Tom Barr made his first Canadian Finals appearance in 1988, in the Steer Wrestling event. He went on to compete at the CFR 10 additional times. Tom qualified for the NFR in Las Vegas in 1991, where he won a go-around in the Steer Wrestling event. Winning it on Canada Night, was icing on the cake!

Tom was named Cowboy of the Year in the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association in 2007, while he was serving as a CPRA rodeo judge. The humble cowboy was shocked with the news, receiving it via telephone while he was trying to buy cattle. Once the news sunk in, he responded with ‘Oh, that’s pretty Neat!”.

Tom served four years on the CPRA board, where he learned a lot. It was an opportunity to see how rodeo operates behind the scenes, how they handle situations, and work to keep the association going. Something that Tom was/is more than happy to do, whenever the opportunity presents itself. When asked about the future of rodeo, Tom replies “we need to build it up as much as possible. The numbers are going down, so we need to build it up”. Wise words. Tom is working to make this happen, by promoting the sport of rodeo to the youth. Tom has been involved in the Pincher Creek area, organizing youth rodeo and high school rodeo.

Over the years he has been kept busy serving on the Judging Commission, and served as a CPRA rodeo judge for some time. He was very well respected and selected to judge the Canadian Finals Rodeo in 2006, for the first time.

Reflecting back on his career, Tom humbly says “I had a good career, I never won a championship buckle, but I’ve always thought I had a good career”. Its no doubt others feel the same way! For his abilities, personality and contributions to rodeo, we welcome Tom Barr as our Legend, in 2020 to the Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame.