Former Blue Mountain Community College rodeo star RC Landingham, of Hat Creek, California, rides Choke Cherry to a bareback title Sept. 18, 2021, at the Pendleton Round-Up. Landingham pocketed $1 million Sunday, Dec. 17, 2022, for winning the World Champions Rodeo Alliance Triple Crown of Rodeo.

FORT WORTH, Texas — Merry Christmas, RC Landingham.

The former Pendleton cowboy picked up $1 million Sunday, Dec. 17, after completing in the bareback event in the World Champions Rodeo Alliance Triple Crown of Rodeo at the Cowtown Christmas Championship Rodeo in Fort Worth, Texas.

He is the third athlete to be in contention for the bonus, but the first to win it.

“I had a feeling about halfway through the ride I had it won,” Landingham said. “I wasn’t thinking about a million dollars. So much pressure for so long, to be on top was a huge relief.”

The Triple Crown of Rodeo is an annual bonus that pays $1 million to any one athlete, or collection of athletes, who place first in any three consecutive WCRA major rodeos.

Landingham, 32, won the title on the back of Freckled Frog with a score of 89.5. He needed better than an 86.5 to win the title and pocket the bonus money.

“You don’t only have to stay on, but do it perfectly,” Landingham said. “The first guy was 86.5. I wasn’t really thinking about it. Just doing what I had control of. That was my first time on him. I have seen that horse a lot and wanted to get on him.”

To be in contention for the money, Landingham won bareback titles in May at the Rodeo Corpus Christi, Texas, and in July at the the Days of ‘47 Rodeo in Salt Lake City.

The $1 million is life changing for Landingham and his family, that includes wife Bliss and young son, Wynn. While he said he doesn’t have the money in his account yet, he said the money is going toward the future.

“Rodeo is the least paying pro sport there is,” Landingham said. “Associations are paying a lot more now. It’s a life-changing opportunity. I made $60,000 at these three rodeos on three horses.”

Money earned at WCRA events do not count toward the National Finals Rodeo.

The $1 million equals what Landingham has earned in his first 14 years in the PRCA. His career earnings through 2021 were $774,830.

“I have made more money this month than I have in my whole career,” he said. “The money won’t change me as a person. My family is very blessed and thankful.”

Landingham, who now calls Hat Creek, California, home, finished fifth in the world standings this year, earning $246,696. Of that amount, $106,173 was won at the NFR, where he placed in five rounds, and picked up $34,976 for placing fourth in the average.

In 2021, Landingham was 11th in the world standings and earned $180,827. Among that money was a Pendleton Round-Up title and fifth place at the NFR.

A rocky careerLandingham was full of promise when he hit the PRCA scene in 2009.

He won California state high school titles in bareback and cutting in 2005, and was a two-time Oregon state high school bareback champion (2005-06) for Pendleton High School.

He won a College National Finals Rodeo bareback title in 2009 for Blue Mountain Community College.

A 2008 graduate of Pendleton High School, Landingham moved to Pendleton his sophomore year. He went on to attend BMCC and called the Round-Up City home for 10 years before heading back to California.

Landingham once rode bulls, as well as broncs, but a tragic bull ride in Houston in 2010 derailed his career for months. He suffered broken ribs, fractured his back and shoulder, lacerated his liver and had a collapsed lung.

That was the end of his bull riding career in the PRCA.

A year later, in 2011, he was in a car accident that broke his left leg, two bones in his riding hand, and left him unconscious for two days.

In 2017, he lost his mom, Wendy Skiver, who battled ovarian cancer for four years. Later that year, a horse fell on Landingham and he broke his shoulder, which would require several surgeries over a couple of years to repair.

It wasn’t until 2021 that Landingham was healthy and earning good money.

“The past couple of years, I have had a good run,” he said. “It’s amazing. I’m thankful for every opportunity I have had. There was a point I thought it was all over. This is pretty unreal.”

“I have made more money this month than I have in my whole career. The money won’t change me as a person. My family is very blessed and thankful.”

— RC Landingham, professional cowboy