About: Ted

Bridger Anderson cashed in for the seventh time with a fifth-place finish during Saturday’s 10th round of the National Finals Rodeo. He finished the 10-day championship with $117,540 in earnings. (PRCA PHOTO BY LARA ST JACQUES)   LAS VEGAS – On the final night of the 2025 ProRodeo season, steer wrestler Bridger Anderson did what he had to do. When his horse, Whiskers, caught up to the cow, the fight was on. Anderson tipped the steer over in 4.5 seconds and napped his seventh-round paycheck of this year’s 10-night National Finals Rodeo. It was worth $5,914 and increased his Las Vegas earnings to $117,540. It was an impressive run, but there’s more to it. He had that kind of a week but was still saddled with two no-times. “We shouldn’t have had those,” said Anderson, a three-time NFR qualifier from Carrington, North Dakota. “Those steers sucked, but I ain’t even worried about it. With those two no-times, I should have caught those steers, but it was still a good week. “I’m super happy for Tuck.” That’s Tucker Allen, who won the bulldogging world title after an impressive run in Sin City. He and Anderson were roommates at Northwestern Oklahoma State University for a short time and have remained close friends. Outside the college ties, it’s a common bond between steer wrestlers. “We’re all buddies, and we’re rooting for each other,” Anderson said. “We’re just a group of best friends that are not going to root against each other. That would be silly. We don’t compete against each other as much as we compete against the cow we have drawn, and then the rest falls out the way it does.” That mentality is why their bond is tight. It’s why Anderson is genuinely happy for his friend. “Tucker and I both had Luke (Branquinho) as one of our biggest mentors,” he said of the five-time world champion. “He’s been studying with Luke a lot longer than I have, but this is awesome. I’m so pumped for him.” Allen finished the year with almost $400,000 in earnings, while Anderson closed the campaign with $226,867, good enough for ninth in the world standings. His year of competition is complete, and it’s time for a short break. “I’m not going to think about rodeo for a couple weeks,” he said with a laugh. “I’m going to hang out in Arizona for a few days, then go up to South Dakota for Christmas. Then it’s time for Odessa, Denver and San Diego, so we’re right back into it. It’s all gas, no breaks at that point.” He wouldn’t have it any other way.

Even though the breaks never came his way, J.D. Struxness was solid during his seventh National Finals Rodeo. He finished third in the average and left Las Vegas with more than $134,000. (PRCA PHOTO BY LARA ST JACQUES)   LAS VEGAS – The look of disappointment was evident. J.D. Struxness wanted another Montana Silversmiths gold buckle. It went to California instead of Minnesota, but it was still a solid performance for the 2024 steer wrestling titlist. He placed in just five rounds, half that of the National Finals Rodeo, and his biggest day check came on opening night when he finished in a three-way tie for second place. Still, he was solid through the 10-day championship. He grappled 10 steers to the ground in a cumulative time of 63.1 seconds, one of just four men who had a time in every round. He finished third in the aggregate race and added a $60,325 payday for doing so Saturday night. He concluded his seventh NFR with $134,198 and ended the season seventh in the world standings with $272,870. “This is one of the first times I’ve thrown down all 10 steers,” said Struxness of Milan, Minnesota. “Overall, it was a good week, especially for bringing a new horse out here. I thought he did extremely well and has some confidence in the building. “We’re really looking forward to him the next few years and then getting to bring him back up here and see what it’s like with maturity and getting bigger and stronger.” Ice is just 7 years old, so the vibrant, packed stands in the Thomas & Mack Center were a new adventure for the young horse. It’s a major source of pride for Struxness. “We’re going to see what kind of horse he’s going to be,” he said. “It’s pretty exciting. As far as the 10 days, we’re pretty happy about it. We never really made any mistakes; we just didn’t have any breaks go our way. Usually in this building, you need at least one break to go your way, and then you can make an outstanding run somewhere. “To be able to come out and walk our way back up to third in the average is a big deal.”

Bareback rider Cole Franks considered his fourth National Finals Rodeo a disappointment, but he still earned almost $108,000 in 10 days. He finished fourth in the average race, and that $44,356 bonus was added into his earnings. He finished sixth in the world standings. (PHOTO BY GREG WESTFALL)   LAS VEGAS – It’s been a whirlwind 365 days for bareback rider Cole Franks. He left Nevada last December with more than $155,000 in earnings and a plan to be back. He set out on a plan to do that, but there were other aspects to his life that were also a priority. Franks was married in May to the former Dustie Warr, then set off on the rodeo trail that kept him on the road for much of the summer. He kept winning, and the result was a fourth qualification to the National Finals Rodeo. He and his bride are also expecting their first child in February, so he arrived in Las Vegas two weeks ago with gold on his mind and a goal of buying diapers and baby food for months to come. This is the world’s richest rodeo, where a disappointing 10 nights still resulted in a payday of $107,781. “It’s still a good payday, but it’s definitely not what I wanted to get done or anywhere close to what I had envisioned,” said Franks, 24, of Clarendon, Texas. “Nothing felt right the last four rounds. I don’t know necessarily if it was equipment or my body. A lot of stuff is hurting right now, my hips, my neck, everything.” The business of bareback riding is brutal on one’s body. Cowboys wear specially designed gloves with binds on the ring and pinky fingers to lock their hands into the riggings, which are strapped tightly to the horse’s back. They then try to spur from the front of the animal’s shoulders back to the rigging before surging the feet back to the front before the bronc’s front feet hit the ground again. All the while, 1,200 pounds of bucking dynamite is exploding beneath them. It’s time. “I finally committed to just saying getting my hip,” said Franks, the 2021 intercollegiate champion at Clarendon College in both the all-around, bareback riding and as part of the men’s title team. “I’ve got a torn labrum and bone spurs growing in my hip. I feel like it’s probably the best time to do it, get it done before the new year and come back in mid-April. “That’ll give me two months at home with a new baby. I won’t have to worry about being gone and missing the baby or missing him being born because his due date is in the heat of winter rodeo.” Rodeo is how Cole Franks makes a living, and it’s a pretty good one. He finished the year with $308,143 riding bucking horses, and his consistency at the NFR came through despite his ailments. He rode 10 broncs for a cumulative score of 846 points, placing fourth in the aggregate, which was worth $44,356. It’s time to get things fixed and heal so he can continue to support his growing family. That’s the priority, after all.

