Phil Lyne, the five-time world rodeo champion from Cotulla, Texas, widely called the Greatest Cowboy of All Time, died Thursday August 14 at the age of 79. His family announced the news Saturday. No cause of death was given.
Lyne was born in San Antonio in 1947 and started competing at age four. He won youth titles, high school championships and college titles before joining the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association in 1969, winning Rookie of the Year in his very first year.
He won the World All-Around Cowboy title and the tie-down roping world championship in back-to-back years, 1971 and 1972.
Then he retired at 27 to ranch and raise his family near Cotulla, only to return 18 years later at age 43 and win the world steer roping title in 1990. Five world titles across three different events across two different decades.
He is the only cowboy in history to win National Finals Rodeo aggregate titles in three different events: bull riding, tie-down roping and steer roping.
He co-starred in The Great American Cowboy, the 1974 Disney documentary about his rivalry with Larry Mahan. He was inducted into both the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum and the Texas Rodeo Hall of Fame.
"There will never be another Phil Lyne," his family wrote Sunday. The rodeo community agreed.