Charmayne James

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Charmayne James is a retired American rodeo rider who specialized in barrel racing. She was born on June 23, 1970, in Boerne, Texas, and grew up in Clayton, New Mexico. She started riding at age three and was running barrels by age six. She began competing in rodeos as a young girl through the Rabbit Ear 4-H Club.

James won 11 WPRA barrel racing world championships—the most in history. Ten of those titles came in a row from 1984 to 1993, with a final championship in 2002. She qualified for the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) 19 times and won seven NFR Average titles.

Her famous horse Scamper (Gills Bay Boy) helped her dominate the sport for years. They won many titles together, including a dramatic 1985 world championship when Scamper’s bridle came loose during a run. In 1987, James became the first woman to wear the No. 1 back number at the NFR. Scamper served as James’s main partner until he retired in 1993 after their 10th world title. Scamper was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1996.

Charmayne James was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 1992 and the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 2017. She retired from competition in 2003, then spent time teaching through barrel racing clinics and training horses. She is based in Boerne, Texas, and is a mother of two.

James briefly returned to competition, appearing in The American in 2014 and later joining Elite Rodeo Athletes in 2016. She also explored cloning to preserve Scamper’s legacy, working with ViaGen to create Clayton, a colt born in 2006 who carries Scamper’s genetic line. Clayton has sired healthy foals and can compete in barrel racing events even though cloned horses are not registered by the AQHA.