and barrel racer and competed in team roping. She also served as secretary and timer at many rodeos.

The GRA (Girls Rodeo Association) was formed in 1948 by a group of Texas women. Blanche was the Association’s founding secretary and director. One of the GRA’s goals was to lobby for money to be added to the Barrel Racing Event at the rodeos.

The West of the Pecos Rodeo agreed to these rules and added $100.00 in prize money to the cowgirl’s entry fees and four places were paid out. The cloverleaf pattern was again used and is still used today with very little change in the rules.

Blanche Smith, Margaret Owens (2014 TRHoF Inductee), and Snookie Sherrill (2006 TRHoF Inductee) positioned the barrels and closely watched over the placement of the barrels every night.

Blanche married Floyd E. “Bud” Smith and they had two sons, Olie and Jimmy. With both Blanche and Bud deceased, Olie and Jimmy proudly carry the ranching and rodeo tradition onto the next generation and live in the Sonora area. Blanche Altizer Smith passed away on December 30, 1998, at the age of 70, and was posthumously inducted into the Texas Rodeo Hall of Fame.