About: Ted

Texas tie-down roper wins $100,000 during rodeo in AT&T Stadium AT&T Stadium is just four hours from Caleb Smidt’s home in Bellville, Texas, a community of about 4,200 people near Houston. That makes it easy for those that love him most to make the trip to see their favorite cowboy compete. It’s also easy for Smidt to find success in an arena filled with that much support. On the opening Sunday of March, the three-time and reigning world champion tie-down roper won The American for the second time and pocketed another $100,000 for doing so. “It’s just awesome to have as many people that I have in my family come watch and support me,’ said Smidt, who also won inside “Jerry World” in 2019. “They make a point to go everywhere they can and to do the other things to support me. It makes it so much sweeter when you go back to them. “My wife and kids are still excited whether I win or don’t win, but it makes you want to do better and do the things to support my family. It wouldn’t mean as much to me if they didn’t want to go. For them to want to go makes it that much better.” The feelings are mutual. Over his career, Smidt has qualified for the National Finals Rodeo eight times. The three years he’s claimed the Montana Silversmiths gold buckle (2015, ’18 and ’21), he also won the NFR average championship. This past December, he pocketed nearly $192,000 in 10 days of ProRodeo’s grand finale and finished the year with $318,456. The American is a unique event that featured 10 cowboys that were exempt based on being among the top 10 in the 2021 PRCA world standings. The remaining competitors in the field had earned their way through a series of qualifiers. Winners of each event pocketed $100,000, but the qualifiers were eligible for part of the $2 million side pot along with the one-hundred grand. By the time the dust settled, Brazilian bull rider Kaique Pacheco was the only qualifier to win his event, thereby earning $2.1 million. For Smidt, the victory inside AT&T Stadium provided him an emotional outlet to showcase his faith and his talent with a rope. He nearly broke down with his post-ride interview that was shown to the large crowd and to millions of viewers on national television. “It’s the biggest one-day, well, two-day, rodeo there is,” he said. “Any time you can win it once is a dream come true, so winning twice is unbelievable. It’s dang sure a blessing to be able to win it twice.” It was also a bit of redemption after the previous 15 months. After qualifying for the NFR in 2020, he wasn’t allowed to compete because of a positive COVID test directly before the championship at its one-time home of Globe Life Field in Arlington. He advanced into The American through the qualifying events, but things didn’t work out for him to talk away with an incredible payday a year ago. “I got to rope for $1 million at The American last year, but I didn’t pull it off,” Smidt said. “It’s saddening to know you had a chance and didn’t come through. “I’ve been in a lot of pressure situations. When you compete at a high level, you get in situations where you have to win and need to win. When you don’t come through, it sits deep in your stomach. It’s going to bother you if you have a winner’s mentality. I didn’t just shake it off and walk out of the arena. It made me want to be better. That’s what pushes me to get better.” It worked, and he has 100,000 reasons to believe in himself. Because The American wasn’t sanctioned by the PRCA, the money earned doesn’t count toward the 2022 world standings, but it can come in quite handy. More than likely, though, his wife Brenna will have a plan soon. “I’m sure my wife can find something,” he said with a laugh. “We have a three-bedroom house and three kids, so two of them share a room. “Before too long, we’re going to have to add to our house.” The way the competition worked, there were 17 cowboys in the first round of The American, which took place March 4 at Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas. The top 10 times moved on to AT&T Stadium for Sunday, where the field was pared down the cowboys with the top four scores. Smidt was the third roper to make a run after watching Tuf Cooper and Riley Webb secure 7.60- and 7.81-second runs, respectively. Smidt then roped and secured his calf in 6.87 seconds with only friend Hunter Herrin to compete. When Herrin struggled, Smidt lowered his head, dejected for his friend. It all factored into the emotions the Texan shared on the stage inside the massive stadium. “Me and Hunter have become pretty close, and he helps me out and I help him out a lot,” Smidt said. “We were the last two guys to go; he got to rope for $2.1 million, me for $100,000. I wouldn’t have been disappointed at all if he would have won, because winning that kind of money was going to be life-changing. “I couldn’t imagine what he was going through. I was just disappointed for him.” That’s the nature of rodeo that isn’t seen in many other professional sports. Friendships develop, and relationships become more like family. He spent the last couple of years traveling with 2019 world champion Haven Meged, and the two have become really close friends. That helps. Meged was standing in the roping box with Smidt when he nodded his head for big money that Sunday afternoon. While Brenna Smidt may have plans for that dough, Caleb would like to transfer some of it directly into is rodeo account to help pay for the expenses that come with being an elite cowboy. He wants  Continue Reading »

GUYMON, Okla. – When the Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo asked for help, members of the Goodwell Roping Club answered. That was decades ago, and men like Jack, Rex and Max Strain have put in countless hours since. It’s the work done by volunteers like them that has helped the local rodeo be successful for so many years. It takes a dedicated workforce of dozens of people to pull off an event of this magnitude. The work will continue but without the Strains for this year’s rodeo, set for 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 6; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 7; and 2 p.m. Sunday, May 8, at Henry C. Hitch Pioneer Arena. The trio from north of Goodwell have passed along their sorting sticks and are planning on enjoying this year’s event without spending all the hours organizing timed-event cattle. “We started adding up the age of our geriatric sorting crew, and we averaged about 66 to 67 years old,” said Jack Strain, a Texas County commissioner who thinks he’s been part of the timed-event team since the mid- to late 1980s. “We just decided we could find some younger blood to do that for a while. “When we first started this, I was in my 20s and didn’t know any better,” he said with a laugh. “We’ve had a lot of people that have helped us sort that had nothing to do with the roping club; that’s just where it started, because we had a few people together we knew we could count on.” Over time, there have been a few generations of rodeo committee members, and each group quickly realized they could count on the Strains. Max is the oldest at 74, then there are his cousins, Rex, 72, and Jack, 68. It’s time to pass it along to a new generation. “We were just a bunch of guys that wanted to see the rodeo get better,” Jack Strain said. “Sorting the timed-event cattle was something we could do to help, so we did. Now we’re going to watch the rodeo for once. Back behind the roping chutes isn’t a good place to watch the rodeo from.” The roping club has ceased to exist, but it was a big deal to the group some 50 years ago. When it started, there were a bunch of young men that loved calf roping, so they gathered together. As they aged, the cowboys switched to team roping, which isn’t quite as hard on the older body. The club started in an old arena near the Goodwell elevators, and later built one that still stands along U.S. Highway 54. “A bunch of us guys were getting together to rope,” Jack Strain said. “We’d buy calves in the summertime, then rope the calves. When we were done, we’d stick them out on wheat pasture, then we’d sell them and buy more.” The cycle continued, then the group was purchasing and selling steers instead of calves. Whenever spring came, many of those club members made their way to Guymon to handle the days of work that come with volunteering during rodeo week. “Back when we first started, there were several years where they did all the slack in one day,” he said. “We’d start at 8 o’clock in the morning, and there were a couple of years where we went home, took a shower and went to work at 8 the next morning. Some of the cowboys suggested to split slack over two or three days, so the rodeo could keep the guys around here longer.” Guymon’s rodeo now features seven days of action. There are four rounds of steer roping that will take place Monday, May 2-Tuesday, May 3. The men’s timed events are scheduled for Wednesday, May 4-Thursday, May 5; barrel racing will take place through the morning and afternoon of Friday, May 6, then the first of four performances begins at 7:30 that evening. That’s why there are so many volunteers to handle so many pieces of the puzzle that is Pioneer Days Rodeo. “Everybody just takes a day off,” Jack Strain said. “I’ve got some people that did work for me at the county that would come help us.  They’d take a day’s vacation, and we’d sort cattle. I was doing this before I was a commissioner. No matter what I was doing, I took days off and helped with the rodeo. It’s just part of the deal when you want to be involved.”

