Ric Griffith

A native of London, Ontario in Canada, Ric Griffith came to Las Vegas in 1962. He later became a U.S. citizen because of his love for this nation.

After graduating from Western High School in Las Vegas, Griffith enjoyed success in the sport of rodeo at a young age and continued competing for many years. He started out in the Little Britches Rodeo Association, Western Junior Rodeo association and Las Vegas High School Rodeo Association.

After graduating in 1978, and while working full time with the Operating Engineers, he competed in rodeo with the PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association) and qualified many times for the Wilderness Circuit finals.

Griffith holds the arena record in steer wrestling at the Las Vegas Convention Center Rotunda. Throughout his rodeo career, he has numerous championship titles and buckles. He is now a Gold Card member of the PRCA, earning those honors in 2005.

Griffith has also made his mark in Las Vegas and in the rodeo world as the coach of the UNLV Rodeo Team. Since 1993, his teams and individuals rodeo athletes have won 15 national titles. The National All-Around Champions have included Preston Williams (1997), Ross Coleman (1998), Suzanne Montero (2001-02) and Jonlyn Vaccaro (2002).

His teams have also won four Women’s Team Reserve National Championships (2001, 2002, 2005 and 2009) and 26 Regional Team Titles, the most recent being the 2013 West Coast Women’s Champions and Men’s Reserves.