Weston Patterson closed out his first National Finals Rodeo in a big way. He placed in three of the final four nights, including an 87.75-point ride on Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s Larry Culpepper to finish fifth during Saturday’s 10th round. (PHOTO BY GREG WESTFALL)   LAS VEGAS – The National Finals Rodeo can be a strange place. Take saddle bronc rider Weston Patterson. He entered the sport’s Super Bowl 11th in the world standings, then accumulated $94,573 in wealth. Still, he dropped two spots on the money list to No. 13. His final payday came during Saturday’s 10th go-round, where he rode Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s Larry Culpepper for 87.75 points to finish fifth, worth $9,463. He finished the year with $268,308. “It was a very fun 10 days of my life, and I’m never going to forget it,” said Patterson, a first-time NFR qualifier from Waverly, Kansas. “I really can’t complain. Obviously, I could be greedy and say I wanted more, but I’m very thankful to have it go this way. I’m very appreciative.” He should be. Only the top 15 bronc busters on the money list at the end of the regular season get to play on this stage. Patterson kicked off his Las Vegas adventure by finishing second on opening night, Dec. 4. He had another fifth-place finish in Round 7, then won the eighth night. It’s still a windfall, even though others cashed in their NFR slots for more cash. World champion Statler Wright earned $274,000 inside the Thomas & Mack Center. This was a building block. A ride like he produced on the final night of the 2025 campaign would win most rodeos. At the NFR, he settled for fifth. Just like when he finished second at the College National Finals Rodeo in 2021, he was part of the Clarendon (Texas) men’s team that won the national title. He knows what it’s like to be a winner, but he’s also just two years removed from his rookie season. Every phase in life can be a learning tool, and this is just another rung on his ladder toward longstanding success. “One thing I learned is it’s a long week,” Patterson said. “Everybody says, ‘Take it one horse at a time,’ and that ain’t no lie. It can get cold and get real hot real fast. You just need to keep your head down. There’s obviously a reason why every one of us is here. “You just have to keep going after them one after another and believe in yourself.”

Jess Pope added another $76,000 to his National Finals Rodeo earnings this year by finishing second in the average. He has earned nearly $1.2 million at the NFR over his six qualifications. (PRCA PHOTO BY LARA ST JACQUES)   LAS VEGAS – Mr. Las Vegas was at it again over the last week and a half of National Finals Rodeo competition. Bareback rider Jess Pope placed in six rounds, including two wins, and finished second in the aggregate race by riding 10 horses for a cumulative score of 853.75 points – in the first year of the quarter-point system at the NFR, he lost the average title by just .25 points to Montana cowboy Sam Petersen. That runner-up finish was still valued at more than $76,000, and it pushed his NFR earnings to $215,814. He finished the year with $419,443 and was third in the world standings. “I felt like I rode everything the best I could,” said Pope, the 2022 world champion from Waverly, Kansas. “I didn’t draw the best in some of the rounds, but that is part of rodeo.” He paused and pondered the difference between him and Petersen after 10 rounds. “I like the half points better, because it’s a little easier to swallow a half point than it does a quarter point for (about) $20,000,” he said with a smile spreading across his cheeks when talking about the difference in payouts from first to second. The competitor wants to win at every level, but that kind of money is a valuable thing. He’s done it quite a bit in his six qualifications to ProRodeo’s grand finale. Over his 60 rounds inside the Thomas & Mack Center, Pope has earned $1,174,968 and has never finished worse than fifth in aggregate points. “I feel really confident getting on 10 head in a row,” said Pope, who won the average title three consecutive years (2020-22). “I might not have the flashiest spur stroke and be able to win on the little hoppers (the easiest to ride broncs in rodeo), but if you put 10 head of every caliber of horse, I feel like I’m going to handle every one of them the best way I can.” That’s why he’s so successful once he arrives in Sin City. “At the end of the day, I’m just here excited to be making a living in rodeo,” he said. “There are a lot of people who wish they were in my shoes. That average buckle, that gold buckle … it doesn’t define who I am as a person, but I can walk out of this building confidently that I showed up, rode the best that I felt like I could and enjoyed every moment of it. “To be able to come out here and make that kind of money is great. I bought a skid loader before I came out here, and I’ll be able to go home now and buy some attachments and just try to set myself up for later in life. It is truly a blessing to be able to be here and ride for the money that we do and hopefully be here for another seven to 10 years.” When he returns to the City of Entertainment next year, he’ll have another fan with him. Pope and his wife, Sydney, are expecting their first child in May. He’s already making plans for how to prepare for that blessing. “I think I’m going to pull a Tim O’Connell,” he said, referring to the three-time world titlist from Iowa and one of Pope’s best friends. “We’re going to have a big keg party in my shop, and the only way you can get a cup is if you bring a box of diapers. Hopefully I don’t have to buy diapers for nine or 10 months.”