Pro Rodeo
By Tracy Renck
August 15, 2026
ProRodeo Hall of Famer Phil Lyne, considered one of the best cowboys in PRORODEO history, passed away Aug. 14 in Cotulla, Texas. He was 79.
Lyne's decorated PRORODEO career was highlighted by him winning the Rodeo Cowboys Association – the precursor to the PRCA – All-Around World Championships in 1971 and 1972 and the Tie-Down Roping World Championships in 1971 and 1972 as well.
Then, he captured the 1990 PRCA Steer Roping World Championships.
He also shined when the spotlight was the brightest at the National Finals Rodeo and National Finals Steer Roping. He won the tie-down roping average in 1971 and 1972, the 1972 bull riding average and the NFSR average in 1983 and 1986.
Lyne was the 1969 RCA Overall Rookie of the Year, and he also won the Linderman Award – an honor given to select cowboys willing and able to perform at both ends of the arena – in 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1976.
"We crossed paths quite a few times – and I sure thought a lot of him, and he was definitely a hero of mine," said ProRodeo Hall of Famer Ty Murray, a nine-time PRCA World Champion to the PRORODEO Sports News. "He's absolutely one of the greatest to ever play the game and the most versatile. Then, you look at the span between his world championships, it's a big span. He was a Hell of a competitor, and it's crazy to me to see somebody that can do it that good and for that long. I had so much respect and admiration for Phil."
Bobby Steiner, the 1973 RCA Bull Riding World Champion, became friends with Lyne in the late 1960s and was well aware of how talented Lyne was in the arena.
"I first started on a permit in, like, 1968. And Phil was college rodeoing – and there was talk of him then. You know, he was just that guy," Steiner said. "I'm just glad he was really more serious about his calf roping and didn't go as hard in bull riding because he was just one of the toughest guys to get on the ground ever. He was just that tough, so you knew you were going to have to beat him.
"I'm glad he took roping more seriously and the all-around fit in his plans with bull riding. He never dedicated himself to being the champ in bull riding. You know what I mean? He was a champion calf roper, but he could kick your ass in a bull riding. The top three cowboys (of all-time) in my book are Larry Mahan, Ty Murray and Phil Lyne."
Lyne qualified for the NFR six times – tie-down roping (1970, 1971, 1972, 1973); and bull riding (1971, 1972). He added 10 more qualifications to the National Finals Steer Roping – 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, and 1990.
"I was never one of those people who set goals," Lyne said in "A Complete History of the First 50 Years of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo". "I just wanted to do my best every time I went out there. I always thought that when you set a goal, you gave yourself a stopping point. I just always wanted to be the best I could be from the day I started rodeo in high school. I loved doing it. I started calf roping and eventually started riding bulls. Everything just fell into place for me all along the line.
"After a while, I would get to an airport pretty loaded up with stuff, but I liked doing it all. I had friends in every event, and they helped me out a lot. When I was steer wrestling, I rode horses that belonged to Jim Smith and Roy Duvall."
Lyne was inducted into the 1979 inaugural class of the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Lyne grew up in George West, Texas. He started out in the Texas Youth Rodeo Association, then the National High School Rodeo Association, and the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association at several Texas colleges starting and ending up with Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, with stints at colleges in Uvalde and San Marcos. By the time Lyne entered PRORODEO in 1969, he had won 42 saddles and quite a bit of prize money.
"He was a hero of mine. I mean, he is to a lot of people," said fellow ProRodeo Hall of Famer Guy Allen, who won a record 18 PRCA Steer Roping World Championships. "And he was a super, super great guy. I mean, as honest as the day is long. He's one of the best guys you'd ever know. I think what made him so great was his desire to win. He wanted to win. He didn't want to just compete and hear his name called. He wanted to win. What made him so successful was the effort that he put into practice. It was full contact with him when he practiced. He wasn't out there just to pass the time. He was out there to rope and win. He practiced, and he practiced hard. That's what made Phil Lyne great, the practice and the work ethic that he put into it."
