In a viral video, the rodeo crowd roared as TK “Cowboy Sway” McNair exploded out of the chute to Little Richard’s “Long Tall Sally,” his heart pounding in rhythm to each horse kick-out.
What happened next, McNair recalls later, was “the mother of all wrecks.”
The bucking horse rocked his body back and forth, but he held the rope with white-knuckled conviction. When eight long seconds passed, he let go, dismounting from the horse with a tuck and roll. To McNair, the ride felt perfect.
Fueled by cocky adrenaline and the hollering crowd, he climbed the 10-foot-tall arena fence and did a celebratory backflip off the top bar. He landed on his feet — with barely enough time to fist pump as two passing horseback riders trampled over him.
“When I landed, a split-second later, boom, I’m knocked down,” McNair told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “I was all banged up, but I just gritted up, dusted myself off and walked away.”
Since his dramatic collision last April in Tampa, McNair has become a breakout viral star, and now the rising athlete will headline this weekend’s South Florida Soul Rodeo at the South Florida Fairgrounds in West Palm Beach.
Saturday’s event, hosted by South Florida hip-hop icon Trick Daddy, will blend Black cowboy culture with live music and professional competition, and feature bull riding, women’s barrel racing, chute dogging and ranch bronc riding. Proceeds from the 3,500-capacity rodeo will benefit T-Dogg’s Bigg Dreams Charity, which offers mentorship and equine therapy for troubled teenagers.
A celebration of Black cowboy and cowgirl excellence, the company — and Florida’s only Black rodeo — was created by Deerfield Beach gospel hip-hop artist Travis “T-Dogg” Gammage, who says he wants to change perceptions about what cowboys look like by steering new Black competitors into the spectator sport.
“I think the Black cowboy is extraordinary,” he said. “African Americans have been breaking the horses and getting the cows since the early pioneer days, but when TV came around, you didn’t see Black cowboys in the media anymore. But we’ve always been here. Real cowboys have no color. It’s all in the grit, the grind.”
‘You have to be the better cowboy, or have the better horse.’
South Florida Soul Rodeo / Courtesy
TK “Cowboy Sway” McNair, arguably one of the biggest stars on the bill, will compete at the South Florida Soul Rodeo on Saturday at the South Florida Fairgrounds in West Palm Beach. (South Florida Soul Rodeo/Courtesy)
South Florida Soul Rodeo’s biggest star right now, arguably, is McNair. The Texas-born athlete, 28, said the company gave him his first shot at going professional. The self-described adrenaline junkie moved to Florida 11 years ago lacking much direction, for a time wrestling steers as an amateur until it “got boring to me real fast,” he said.
When he saw marketing for Soul Rodeo’s inaugural season last year, McNair reached out to Gammage and tried ranch bronc riding in which riders compete on bucking horses using everyday ranch saddles. It stuck.
“There’s nothing more thrilling than getting on the back of a bucking horse and not knowing what it’s going to do,” McNair said. “So I respect Travis for the chance. In the rodeo world, there are lots of promises that never hold up, but Travis showed me that when he says something, it’s law. Judges don’t get to see those relationships, though. In the arena, you have to be the better cowboy, or have the better horse.”
McNair, who wears “Cowboy Sway” on his button-down Western shirt when he competes, has both. After being trampled by horses in April at the Tampa Bay Rodeo, the footage grabbed the attention of ESPN and other sports outlets and led to interviews and 80,000 new followers on Instagram, along with new sponsorship deals, he said.
Andrew Millar for South Florida Soul Rodeo / Courtesy
Cowboys and cowgirls will compete in bull riding, women’s barrel racing, chute dogging and ranch bronc riding during Saturday’s South Florida Soul Rodeo, which blends Black cowboy culture with live music and professional rodeo competition. (Andrew Millar for South Florida Soul Rodeo/Courtesy)
“I turned what was looked at as a negative and turned it into a positive,” he said. “I’m a showman. I ride for the thrill and to give people a show.”
Minting new stars is the point, Gammage said. He created Soul Rodeo last year, kicking off its inaugural season in May 2025 at the South Florida Fairgrounds, “the only venue that would let me do it” after years of trying and failing to form a pro rodeo, he said. The rodeo also travels to Homestead, Ocala and Fort Pierce during the season.
Gammage, 53, has worked with horses since age 5, visiting the Pompano Beach ranch of his late uncle Roosevelt Jackson, a baseball manager, player and scout for the Negro Leagues. Jackson taught him to ride and the elements of horse tack – saddle, bridle, halter and stirrup — in exchange for cleaning stalls on the weekends, for “50 cents a stall,” he recalled.
Andrew Millar for South Florida Soul Rodeo / Courtesy
The South Florida Soul Rodeo, which blends Black cowboy culture with live music and professional rodeo competition, is coming to the South Florida Fairgrounds on Saturday. (Andrew Millar for South Florida Soul Rodeo/Courtesy)
Now he wants to impart the same equestrian knowledge to today’s youth. His Bigg Dreams Charity nonprofit has visited schools including Deerfield Park Elementary, where he teaches the contributions of Black cowboys to building the American West.
“For average African American kids, their dream is to be a football player. Nobody ever thought of being a great bronc rider,” he said. “Now we’re making kids know it’s cool to be a bronc rider.”
The South Florida Soul Rodeo will take place from 5 to 10 p.m. Saturday at the South Florida Fairgrounds, 9067 Southern Blvd., in West Palm Beach. Tickets cost $53.11-$115.61 after taxes and fees via eventbrite.com. Visit southfloridasoulrodeo.com.
Sun Sentinel writer Phillip Valys can be reached at pvalys@sunsentinel.com or Twitter/X @philvalys.
Andrew Millar for South Florida Soul Rodeo / Courtesy
Cowboys and cowgirls will compete during the South Florida Soul Rodeo on Saturday at the South Florida Fairgrounds. (Andrew Millar for South Florida Soul Rodeo/Courtesy)