ADA, Okla. – Long before he ever qualified to the International Finals Rodeo, the National Finals Rodeo or the PBR World Finals, Cord McCoy was a kid who just dreamed of being a rodeo champion. He came by it naturally, raised on a ranch near Tupelo, Oklahoma. He’s the youngest of five children born to a rodeo family, and the seven of them oftentimes made the short drive to Ada for a variety of reasons. Now living in Lane, Oklahoma, and raising bucking animals as a PRCA stock contractor, McCoy Rodeo will return to his old stomping grounds for the Ada ProRodeo presented by Ada Gaming and Ada Travel Stop, set for 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 1, and Saturday, April 2, at the Pontotoc County Agri-Plex in Ada. Tickets are on sale for $20 at the gate; children 3 and younger get in free. “This is exciting for me, because Ada has always been like a second home for us,” McCoy said. “To be able to produce a ProRodeo in Ada is an important step for me and my family and is a big part of our 2022 McCoy Rodeo Tour.” McCoy was a five-time champion cowboy in the Oklahoma City-based International Professional Rodeo Association, then qualified as a bull rider for the NFR in 2005. After that, he adjusted to life in the PBR, qualifying for the finale six times. He and his brother, Jet, brought worldwide attention to eastern Oklahoma – and the Western way of life – a decade ago because of their three appearances on the CBS-TV reality series “The Amazing Race.” He’s raised bulls and horses for years and has been a regular bull provider to many PBR events across the country. A year ago, he began his first season of producing PRCA rodeos and has continued to invest in his program. “We’re planning on bringing five bulls we got from Sammy Andrews, who has raised a ton of great bulls over the years,” McCoy said of the Texas-based stock contractor, who is best known for owning the notorious bull Bodacious. “Three of those bulls went to the NFR last year, and then we plan to have the bull Cliff Hanger, which has been one of the best bulls at the NFR the last couple of years.” In fact, Cliff Hanger was selected as one of the top two bulls at the 2020 NFR and voted as one of the top three bulls of the 2021 PRCA season by the cowboys that ride bulls for a living. McCoy Rodeo also wants to make the competition second to none for the cowboys and cowgirls that will make their way to Ada the first weekend in April. “As someone who competed for most of my life, I know how important it is for everyone to have a chance to win in rodeo,” he said. “We will try to have as even of pens of livestock as we can to make the competition that much better.” Having an entertaining show and a tough contest makes for a great rodeo, and McCoy knows that as well as anyone. “We’ve had some great partners that have stepped up already in our first year to help bring the ProRodeo to town, and we’re grateful for that,” McCoy said. “Sponsors have helped make this event strong from the start, and we’re excited to see it grow from here.”

ALVA, Okla. – Samantha Chambers has always considered herself an all-around cowgirl, but she didn’t have much chance to showcase it during her first two years of intercollegiate rodeo while attending Northwestern Oklahoma State University. “During my freshman year, my breakaway roping horse died unexpectedly, so I have been hopping around on horses trying to figure out a horse that would work for me,” said Chambers, a junior from Calhan, Colorado. “The horse that died was elite, so it was hard to replace him. Being able to finally click with my new breakaway horse and get points was an amazing feeling.” At Fort Scott, Kansas, this past weekend, Chambers roped her first-round calf in 3.3 seconds to finish in a tie for sixth place and earn a trip to the championship round. She wasn’t able to land success in the short-go, but the confidence she gained was immediate with her and Casper, a 23-year-old gray gelding. “We had him for about 10 years, and he was my sister’s horse,” she said. “She was going to college, so we sold him to a couple of little girls, and he went there to teach them how to breakaway rope and run barrels.” The family reacquired Casper, and it’s making for a nice story for the family. “Knowing the history and the situation we were in, it was perfect,” Chambers said. “If we are able to keep him healthy, he is just what we need in a breakaway horse.” Her biggest success in Fort Scott came in barrel racing, where she won the short round, placed in the long round and finished second overall, just six-hundredths of a second behind the champ. Like Casper before him, Chambers’ barrel horse has an interesting tale, too. Crossfire is an 8-year-old palomino gelding that has put the Colorado cowgirl into contention to earn a bid for the college finals. “My two barrel horses died right before I came to college my freshman year, and he was the last barrel horse available, so I hopped on him,” she said. “He only had four months of training when we came to college my freshman year, and it happened to be the Fort Scott rodeo that