{{short description|American trick rider}}
'''Faye Blackstone''' (June 3, 1915 – August 30, 2011) was an American rodeo star, performer, and elected member of the Cowgirl Hall of Fame. She was known for having a hand in the starting the female sport of rodeo Barrel Racing.
== Early life == Blackstone was born ''Fayetta June Hudson'' in Diller, Nebraska, in 1915.<ref name="wp">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/faye-blackstone-rodeo-trick-rider-dies-at-96/2011/09/01/gIQAGZBUvJ_story.html|title=Faye Blackstone, rodeo trick rider, dies at 96|last=Rees Shapiro|first=T.|date=September 1, 2011|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=September 8, 2011}}</ref> She self-taught herself to perform tricks on horses after watching a woman handle a flailing bronco when she was eight years old.<ref name="wp" />
== Career == In 1978, Blackstone and her husband helped Reba McEntire, the daughter of friends, launch her career, by arranging for her to perform at a county fair in Florida.<ref name="wp" /> McEntire recalled the performance as a breakthrough in her career in a 2003 interview with the ''Bradenton Herald'' saying, "That was my first big fair by myself. It was huge to me."<ref name="bh">{{cite web |last1=Paradise |first1=Afshar |title=Bradenton Herald |url=https://www.bradenton.com/news/article34521198.html |website=Cowgirl hall of famer Faye Blackstone dies at 96 |access-date=February 13, 2021 |date=August 31, 2011}}</ref>
Blackstone also turned her equestrian talents towards the sport of barrel racing in its beginning. She, along with others such as Dixie Reger Mosley and Wanda Harper Bush, were active in barrel racing in its founding. Blackstone and other cowgirls began a barrel racing event in Florida in 1950.<ref>{{cite web |title=The History of Barrel Racing |url=http://www.gailwoerner.com/way-out-west-blog/the-history-of-barrel-racing |website=Gail Hughbanks Woerner|access-date=February 13, 2021}}</ref>
Blackstone and Vic performed trick riding together throughout the United States during the 1940s and 1950s.<ref name="wp" /> She performed as far away from Nebraska as Havana, Cuba, and competed alongside well known celebrities, including Gene Autry.<ref name="wp" /> She is credited with inventing three rodeo maneuvers, the reverse fender drag, the flyaway, and the ballerina.<ref name="wp" /> Vic Blackstone retired during the 1950s, while Faye Blackstone continued to perform until her retirement during the late 1960s.<ref name="wp" />
== Personal life == In 1937, Blackstone married her husband, the Texan rodeo performer Vic Blackstone, in a ceremony held in the center of a rodeo arena in Bladen, Nebraska.<ref name="wp" /> The couple moved to a home on the outskirts of Parrish, Florida, in Manatee County during 1951.<ref name="bh" /> They worked and raised cattle at a nearby ranch.<ref name="wp" />
==Death and legacy== Faye Blackstone was elected into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1982,<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.cowgirl.net/portfolios/faye-blackstone/|title=Faye Blackstone|work=Cowgirl Hall of Fame & Museum|access-date=April 4, 2017}}</ref> the same year that her husband was inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame.<ref name="bh" /> The Blackstones became the namesakes of Blackstone Park in Palmetto, Florida.<ref name="bh" />
Faye Blackstone died in Bradenton, Florida, aged 96, from cancer, on August 30, 2011. Her husband died in 1987.<ref name="wp" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}} {{Use American English|date=September 2021}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackstone, Faye}} Category:1915 births Category:2011 deaths Category:People from Jefferson County, Nebraska Category:People from Manatee County, Florida Category:Deaths from cancer in Florida Category:Trick riders Category:Women stunt performers Category:Cowgirl Hall of Fame inductees