Miss Rodeo Texas makes history, keeps crown for 2nd year due to pandemic

‘I feel like a legend cause no one else has ever done this before,’ Jordan Maldonado says

SAN ANTONIO – Miss Rodeo Texas Jordan Maldonado is making a historic trip back to the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual competition to crown a new Miss Rodeo Texas was canceled. The cancellation means Maldonado gets to keeps her sash, buckle and hat and ride into the Freeman Coliseum to perform her rodeo duties for a history-making second year in a row.

“It’s so cool, I can’t explain it. I feel like a legend cause no one else has ever done this before,” Maldonado said. “This is the sport I’ve grown up competing in, so its awesome to get to represent for not one but two years.”

After finishing her duties her in San Antonio last year, the 21-year-old Boerne native went to the Houston Rodeo, but in the middle the weeks-long event, the rodeo was shut down due to COVID-19.

That was just the beginning of things to come.

“It was like a domino effect. I was at Houston and they cancelled. The next morning, I woke up early and I drove to Austin. We did a production meeting and then a rehearsal. I waited around a few hours, they cancelled that one, as well, so I drove home,” Maldonado said.

Since then, Maldonado has been able to appear at a few smaller rodeos, but San Antonio by far is her biggest event since the pandemic started.

Maldonado said she is excited to be a part of rodeo this year since it will be held at the Freeman Coliseum.

“This is so cool. I have only been to the AT&T Center, so to be here in the Freeman and get to see how rodeo is in the Freeman I think this is so exciting,” she said.

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About the Author

David Sears, a native San Antonian, has been at KSAT for more than 20 years.

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