Rodeo Legend and Five-Time World Champion Phil Lyne Dies at 79

There are some cowboys who everyone knows just by the mention of their name, and Phil Lyne is one of them. He is often described as the “Greatest Cowboy of All Time.”

He was born on January 18, 1947, and he left this world on August 14, 2026. The history and legacy he created while here will go on for a very long time.

The five-time world champion leaves quite a legacy behind him. His accolades are too many to list, but the all-around cowboy was a force to be reckoned with from the time he was just a child.

He won youth titles, high school championships, college titles, and ultimately earned five world titles in professional rodeo.

Phil Lyne’s Decorated Professional Rodeo Career

He started his professional rodeo career with a bang by winning the Rookie title in 1969, and that was just the beginning of the titles he would collect.

Lyne took home the all-around cowboy world championship titles in 1971 and 1972. In those same years, he was crowned the calf roping (what is now known as tie-down roping) world champion. Later in his career, he would add the fifth title as the 1990 World Champion Steer Roper.

Lyne was inducted into the National Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1971, and in 1979 he was honored to be inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.

If Lyne decided to compete in an event, he worked to be good at it. He won money in five different events: bareback riding, saddle bronc riding, bull riding, tie-down roping and steer wrestling.

He was dominant even at the NFR, where he won the aggregate titles in the tie-down in 1971 and 1972 and then also won the bull riding at the 1972 competition. Then, in rare fashion, Lyne decided to be done with his professional career and retired after the 1972 NFR.

Given all of his talents at both ends of the arena, Lyne was awarded the Linderman Award four times: 1970, 1971, 1972, and again in 1976.

In 1990, Lyne remained competitive enough to earn the world title in the steer roping event, putting a capstone on his career as a true all-around cowboy.

His family continues to compete in the rodeo arena and carry on the traditions of excellence he set. He will be missed by so many, and the stories that will be told in the coming days will be reminiscent of an incredible cowboy who set the standard and raised the bar for the industry.

So many posts have already been made and there is one thing that rings true through all of them. “There will never be another Phil Lyne.”

Rodeo On SI sends its condolences to the entire family and all of Phil’s friends.

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