08/26/2026
He served as a combat medic in Vietnam, treating soldiers in the 9th Infantry Division. He came home, studied agriculture at Texas A&M, and built a rodeo empire, a hat-making business, and a political career — all while staying, by every account, one of the most well-liked men his community ever produced.
A native of Brazos County, Texas, Sammy Catalena graduated from Texas A&M in 1972 after his time in the Army, then opened a feed store, Bryan Farm and Ranch Center, in 1974. The following year, he launched what started as Circle 5 Rodeo Company and grew into the Sammy Catalena Rodeo Company, supplying livestock to major rodeos across the country including Denver, Phoenix, Kansas City, Houston, San Antonio, Fort Worth, and Las Vegas. He officially became a PRCA stock contractor in 1987, and over the years his operation raised more than 165 horses and 80 bulls.
Then, in 1990, he decided his rodeo productions needed more color during the National Anthem salute. Alongside his brother and best friend Pete Catalena, who directed the performances, Sammy built the Catalena Cowgirls — a precision drill team of about 25 women riding matching paint horses in perfect formation. What started as a patriotic touch to his own shows grew into a genuine sisterhood that toured rodeos nationwide, and even internationally, when Sammy's company took the whole production, horses and all, to Aruba and Curaçao for his 1996 Caribbean Wild West Tour.
Then, in 1983, he and his wife Carolyn opened Catalena Hatters in Bryan, Texas, building custom hats with a reputation that reached clear around the world — he once received payment from a customer in East Germany in the form of rubies.
Then he took that same drive into public service, elected Brazos County Commissioner for Precinct 2 in 2011, a role he held for the rest of his life. He served as vice-chairman of the Producer's Cooperative Association board, chairman of the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo Contest Committee, and a charter member of the Bryan Breakfast Lions Club, whose PRCA rodeo his own company produced for decades.
Inducted into the "Empty Saddles" wing of the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2022. Brazos County Judge Duane Peters put it plainly after his passing — "He did a lot of things and was involved in a lot of community things and was well-liked and well-respected throughout the community. Everybody's heard of Sammy Catalena."
A Vietnam medic who came home and built an empire from scratch. A rodeo company, a drill team, a hat shop, and a seat on the county commission — all at once. A Texas legacy that reached from the Brazos Valley all the way to the Caribbean.
That was Sammy Catalena. 🤠🏆