I made the first short round on him that year. That was amazing, because we didn’t think we’d do anything my freshman year with how little he knew.” The young yellow horse was figuring it out pretty quickly. With the 140 point she earned in southeastern Kansas, Chambers should move into the top five in the Central Plains Region standings. Only the top three in the standings in each event when the 10-rodeo season comes to a close later this spring will advance to the College National Finals Rodeo, set for June in Casper, Wyoming. “It’s all about teamwork, knowing your horse,” she said. “It’s about knowing each other and creating an ever-lasting bond.” While Chambers led the Northwestern women, there were several Rangers men who collected points. All-around cowboy Tyler Scheevel of Lester Prairie, Minnesota, scored points in two events. He finished fifth in the first round of tie-down roping, then was saddled with a long run in the short-go. Roping with header Rhett Conkling of Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Scheevel stopped the clock in 7.7 seconds to finish just out of placing in the first round, then finished third in the final round and the average. Northwestern team of header Wyatt Vanorsdol of Bristow, Oklahoma, and heeler Jayden Laubhan of Follett, Texas, placed fifth in the long round with a 6.6-second run. They had a no-time in the final round but still finished sixth overall. The Kansas duo of Camden Holting of Olpe and Austin Lampe of Dodge City finished sixth in the long round. Tie-down roper Levi Sechrist of Mountain View, Oklahoma, placed in both rounds and finished fifth in the aggregate. In steer wrestling, Kaden Greenfield of Lakeview, Oregon, and Isaiah Naauao of Haiku, Hawaii, placed in the first round, while Jeremy Plourde of Carleton, Michigan, finished sixth in the short round. For Chambers, attending Northwestern was a no-brainer. She followed in the lines of her cousins – Hunter, Taylor and Lindy Munsell of Arnett, Oklahoma – to Alva. “We have a bunch of family (from western Oklahoma), and I already loved Oklahoma from always coming down here and visiting with them,” Chambers said. “I love the thought of being close to family, which was the biggest reason I decided on Northwestern. “After I came to college, I loved the small-town feel. Alva’s actually a little bigger than my hometown, but it’s still small enough for me to enjoy it.”

GUYMON, Okla. – The best stock contractors in ProRodeo do more than just provide great bucking stock, and that’s a big reason why Freedom, Oklahoma-based Frontier Rodeo has been named the PRCA Stock Contractor of the Year each of the past seven seasons. It comes down to the overall product. Like any business, there’s a great back story when it comes to evaluating the consistency and greatness of a livestock producer, and there is something special when it comes down to Frontier Rodeo. The award is voted on by PRCA members, which just adds to the prestige. It’s based on the livestock, the company’s professionalism and its production of the rodeos it assembles. That’s been the case for Frontier ever since it took the reins at the Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo, set for 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 6; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 7; and 2 p.m. Sunday, May 8, at Henry C. Hitch Pioneer Arena. “We have a long history of excellent rodeo production and a trust in our stock contractor, and that hasn’t changed with Frontier,” said Jeremy Carman, chairman of the volunteer committee that organizes the annual rodeo. “We’re glad to have Heath (Stewart) and his crew as part of our team. They do an amazing job.” Record crowds saw that first hand in 2021. Not only did Frontier showcase a first-class rodeo to locals last May, but the event was shown nationwide on The Cowboy Channel. What added to the flavor is that Stewart brought in other stock contractors to help provide for a better experience with the bucking horses and bulls. “I usually bring in a couple of other stock contractors,” said Stewart, Frontier’s general manager. “It just makes the stock better. I want the cowboys to come to the rodeo and know they have a chance to win. Normally there are not a lot of rodeos going on the week of Guymon, so you get a slew of contestants.” Frontier has a big herd of excellent athletic animals, but he knows the cowboys and fans in the Oklahoma Panhandle expect something special when it comes to a showcase of bucking beasts. A year ago, the three roughstock events were won on animals from different stock contractors: Bareback rider Caleb Bennett won on Pickett Pro Rodeo’s Freckled Frog; saddle bronc rider Wade Sundell earned the title on Dakota Rodeo’s Jimmy; and bull rider Laramie Mosley earned his first Guymon trophy belt on Frontier’s County Jail. “When you go up against those guys, you’re going up against the best,” Stewart said. “It makes it that much more exciting for everyone involved. I like bringing in sub-contractors to make rodeos better, but I don’t leave any of our good ones at home either.”