No. 1 | $99,831.94
- Age: 41
- Hometown: Jay, Oklahoma
- Career earnings: $2,635,092
- NFR Qualifications: 15 (2008, 2010-2022, 2024)
- NFR Average Titles: 1 (2017)
- Major ropings: USTRC U.S. Open, Wildfire Open to the World, George Strait, BFI, Windy Ryon, Lone Star Shootout.
- Major rodeos: NFR, The American Rodeo, California Rodeo Salinas, San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, Rancho Mission Viejo Rodeo, Clovis Rodeo, National Western Stock Show and Rodeo, Wrangler Champions Challenge Finale (Omaha, Nebraska), Wrangler Champions Challenge (Rapid City, South Dakota).
- Star Horsepower: Superstar (Startime Diablo), Manny (BBF Barely Fancy), Remix (Mr. JB 0839).
- Rope Choice: Lone Star
Before Travis Graves earned 15 NFR qualifications, his rodeo breakthrough took longer than many may have expected, including himself.
The Jay, Oklahoma, heeler grew up with a rope in hand and while his PRCA Resistol Rookie season was in 2003, it took him five years before he made his first NFR in 2008.
“I wasn’t all-in,” Graves told The Team Roping Journal’s Kendra Santos in a 2014 Spin to Win interview “I didn’t do everything I should have. I didn’t rodeo all year in those early years. I’d go in the winter, then run out of money and go home if I didn’t win enough. It takes some time to figure out how to win. And you have to have a short memory. When you’re young, stuff bothers you. You need to learn from your mistakes and go on.”
But he wasn’t not winning. In fact, Graves quickly became an Open roping standout. Graves’ big break came in 2005 when he won the USTRC’s U.S. Open in Oklahoma City with Matt Sherwood. A 21-year-old living at an apartment above his dad’s barn, that $78,600 they split was his first big strike on a national level.
“That was the first big win I felt like I could rope with the best guys in the world,” Graves said. “It gave me some money to where I could afford to play the game. It was in Oklahoma City, and I grew up 2.5 hours from there. So it was a big, big win for me. My dad, my friends and family were there. They ran into the arena when the flag dropped.”
That was only the beginning. Graves went on to make quite the reputation as an Open roper, winning the Wildfire Open to the World with Colter Todd in 2007 (which he’d go on to win in 2009 with Turtle Powell and 2010 with Clay Tryan).
The major Open wins signaled Graves’ entrance into the big time, and he made his first appearance in Las Vegas in 2008 with Powell, ending the year with $107,701.
Graves would go on to become one of the very few heelers to have won every major Open jackpot and nearly every major rodeo. In 2017, Graves took home the NFR aggregate title with Chad Masters. Today, Graves has over $2.6 million in PRCA earnings and lives in Morgan Mill, Texas, with his wife Tamika and children Tee and True while heeling for Tanner Tomlinson. He currently leads the 2025 PRCA world standings, as of June 30.
When you’re young, you just think there’s no tomorrow. If you miss, it drives you nuts. And now, I see the big picture and know–know how it works and how the season works. It’s a year-long contest, and you try to do the best you can do. And if you’re ready and prepared when it’s your turn, you’re gonna do good.
– Travis Graves on The Score
More with TG
- Their Big Break: When Todd and Graves Won the 2007 Wildfire Open to the World
- Travis Graves’ Million-Dollar Mount Manny Gone at 25
- Tanner Tomlinson, Travis Graves Stretch Final Steer for Fort Worth Win, $25,350 Each
- The Mental Game That Got Travis Graves to 15 Wrangler National Finals Rodeos
- Luke Brown and Travis Graves Take Home 50th Annual Windy Ryon Memorial Roping
- So Long, Superstar: Travis Graves’ First Great One Goes to Greener Pastures
- The Score Season 1, Episode 15 with Travis Graves
- Being a Dad on the Road with Travis Graves
