Shirley Watts of the world-renowned Tic Tac Toe Ranch was inducted into the ABBA Hall of Fame at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo International Brahman Show in March of 2025. Legendary breeder and judge Jim Williams of V8 Ranch gave the induction speech on the iconic green shavings surrounded by Shirley’s friends and family.
The Watts family – Shirley; her late husband Max; three daughters Stephanie Ebeling, Debra Barnes and Tammie Watts; and five grandchildren – Brandy, Carl, Will, Tol and Jacquelyn have all been familiar faces to the Brahman world for many years. (Additionally, there are eight – soon to be nine – new faces, great grandchildren continuing the legacy.)
Shirley grew up in the cattle industry. Her dad was the manager at Wheelock Farm, a registered Hereford operation in Powell, Texas. From a young age, she was active in the Forage Club and showed steers and heifers. At ten she won her first class at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo with a steer. In those formative years she met the love of her life, Max Watts, at the Forage Club. According to a 2005 Brahman Journal article, Max said he first met Shirley when she was eight years old and was “stricken with her” at the very first moment.
After going in different directions for years, the couple wed in 1963 and were together until Max’s passing in 2008. Max was the owner of Tic Tac Toe Ranch in Frost, Texas, which at that time they got married, was a Hereford operation. The Brahman business began for the Watts family in 1970 thanks to Bob Massey of Koontz Ranch who sold (at a very reasonable price) each of the three daughters one heifer per year while they were in high school. Their herd became known as Watts Ranch.
The girls convinced Massey to sell a Gray Brahman bull named HCK Sir Suvaneldo 308/1 – a bull he in fact really wanted to keep – to service their cows. That bull went on to sire the legendary 1979 International Grand Champion and Register of Renown leading (+)WR MR. SUVA 203. Max and Shirley started their larger Brahman herd in 1975. They were fortunate enough to obtain some Bob Massey heifers and some good old V8 and Koontz Ranch cows that needed TLC to produce two or three more calves before they finished their productive lives. They ran 50 – 75 head of Brahman cows as well as a herd of commercial cattle. They managed their own fitting service and cattle genetic facility, doing AI and embryo transplant work for outside clients.
The Tic Tac Toe and Watts Ranches have produced cattle that have influenced great herds around the world. The Watts have produced and raised influential Brahman herd sires including eight Register of Renown bulls and a Maternal Performance sire – (+)WR MR. SUVA 203, +TTT MR. RAMBO 118, +TTT MR. SUVA CRATA 163 , +TTT-SS SIDNEY 245, +TTT MR. SUVA CRATA 450 , +TTT MR. TEXAS LOTTO 670, +TTT SUVA BOB MANSO 786, +TTT MR. MAYRO SUVA 845 and (=)TTT MR S SUVA 1ST 886 and 34 Register of Renown cows. The same keen eye that has made her an outstanding breeder also helped Shirley to become an internationally renowned judge. Shirley started judging steers and heifers at county fairs in 1976. Over the years, she judged in five countries and nine states. Perhaps most notably, she was the first woman to judge the International Brahman Show at the Houston Livestock Show and rodeo in 1998. In 2003, Max and Shirley were honored at both Dallas and Fort Worth for having exhibited cattle for 55 consecutive years.
In addition to raising the bar in the show ring as a breeder and judge, Shirley helped the breed to strive for excellence through her leadership positions at ABBA, serving on the Board of Directors and the show committee. The 2021 ABBA National Brahman Show was dedicated to Shirley. “Shirley Watts is most deserving of this honor due to her longtime service and promotion of the Brahman breed,” then ABBA executive vice president Chris Shivers said. “Not only has she excelled in the show ring, but she understands the commercial industry.” A talented and hardworking pioneer and role model for women in the cattle business, Shirley is certainly deserving of all the accolades and acknowledgements. When asked how it felt to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, Shirley said, “It’s something you never dream of. It’s quite a privilege.”
