Athlete, 20, Dies in Bizarre Rodeo Accident

Alejandra Franco, a 20-year-old sophomore on the Tarleton State University rodeo team, died Thursday night after an accident involving her horse in the roping box at a college rodeo in Alpine, Texas.

Franco was fatally injured during the performance at the S.A.L.E. Arena on the campus of Sul Ross State University, the school that hosted the event said in a statement posted Friday. Sul Ross did not say how she was hurt.

Tarleton State head rodeo coach Mark Eakin said Franco was in the roping box with her horse when the accident happened. No one has released anything beyond that. The exact sequence that killed her has not been addressed in official statements from either university.

The Roping Box, and What Still Has Not Been Said

Franco competed in breakaway roping. The roping box is the fenced-off pocket at the end of the arena where a horse and rider sit and wait, coiled, for the calf to be turned loose. It is a few seconds of stillness before the run starts. That is where she was.

The death happened on Sept. 24 at a Thursday night performance. The Tarleton State Rodeo Team confirmed it on Instagram the next day: "The Tarleton State Rodeo Team is deeply saddened by the passing of our own, Alejandra Franco. Alejandra tragically lost her life yesterday, leaving behind a lasting impact on everyone who had the privilege of knowing her."

Sul Ross put out its own note on Facebook the same day. "SRSU Rodeo is deeply saddened to announce that a Tarleton State University athlete has passed from injuries sustained during the performance at the S.A.L.E. Arena Thursday night," it read. "Our hearts are with her family, team and community at this difficult time." No further information has been released.

The Arena Where College Rodeo Started

The S.A.L.E. Arena is a lighted, covered venue in Alpine that was completely rebuilt in 2020, with modernized stock handling pens and team horse stalls. It was hosting the 81st Annual Sul Ross College Rodeo, part of the Lone Star Region.

Alpine is not a random stop on the circuit. Sul Ross is recognized as the birthplace of collegiate rodeo. The National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association was founded there in 1949, which means almost every college rodeo athlete in the country can trace the sport back to that campus.

The association issued a statement after Franco's death, offering condolences to her family, her teammates and the entire Lone Star Region.

They Ran the Rodeo Anyway, in Purple

Sul Ross announced that the weekend's events would continue as scheduled in Franco's honor, with counselors present at the venue to support the athletes still competing. Professional grief counselors were on site.

The SRSU Rodeo Exes and Alumni handed out purple ribbons at the gate of the S.A.L.E. Arena on Friday and Saturday night. Purple is Tarleton State's color. "Please feel free to take one and wear it throughout rodeo weekend, or WEAR PURPLE to show our love and support," the university's statement said.

An announcer at Friday night's performance told the crowd that a rodeo family was carrying a heavy heart, adding, "If one of us hurts, we all hurt."

Eakin said the Tarleton State team decided to keep competing at the highest level in her memory. He described Franco as an outstanding competitor and a tremendous person, and said her legacy at the school would live on through the people she affected.

A Mentor to Freshmen, 70 Miles From Fort Worth

Tarleton State sits in Stephenville, roughly 70 miles southwest of Fort Worth, and its rodeo program has won 37 national championship titles. Franco was on that team, but on campus she was better known for something else.

She was a Tarleton Transition Mentor, one of the students who greets incoming freshmen and walks them through their first weeks. The mentors use family nicknames for each other: mama ducks, daddy ducks, baby ducks. Franco was one of the ducks, and then she was one of the people looking after them.

University President James Hurley posted a statement Friday. "Our hearts are absolutely broken with the news of Alejandra Franco," he wrote. "Ale was a true Texan, a cherished member of our TTM and representing Tarleton State on the rodeo stage. She touched so many lives through her friendly smile, leadership, kindness and the love she shared with those around her. Her presence will be deeply missed, but the impact she made on her Texan family will never be forgotten."

By Saturday afternoon, the rodeo team's Instagram post had more than 10,000 likes and nearly 300 comments. Hurley's post had nearly 10,000 likes and dozens of comments. One commenter called her the most genuine and true friend and said the rodeo community was heartbroken.

Tarleton State directed grieving students and teammates to its Student Counseling Services, with free support available through a 24-hour line at 254-968-9044.

Her Friends Tracked Her Location, and She Tracked Theirs

Sienna Mallory said Franco used location sharing to find her friends and then show up unannounced. "She was always stalking us on our location to figure out where we were. She would come surprise us at TJ Maxx," Mallory said.

Aubrey Evans called her "just a bundle of joy." Evans said Franco would dance in the middle of the street and walk up to strangers at Whataburger to ask for a picture, without caring what anybody thought, and that remembering it has helped her too.

Emily Lonsford said Franco could make her laugh no matter what she was going through, and that her laugh "was the sweetest sound." Days later, Lonsford still could not process it. "It feels like she's gonna come spend another night on our couch," she said. Decorations from Franco's birthday were still up in her friend's apartment.

Maile Petty said Franco made sure nobody got left out. "Never let anybody feel left out or out of place. She was just a light to everyone," Petty said.

Mackenzie Langley, a Tarleton State graduate student, met Franco through the mentor program. "So I served as her mama duck and her mentor throughout college," Langley said. She found out from a social media post Friday morning and immediately called Franco's closest friends, the rest of her baby ducks. "It's really been hard. We all keep saying this just, it doesn't feel real," Langley said.

Her Birthday Was a Month Earlier

Tarleton Rodeo posted a happy birthday message for Franco on its social media accounts on Aug. 25. She turned 20 roughly a month before the Alpine rodeo.

Her father, Alejandro Franco, identified himself in a Facebook letter after her death and wrote about her in the second person. "You were my everything, my world, the joy of every day," he wrote. "You were the happiest person, the most positive, the kindest."

He said the whole world loved her, and rightly so, because she was special. He wrote that she was the light, that every one of her laughs had stayed etched in his chest, and that he was proud to be her dad. He asked her forgiveness for crying and said he did not know how to go on without her.

Then he made a promise: to honor her life by living the way she lived, with positivity, being good to people, helping the way she used to. "I love you forever, darling," he wrote. "I love you beyond the sky, beyond everything." He ended by asking her to wait for him with her smile, and said that one day they would hug again.

Before Tarleton, She Rode With an Escaramuza Team

Franco's riding did not start in Stephenville. Before she competed for Tarleton State, she was a member of Escaramuza Charra El Gran Chaparral, a women's equestrian team, and her roots in the sport ran back to Mexico.

The team posted its condolences on Instagram, writing that it expressed its most sincere condolences to the family of its teammate Alejandra Franco, wished them strength and comfort in a painful time, and hoped she would rest in peace.

Mallory said Franco had a way of turning something negative into something positive, and that she wants to live that way now.

Neither university has released anything else about the accident. The roping box in Alpine is the last thing anyone can say for certain about how a 20-year-old sophomore died.