Allen and Lyne traveled together for five years in the late 1980s.
"We used to also enter some rodeos in team roping together," Allen said. "I was heading and he was heeling. I didn't have a (steer roping) horse for one year, and he had a backup. So, I rode his backup horse, and he rode his good one. Then, I'd head on his good (steer roping) horse, and he'd heel on his backup. We had an inline trailer and a station wagon, and we drove around to rodeos."
When Lyne won his 1990 PRCA Steer Roping World Championship, it was Allen who finished second. The title was decided in Round 10.
Lyne, 43 at the time, turned in a disappointing 19.3-second run after he missed with his first loop and was forced to throw a second. Allen answered with a quick 12.7-second performance – but a broken barrier pushed that time to 22.7 seconds. That allowed Lyne to capture the title with $39,854 by a mere $85 over Allen.
"We were traveling together and we were winning first and second," Allen said. "I was ahead of him going into the (NFSR), and then we roped there. He was still in the average, and I'd went out of the average. It's kind of a funny story, really. His wife, Sarah Kay, came up to me and said, 'God let him win.' I said, 'Sarah Kay, I'm not going to let him win.' I broke the barrier and probably could've won, but it wasn't on purpose. I'll promise you that."
Tanner Green, Lyne's grandson, and PRCA tie-down roper and team roper, relished the time he spent with his legendary grandfather.
"As a kid, I – it was very hard to learn from him because he was very natural at everything. So as a kid, it was pretty hard because he really didn't break stuff down," Green said. "But now that I'm older, I see what he was doing and I understand it better. He's the reason I am the way I am, and I will never do what he did in the rodeo world, but he taught me how to be humble and not let the highs get too high and the lows get too low.
"He was the reason I did it, and he's the only reason I could go. He taught me everything. I lived with him for all my life, 28 years, and he taught me everything. He was a dad to me, is what he was. He was my dad."
LYNE WAS A HUMBLE LEGEND
As talented Lyne was, what set him apart was how humble he was about his accomplishments.
"Phil was just a cowboy. I mean, nothing ever went to his head at all. He was a hunter and a cowboy, and that's what he was every day," Steiner said. "There are not many people who you can say that about, but he was just a talented guy who in his mind was just a basic cowboy. He would talk to you and stuff, but he never was about, 'Man, I did this,' or, 'I did that.' You'd never know (about his accomplishments)."
Murray also appreciated Lyne's demeanor.
"He was such a gentleman. He always gave me a lot of praise and every time I would see him, I got my picture taken with him. Every time," Murray said. "To me, he just seemed like a world-class human being. He was not a flamboyant guy. He was not a guy who was seeking attention. Larry (Mahan) was a lot more flamboyant and a lot more out there with the media. And I think Phil always just kind of shied away from that. I think Phil mainly just liked doing cowboy stuff.
"I just thought he was always such a classy guy every time I was around him. It also felt like he and I totally understood each other."
Green summed up his grandfather's legacy perfectly.
"You almost had to pry the rodeo talk out of him. He really didn't talk about it very much," Green said. "He'd rather talk about coyote hunting or something like his cow dogs. He wasn't big on talking about rodeo and himself. He did what he wanted to, and he hung it up and never went back and never looked back.
"There will never ever be another Phil Lyne. I don't think there will ever be a man as tough, as humble, or as handy as him ever again. I'm not saying that because he was my granddad. I mean, that's the toughest human being I think I've ever seen."
Lyne is survived by his wife, Sarah; and daughters, Amanda and Samantha, who qualified for the 2014 NFR in barrel racing and is married to world champion bull rider JB Mauney.
LYNE, Phil (Philip Lyne)
Born: 1/18/1947, San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A.
Died: 8/14/2026, Cotulla, Texas, U.S.A.
Phil Lyne’s western – himself:
The Great American Cowboy - 1974
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