Eastern New Mexico University Athletics

Merrill Adams-Ellis led the 1976 women's rodeo team to a Southwest Regional crown and a runner-up finish at the College National Finals Rodeo. She was a four-year qualifier to the CNFR in multiple events. Adams-Ellis has contributed scholarship money to the ENMU rodeo program for several years and presented the first Merrill Adams Rodeo Scholarship. She was the first and only female president of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association. southern region faculty president of the NIRA and was a television commentator on the NIRA College National Finals Rodeo broadcast. In 2012, Adams Ellis was inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame.