About: Ted

CLARENDON, Texas – It was the fall of 2020 when Cole Franks made a couple of goals for himself. He was a sophomore at Clarendon College in his hometown, competing on the rodeo team for his father, Bret Franks, the program’s coach. He also had just purchased his card, allowing him to be a full-fledged member of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association instead of a permit-holder. He wanted to win a college championship for his team for the 2020-21 National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association season and hoped to add the PRCA’s Bareback Riding Rookie of the Year title. The missions were accomplished in multiple ways over the summer run of rodeo. Franks dominated the bareback riding race at the College National Finals Rodeo and also qualified for the championship round in saddle bronc riding to win both the bareback riding and all-around titles in Casper, Wyoming. He also was a major part of the reason the men’s team title went to Clarendon. Within a few weeks of that, he’d earned enough money to have clinched the rookie crown. He finished with $77,393 in earnings, leading the field by nearly $45,000. With that, though, he added another major accomplishment to his list by qualifying for the National Finals Rodeo. In fact, he’ll head to Las Vegas for ProRodeo’s grand finale as the 12th-ranked bareback rider in the world standings. “Making the finals is really great,” said Franks, 20, now a junior at Missouri Valley College in Marshall, Missouri. “When I got my card this year, I wasn’t focused on it or even looking at the finals this year. I was just looking at the rookie deal and banking on making the finals next year.  For it to happen this year is really cool.” It happened because of relationships he’s developed in his time in ProRodeo. He joined two NFR veterans – three-time world champion Tim O’Connell and 2020 average titlist Jess Pope – on the rodeo trail and gained some education because of it. As Franks moved his way up the bareback riding money list, O’Connell and Pope offered the idea of a switch in priorities: Focus on making the NFR, and the rookie race would come. That’s exactly what happened. Along the way, Franks picked up some big victories. In fact, he finished the 2021 campaign with 13 event titles and had three rides of 90 points or better, all of which came the same week in early August. He started out the week by scoring 92 points on Three Hills Rodeo’s Spanish Feathers to win in Carson, Iowa. A couple days later, he followed that with a 90 on Pickett Pro Rodeo’s Bar Code to win the first round in Dodge City, Kansas, advancing to the championship round at the ProRodeo Hall of Fame event in western Kansas. On Short-Round Sunday, he set an arena record by spurring Frontier Rodeo’s Gun Fire for 93 points, one of the highest scores of the season in the PRCA. Born in Guymon, Oklahoma, Franks is the second generation of his family to advance to rodeo’s most prestigious event; Bret Franks was a three-time NFR qualifier in saddle bronc riding. Cole Franks proves the genetics come strong in their athletic form, but so does the love for the game. He was two months from being born the last time his dad played on the biggest stage in ProRodeo. He’s only seen videos and heard stories, but that never curbed his hunger to be one of the best cowboys in the sport. Like his dad, Cole Franks likes riding bucking horses. He uses a bronc saddle some, especially in college, but he’s excelled using a bareback rigging. “It’s cool to think I’m following in Dad’s footsteps, even if it’s in bareback riding and not bronc riding,” said Franks, who credits much of his success to his sponsors, Cinch, Pete Carr Pro Rodeo, Western Legacy Co. and 287 Ag. “I have always told myself that I had to make it at least three times, tying Dad’s three. But I want to make it to where I have three (world championship) gold buckles to put with Dad’s three back numbers.” By transferring to Missouri Valley, he’s positioned himself to only improve upon his skills. The college is well known for its bareback riding prowess, and Franks will be one of four bronc busters with ties to the college performing at the NFR, joining O’Connell, Pope and Tanner Aus for the 10 nights of action from Dec. 2-11 in Las Vegas.   “Bareback riding is just more of a fight,” Franks said. “I wouldn’t say I’ve always had a fighter’s personality, but I’ve always wished I was in a way. I think that’s what made me stick with it because of the aggressiveness of it. In the bronc riding, you have to be relaxed to a point, but in bareback riding, it’s 100 percent bare down.”   It’s the perfect fit for the young man who won’t back down from a fight with a 1,200-pound bucking beast.

CLARENDON, Texas – The Clarendon College rodeo team has been gaining some incredible momentum over the last few years, and it has only gotten better in 2021. The proof is in the pudding with three former Bulldog cowboys having earned qualifications to the National Finals Rodeo, the sport’s grand finale that features the top 15 contestants from the regular season in each event. Leading the way is two-time qualifier Wyatt Casper of Miami, Texas, who finished the 2020 season as the reserve world champion. He became the first national champion in Clarendon history when he won the saddle bronc riding crown in 2016. He will be joined by fellow bronc rider Tegan Smith of Winterset, Iowa, who finished third at the 2019 College National Finals Rodeo; Smith finished the 2021 PRCA regular season in 10th place, one spot behind Casper. Cole Franks rounds out the trio of qualifiers, earning his spot by finishing 12th in the bareback riding world standings. Franks, the son of Clarendon College rodeo coach Bret Franks, is coming off a tremendous 2021 campaign; he was named the PRCA Bareback Riding Rookie of the Year. All that came after being one of the guiding forces behind Clarendon’s men’s team title at the college finals this past June. He dominated bareback riding to claim that national title, then added to it by qualifying for the championship round at the CNFR in saddle bronc riding, securing the all-around national title, too. All three will be recognized and honored during an NFR Sendoff Party and Prime Rib Dinner, set for 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 20 at the Donley County Activity Center. Tickets are $100 (for two people), and proceeds will go to the Clarendon College rodeo team. “I think it’s a pretty special deal that we have three NFR qualifiers from our little college, so we wanted to put something together to honor them,” Bret Franks said. “We also want to put something together to raise awareness and money for the rodeo program. Every ticket will be entered into a $1,000 cash drawing. “We will also have live music and a silent auction, so we hope it’s a lot of fun for everyone and gives them a chance to wish our cowboys luck in Las Vegas.” -30-

WHEELER, Texas – The final few weeks of September correlated into the final few days of ProRodeo’s 2021 regular season, and Zach Hibler was in the middle of a tornado known as the “NFR Bubble.” He was driving, flying, scrambling to find success at as many rodeos as possible in order to qualify for the first time to the sport’s grand championship, the National Finals Rodeo, which features only the top 15 contestants on the money list in each event. He’d been close before, finishing 17th in 2019, but he knew he had to push the envelope in order to secure his bid. “It was actually the most fun I’ve had rodeoing after I finally settled down,” said Hibler, 24, of Wheeler, Texas. “I was trying to make things happen and not just ride bareback horses because I loved it. When I figured that out and got my composure a little more, things started happening. “It just felt natural. When you try to make so many things happen, you’re not doing anything wrong, but you’re trying so hard that mistakes pop up left and right.” Riding bucking horses is fun, but it’s also a job for Hibler, the 2018 PRCA Bareback Riding Rookie of the Year. He wasn’t the only cowboy scrambling those final few days of the regular season. Fellow bareback rider Wyatt Denny was traveling coast to coast to give himself a chance. By the time the dust settled, Hibler had earned the 15th spot by less than $700. When talking about the $65,371 that Hibler earned in 2021, that’s not a big margin, but it’s enough for the Texan to finally find his way back to Las Vegas for the NFR. He made his first venture there three Decembers ago, when he received the hardware for being one of the top rookies in rodeo that season. “I always said I wouldn’t go to watch the rodeo until I made it,” said Hibler, who credits some of his success to his sponsors, Koepke Pipe Sales, Double J Waterwell Services and Tintori’s Lube & Tires. “I realize when you win the rookie, they give you the buckle in the arena at the NFR, so I made an exemption for that, but that was the first and last time I’ve been in the Thomas & Mack.” That will change in just a few days, when he arrives in Sin City for the rides of his life at the NFR, set for Dec. 2-11 in the arena on the campus of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. “I’ve always known that is where I wanted to be, with those top 15 guys in the world,” he said. “It just pushed me to do the things at home, the things people weren’t seeing. I realize it’s the behind-the-scenes work that I needed to focus on.” Bareback riding is the most physically demanding event in ProRodeo. Cowboys will strap their specially made riggings that are cinched tightly to the horse’s back, then wedge their gloves (outfitted with binds) into the rigging and essentially lock themselves to the bucking animal. Even the gentlest of rides can be felt through the cowboy’s body. But the gentlest of rides doesn’t make for good scores, and bareback riders feed off the good scores. When he’s in the middle of a ride, Hibler will counter the horse’s moves by spurring from the neck of the horse back to his rigging in time with the animal’s bucking motion. That not only takes the pressure of the forces against him, but it also helps magnify the score. Rodeo, in general, is a tough lifestyle. Contestants leave home in late June and may not return until the season ends the final day of September. Bareback riding can be tortuous on a cowboy’s body, so it takes passion to chase the most coveted prize in the game, a Montana Silversmiths gold buckle awarded to the contestants in each event that finish with the most earnings each year. “One day, I saw bareback riding on TV or a video, and I asked my parents if I could enter a rodeo that weekend,” said Hibler, the son of Michael and Brandi and big brother to Layton, Clayton and Kyler. “They got me in touch with somebody that they knew rode bareback horses, and I got me and old-school rigging and got on that weekend. “It went terrible, but I got up and knew I wanted to do that again, and I have no idea why.” Now, he knows. He played every sport possible as a youth and knew his father rode bulls when he was in high school. Hibler has even tried his hand at the timed events. “Dad didn’t pursue riding bulls much, but then he started team roping,” he said. “I wanted to be a team roper, but I wasn’t any good at it, so I guess it’s a good thing I like bareback riding. I team roped a little bit before I started riding roughstock. I got on a few bulls and roped calves and team roped in high school, but bareback riding stuck.” It all goes back to that passion. The love of the game translated into success. He won the state finals and did well at the College National Finals Rodeo – he competed at Western Texas College in Snyder and Hillsboro (Texas) College. “I didn’t have much success at the college rodeos, but I realized I needed to work harder and make it a priority if it’s something I was going to do,” Hibler said. It’s a labor of love. Once he and his brother, Layton, decided to compete in rodeo, family vacations ceased because the family was on the road rodeoing. That was excellent family time together, and there were some memorable occasions. Now that he has his own family to care for, he knows doing well in rodeo is going to be his driving force. “I just want to do what’s best for my family,” he  Continue Reading »

Champion roper switched from baseball to rodeo and has reaped rewards Shane Hanchey will be the first to say that rodeo wasn’t his sport of choice. “Baseball was my first love,” said Hanchey, 32, originally from Sulphur, Louisiana, now living in Carmine, Texas, northwest of Houston. “I thought I was going to play baseball for a living for the longest time. Once I got Reata, that shifted my focus.” He was just 16 or 17 years old when he met up with his once-in-a-lifetime horse, a smaller, blaze-face sorrel gelding that made life so good for so long. The horse came along about several years before Hanchey won the tie-down roping world championship for the first time in 2013, and he was the driving force behind most of Hanchey’s qualifications to the National Finals Rodeo. Even today, just weeks before the start of the 2021 NFR, which will be his 12th straight. It’s been eight years since he strapped on that Montana Silversmiths gold buckle, and it’s about high time he does it again. He knows none of it would be possible without his little red soldier. “This has probably been the best one year I’ve ever had,” said Hanchey, who heads to Las Vegas in December No. 1 in the tie-down roping world standings with $175,079. “I came into the NFR No. 1 in 2018, but they just released the back numbers (for this year); to have No. 2 hit me on how great of a year it really was. Only Stetson Wright won more money than I did. “At the end of the day, all the money I won was in one event.” That’s true. Wright is the reigning two-time all-around world champion who added a bull riding gold to his resume in 2020. He is second in the bull riding standings but No. 1 in the all-around and the saddle bronc riding races. But as single events go, Hanchey’s 2021 regular season may stand the test of time a little more. He owns a lead of nearly $42,000 over the field, while Wright’s lead is just $11,000 over his older brother, two-time world champion Ryder Wright. You see, Shane Hanchey has had great motivation since last December, when the NFR took place in Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. He placed seven of 10 nights, won the NFR average with a 10-run cumulative time of 83.1 seconds and walked away with nearly $144,000 in earnings in a short span. Yet, he fell $2,400 short of his goal. “Leaving the 10th round, even thought I was short of a gold buckle by a couple thousand dollars, I got a lot of confidence from it,” said Hanchey, a Cinch endorsee. “I proved to myself that I was back to where I wanted to be as far as timing and momentum at the National Finals. It carried into a pretty good winter. Winning The American (in 2021) drove the nail in it for me. “Knowing you had the NFR made in March made it a lot less stressful for me. It gave me a lot of momentum and confidence that I just carried with me the rest of the season.” The American offers a $100,000 payout to all winners, and half that counted toward the world standings. But the proof of a great season shows up in the financial records. Without that $50,000 windfall toward the money list, Hanchey still would have finished the regular season among the top five in the world standings. Here’s how things have changed since he first turned pro 13 years ago. When he won the world title, he finished the year – including his NFR earnings – with $207,672. He’s less than $33,000 behind that total before this year’s finale begins. He could easily surpass his 2013 earnings by the second night of this year’s championship. “Rodeo has elevated so much in the last seven or eight years,” he said. “It’s crazy to think winning a world title with that kind of money back then. That’s a good sign. “Counting these big rodeos and letting the money count toward the standings, that makes it more pressure when you’re backing into the box for the final four round at The American, but it also makes it worth it all.” Yes, the money is greatly different now than it was a decade ago. Rodeos like The American, RodeoHouston and the Calgary Stampede now count toward the world standings, while many other rodeos have increased their purses over time. It all adds up to a better way to make a living than rodeo allowed a decade ago. Even then, Hanchey was among the upper-echelon of calf ropers. He’s worked hard to maintain that status, if not build upon it. At 5-foot-10, 150 pounds, he’s smaller than most of the guys who rope at his level, but he’s never let his size stop him. In fact, he’s focused his time on doing everything as right as possible to make sure he was at the top of his game, including his mental approach to roping. “One of the best compliments I ever got was from (fellow tie-down roper) Blair Burk, and he made the NFR 14 times in his career,” Hanchey said. “What he told people was that my highs never got too high and my lows never get too low. I hope to take that with me my whole career. I don’t get too happy when it’s going great, and I don’t get down on myself when it’s not. “I feel that’s part of the reason I’ve been able to consistently be in the top 10, top 15 in the world.” It’s as good a reason as any. When he was a newcomer to ProRodeo, he competed against the stealthy veterans and took their money. As he’s aged and matured, he’s continued to be one of the men to beat any time he backs into the roping box. But life has changed. He began dating the former  Continue Reading »

ALVA, Okla. – Sometimes competitors just need to make a call for help. Kerry Duvall did that after struggling at the first three rodeos of the 2021-22 Central Plains Region season, and the freshman tie-down roper at Northwestern Oklahoma State University has already seen the benefits. He made two solid runs to win the overall title at the Northwestern rodeo at the Alva Dome this past weekend. His 9.9-second run was good enough for fourth in the opening round; he followed that with a 10.7-second run to win the championship round and claim the two-run aggregate by four-tenths of a second. “It means a lot because I hadn’t made the short-go the three previous rodeos,” said Duvall of Farmington, California. “I have been struggling with my roping, so it felt really good to come out and put in a good run in the long round, then come out and put another solid run in the short-go. “Just being a freshman that was able to win the hometown rodeo and keep the calf roping title in Alva is a big deal to me.” After opening the season toward the bottom end, Duvall reached into his bag of tricks to make the adjustments needed. It seems, though, most of the changes came within his own mind. “I just made some phone calls to some good buddies back home, and they helped me pick up my spirits,” he said. “I’m glad they helped me see things from a different perspective, to see that I wasn’t doing anything wrong. Things just weren’t working out for me.” The positive thoughts were wrapped tightly to two successful runs and the first intercollegiate title for the recent graduate of Oakdale (California) High School, where he also saw great success. With the Alva rodeo being the final event of the 2021 calendar year, he hopes the momentum gained will carry over into the spring portion of the region campaign. Of course, it helps that he has a partner he can trust in Tanna, an 11-year-old bay mare that he’s had about two years. “She’s a super sweet mare, and she always gives me the same trip every time,” Duvall said. “I never have to worry about whether I have enough horsepower. I knew she would go out there and try her heart out.” In fact, he gave Tanna a test drive a couple seasons ago at the Alva Dome, and that parlayed into him deciding on Northwestern as his college choice. “I found out about the school when I came out to try that horse, and I really liked the coach,” Duvall said of Stockton Graves, who is in his 10th season coaching his alma mater. “It’s a small school in a small town. It’s also a great place to rodeo out of. You’re right in the heart of it all, whether it’s college rodeo, amateur rodeo or even ProRodeo. We’re centrally located to about everything.” While Duvall had the greatest success over the weekend, there were others who found their way into the top spots. Team roping brothers Reed and Rhett Murray from Alma, Kansas, put together two solid runs to finish second overall. Header Ben Jackson of Hudson Hope, British, Columbia, placed in both rounds and finished fifth overall while roping with Jackson Choate of Northeastern Oklahoma A&M. Header Stran Morris of Woodward, Oklahoma, stopped the clock in 6.1 seconds to finish second in the opening round while roping with Jordan Lovins of Western Oklahoma State College, and the Ranger team of Camden Hoelting of Olpe, Kansas, and Austin Lampe of Dodge City, Kansas finished the first round in a tie for third place. In steer wrestling, Tyler Scheevel of Lester Prairie, Minnesota, led the way by finishing sixth overall; he also finished third in the opening round. Lee Sterling of Gotebo, Oklahoma, stopped the clock in 5.5 seconds to finish sixth in the opening round, while Beau Kelley of Artesia, New Mexico finished sixth in the short round. Samantha Chambers of Calhan, Colorado, led the way for the Northwestern women. She placed in the opening round of barrel racing, then won the short round with a 12.90-second run to finish second overall. Hannah Zimmers of Eureka, Kansas, earned her way to the championship round in breakaway roping, where she finished sixth in the round and sixth overall. While success has been limited over the first four rodeos of the season, there is a considerable amount of optimism among the contestants rodeoing for Northwestern. “I think we’ve got a good team, but we’ve just got to keep hustling to see if we can get on that roll that we need,” Duvall said.