Tommy Joe Lucia named 2025 recipient of Donita Barnes Lifetime Achievement Award
Tommy Joe Lucia debuted as a rodeo performer more than five decades ago at three years old.
He never planned to get involved in PRORODEO. He intended to earn a college degree and pursue another path, but like it does for many, the Western lifestyle chose him.
On Monday, Nov. 3, Lucia received recognition for his contributions to the sport as the 2025 recipient of the Donita Barnes Lifetime Achievement Award presented by Ritchey Tags.
"This award is special because it recognizes the unsung laborers in our industry that don't often get the credit for the amount of blood, sweat and tears that they put in to entertain fans and put on events and do what rodeo has done for all of these years," Lucia told the PRORODEO Sports News.
Tommy Joe Lucia followed in the footsteps of his father, legendary entertainer and ProRodeo Hall of Famer Tommy Lucia. He grew up performing alongside his dad and got his start at three-years-old as a rodeo clown.
Tommy Joe Lucia earned his first buckle at seven-year-old at the Phoenix Rodeo and eventually purchased his PRCA card as a bullfighter and barrelman/clown in the mid-1980s.
Despite intentions to pursue another career, Tommy Joe Lucia continued as an entertainer before spending time as a rodeo producer, general manager at Utah Days of '47 and the CEO of Piranha Productions.
"I grew up performing and my intention was to not get into rodeo and to get a degree so that I had a retirement plan," Tommy Joe Lucia said. "And somehow, 53 years later, I'm still in rodeo and still doing it. I think it's the culture, the people, the relationships and the lifestyle that grabs you and keeps you. Rodeo and the Western lifestyle have been incredibly good to me and my family."
Tommy Joe Lucia's younger brother, Anthony Lucia, also stuck with the family business in PRORODEO. Anthony Lucia is the twice-defending PRCA Announcer of the Year and earned a bid to serve as an announcer at the 2025 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo for the first time this December in Las Vegas.
"My dad, who's a hall of famer, would look down and be very proud of both of his boys that we've continued to keep the credibility and the Lucia legacy alive in our sport," Tommy Joe Lucia said. "I'm incredibly proud of Anthony and what he's done in the industry and what he will do.
"The Lucias have a standard, and I just think Anthony and I are meeting the standards set a lot earlier. We're doing what we're supposed to, how we're supposed to do it."
Other winners of the Donita Barnes Lifetime Achievement Award are Donita Barnes (2011); Art and Linda Alsbaugh (2012); Fred and Norma Dorenkamp (2013); Quail Dobbs (2014); Cotton Rosser (2015); Karen Vold (2016), Jim and Julie Sutton (2017), Hadley Barrett (2018); Roy and Virginia Honeycutt (2019); Cindy Rosser (2020); Kay Gay (2021); Bronc Rumford (2022), Scott Walton (2023) and Edie Longfellow (2024).
"The company of this award is staggering," Tommy Joe Lucia said. "The past winners and the nominees for this year are great humans who did an immense amount of work to help make our industry successful."
Tommy Joe Lucia will receive the Donita Barnes Lifetime Achievement Award during the PRCA Awards Banquet on Dec. 3 at 6 p.m. (PT) at the South Point Hotel Casino in Las Vegas.
The inaugural Contract Lifetime Achievement Award's posthumous recipient was long-time PRCA secretary Donita Barnes. She was the wife of ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductee and PRCA stock contractor Bob Barnes and a mentor to thousands of contestants and others involved with Barnes rodeos. The PRCA named the award in her honor in 2012.