Khalilah Smith is the first black rodeo queen in Michigan State history

EAST LANSING — Tears started to roll down Khalilah Smith’s cheeks and hit the pillow.

Just a few hours earlier, she'd stepped forward in the middle of a dirt arena, her right arm raised and waving to a sold-out crowd.

That afternoon, she was still trying to digest the words that just came out of the speakers high in the rafters overhead.

What she heard on Saturday afternoon was that she'd been named 2018 Miss Michigan State University Rodeo Queen.

It took until 2 a.m. Sunday morning for the realization to set in.

“It didn’t sink in at the time,” Smith said Sunday afternoon at the 49th annual Spartan Stampede. She was wearing white from head to toe, and the sash across her chest, metal insignia on her cowboy hat and sizable new gold belt buckle confirmed her new title. 

“It just all hit me at once. I had a feeling in my stomach and just woke up and cried.”

Smith and three other contestants this season were judged on horsemanship, modeling, a written exam and a speech. Smith said she wasn't confident she nailed it, especially the speech.

Smith's mother, Carnethia Goldsby, shot a video of the announcement and immediately posted it to her Facebook page. She said congratulations started to pour in. Family and friends praised Smith for her commitment and bravery. One cousin called her "immortal.”

Because Smith wasn’t just named a rodeo queen. She will forever be known as the first African-American woman in school history to earn the honor.

“It’s awesome,” Goldsby said. “I have no words. I just thank God that she got this opportunity.”

Goldsby was in Smith’s East Lansing apartment the night after it happened. When Smith woke with the realization, Goldsby told her to go back to sleep, it wasn’t a dream

“She said, ‘Mom, I can’t believe it,’” Goldsby said. “She earned it.”

Smith didn’t grow up on a ranch. She wasn’t raised around horses. Rodeos were not part of her world.

The day horses came into her life, she was 10 years old and dealing with a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. She had issues focusing in school. She said she acted out. Going to college one day seemed like a pipe dream.

That changed on a farm near Belleville.

Riding on the back of a horse changed everything for Smith. She no longer needed ADHD medication. Those days, in fields outside of town, were her therapy. Her grades improved. So did her work ethic. A young black girl from Detroit started to dream.

“Horses are not like any other animal...” said Smith, now 19. "They can make you smile on a day you want to just bawl and cry. They are my pride and joy.”

Rodeo came next. Smith calls that a major turning point in her life.

“I love speed,” she laughed, referring to running barrels. “Let’s do it.”

She was raised on the west side of Detroit. Plymouth and Evergreen roads used to be the crossroads of a thriving middle-class neighborhood. Now, Smith said, her side of town is known more for crime, poverty and abandoned houses.

That is one of the many reasons the honor means so much to her.

“That’s a lot on my shoulders,” Smith said. “I can be a stepping stone. Being a minority in a majority world in this rodeo thing, it’s like people are worried about stepping out into this world. I want to be that person that says, 'Yeah, you can come do it.'

“This is so special to me because, this weekend, I was given the opportunity to write another chapter in the book of black history.”

Sitting on top of her horse outside the gates of the arena Sunday, MSU Rodeo Club coach, Denise Fullhart, called Smith a “wonderful representative” for the team.

The sophomore is now the face of the program — the state's only college rodeo team. Fullhart, who has coached the team the past seven seasons, hopes it leads to more inclusion in the sport and at the school.

“She is going to take Western heritage into the inner cities,” Fullhart said. “She worked her tail off, and I feel like this is monumental.”

Brian D. Nielsen, the team’s adviser for the last 21 years, said he likes Smith’s story and what she represents. Having a black rodeo queen is a “wonderful change,” he said.

But for Nielsen, this honor has little to do with skin color.

“She is just a great person,” he said. “She is fantastic, diligent and involved. I wanted a person who could ride. That’s what I am most relieved about.”

Nielsen said the contestants were under constant evaluation. In 2017, Smith, then a freshman, was shy, he said. She was in the running, but eventually, Jessica Clark, was crowned.

Smith, who is also a barrel racer, graciously conceded the queen race at this same time last year in a post on her Facebook page. She vowed to become more outgoing, excitable and adventurous. She said she needed to improve her overall self.

Saturday, it was Clark hugging Smith and slipping a white sash around her head as the capacity crowd roared in approval.

“I wanted to prove to people that anyone can do anything they put their mind to,” Smith said of the importance of this recognition. “Basically, everywhere I go, people lock their doors or they look at me weird until I say ‘hi, I’m Khalilah Smith.’ I smile at them. My mom always told me to kill people with kindness. I never look at anyone bad. That’s basically how I was raised.”

Smith’s mother noticed an immediate turnaround in her daughter after she started riding. Although she was a single parent raising two children, Goldsby worked two jobs to make sure Smith stuck with this new-found passion.

“Horses mellow her out,” Goldsby said of her daughter.

Goldsby has been a technician at AT&T for the past 31 years. She climbs poles during the day. At night, she goes to her second job, doing tax returns at H&R Block. She jokes that she took the second job to learn how to be better with her own money.

But Smith said that’s not entirely accurate.

She said her mother has never let her or her older brother, Marvin, go without. Goldsby is paying to put Smith through school. She also bought her two horses, Mystery and Blue.

“My mom had to face a lot,” Smith said. “She is doing it by herself. She is my biggest inspiration in this world. I know she is tired. I want to take care of her one day. I did this for her.”

Now, Smith’s focus is shifting from chasing the crown to proving she was the right choice.

Smith, who is studying animal science with a pre-veterinary medicine and biology concentration, wants to serve as a mentor, not only in the inner-city, but to anyone who wants to learn horsemanship and rodeo. She wants to give back her time and knowledge. She wants her story to inspire. She wants to exude confidence in every situation.

She laughs when the conversation turns to overcoming stereotypes. Even in her own neighborhood, people can’t believe she is wearing cowboy boots and walking horses down the city streets.

“No lie, people look at me and think ‘You're black?’” she laughed. “People ask, ‘Where did you get the horse from?’ They don’t technically think people of color can have and own horses. I get different reactions. Then people ask to pet them. I love that, especially seeing kids light up.”

It seems like a lifetime ago that she was walking into her first meeting with the rodeo club, nervous and group texting her mother, trainer, godfather and aunt. They helped settle her. They told her everything would be OK.

They were right again.

She is validated.

She is home.

“I’m a city girl by skin, country girl by heart,” she smiled.

Contact Cody Tucker at (517) 377-1070 or cjtucker@lsj.com