Jess Pope enters his sixth straight National Finals Rodeo fourth in the bareback riding world standings. He’s had great success at the NFR, with three average titles, a world championship and nearly $1 million in earnings over 50 go-rounds.
(PRCA PHOTO BY CLICK THOMPSON)

 

WAVERLY, Kan. – Jess Pope’s star has shined bright most of the 2025 ProRodeo regular season.

The illumination might be even greater in the City of Lights. Pope returns to the National Finals Rodeo for the sixth straight year as the No. 4-ranked cowboy in the bareback riding world standings. With experience on his side and a history of greatness inside the Thomas & Mack Center, Pope is in position to make a run at a second world championship.

“I’m looking forward to getting back to Las Vegas and having a chance at a ton of money,” said Pope, 27, of Waverly, Kansas. “Being out there, we get on the best 105 horses that we can come up with as contestants. It’s something I’ve dreamed of, and it still doesn’t seem for real that it’s going to be my sixth one.”

He’s done a lot in a short amount of time. He ended 2019 sitting 28th in the standings during his rookie campaign, but Pope has finished among the top five in each of the past five seasons. He’s excelled at a high level. Over his career – and heading into this year’s trip to the Nevada desert – he has earned $1.8 million.

It’s an incredible sum, but more than half of it has come when the spotlight is at its brightest. He has cleared $959,154 in NFR earnings since his first qualification in 2020. He’s a three-time NFR average champion, meaning he posted the best 10-round cumulative score consecutively from 2020-22, when he walked away from the Vegas dripping in rodeo gold.

Pope rode through the rigors of the 2025 campaign on a hot streak. He earned at least a share of 12 rodeo victories and pocketed $203,629. It’s the most he’s ever earned in a regular season, and he’s looking to add to it. He trails the standings leader, Texan Rocker Steiner, by $100,000, but ground can be made up quickly in Sin City, where go-rounds will pay winners nearly $37,000.

That means Pope can burst into the lead in just three rounds.

“It’s been a great year,” he said. “It’s one of the best, if not the best. I was just enjoying rodeo and drawing good horses, then I was taking advantage of every opportunity that was put in front of me.

“The World’s Toughest Rodeos (a series of events) in the winter were really good to me. During the Texas swing, I didn’t have any big wins at them, but I won a lot of money and placed … I was just kind of that silent guy. That set up everything.”

A key victory, he said, came June 8 during the “Riggin’ Rally,” the Darby (Montana) Xtreme Bareback competition. It was worth $13,361, but there was more than money involved for the Kansas champ.

“I think all the wins have their own moments, but the ‘Riggin’ Rally’ was probably the biggest one for me, just because it really set a lot of confidence in me going into June and July,” said Pope, who credits a great deal of success to his sponsors, Moly Manufacturing, DewEze, Mahindra, Roxor, JD Hudgins Brahman Bulls, Graham School for Cattlemen, Resistol, Justin, Bloomer, Panhandle and Rock & Roll Clothing, Veach’s Custom Leather, Emporia Livestock Sales and T Bar T Cattle Co.

The Darby event also featured only bareback riders, and the field was packed with the top talent in the game; of the entrants, a third the crowd has either been to the NFR or will be competing this year for the first time. The momentum Pope created then continued to build, and he had booked his return trip to Las Vegas a couple months earlier than a year ago, when he had some key late-season earnings to propel him.

“It was just more of a sigh of relief for me,” he said. “Going through July and all that, I was looking at making the NFR knowing I was going to make it rather than trying to scratch for every dollar I could to get close to the top 15 by the end of the year (when the season concludes Sept. 30).”

That comfort offered him other opportunities, too. He ventured back to the Kansas Flint Hills to do cowboy things and spend time with his family, including his wife, Sydney.

“I went home more this year than I ever have,” he said. “We’re building our cattle herd, and our horses are doing good. Sydney’s doing great, so to be a able to get home, work and build our place … you can’t ask for anything more.”

The work never stops, but it’s a blessing for a man who likes his time at home even though his job as a bareback rider keeps him on the road often throughout the year. Pope also competes in the most physically demanding event in rodeo, where cowboys wear specially designed gloves with binds on the edges that they wedge into their tight rigging handles. The riggings are strapped tightly to the horses, so men are virtually locked onto an equine athlete exuding extreme force.

“I feel really good,” Pope said. “I am just dealing with the normal stuff that I have going on and somethings I’ll deal with forever, but none of it’s anything serious. than that, I feel as healthy as I can.”

He’ll need it. The NFR features the top bucking horses in the business, all selected by the top bareback riders in the game. While in Las Vegas, Pope will be joined by one of his traveling partners, Louisianan Kade Sonnier. The two hit the trail together as much as possible, but sometimes their schedules didn’t align.

That’s when Pope utilized his wherewithal to make everything jibe.

“I’m pretty good at bumming rides, so I made it work and was very thankful for all that,” he said. “I enjoyed rodeoing this year. Sometimes it’s not a bad thing to get in the rig with a set of bronc riders or other bareback riders or whatever, just catching rides here and there. It seems like it makes it more fun when I get to do that.

“It gives you something new to talk about, and I think new blood sitting in the truck is always good.”

Pope is like a shark just below the surface. He’s still on the hunt, and he’s ready for every opportunity to strike when he can. He knows the waters in Las Vegas and how to avoid the wrong currents.

Most of all, Jess Pope understands the mentality it takes to be a maneater when the battle commences. It’s his time to shine.