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Several Cinch endorsees have earned their way into unique competition The greatest stars in professional rodeo are descending upon north Texas for The American, a unique event that will pay out $3 million Sunday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. This is unprecedented money, especially considering that the bulk of the emotions ride on the final day of the championship. It will be the culmination of dozens of qualifying events that began nearly a year ago. What sets The American apart from most rodeos is its uncommon format. Ten contestants in each of nine disciplines have earned exemptions into the first round, based on how they finished in the 2021 PRCA world standings The opening round takes place at 7 p.m. Friday, March 4, at Cowtown Coliseum in the legendary Fort Worth (Texas) Stockyards. They will be joined, primarily, by six contestants that have advanced through the series of qualifiers – the final round of the qualifying semifinals takes place Thursday, March 3, and will identify the remaining participants. Only the top scores and times from Friday’s round will advance to Sunday’s competition, which begins at noon and where winners in each event will earn $100,000. The caveat then comes into play for the qualifiers, who are eligible for The American side pot; that is typically $1 million, but since no qualifier won in 2021, the money rolled over for this year. Qualifiers who win the $100,000 earn at least a share of $2 million. It can be life-changing.   “The purse is a pretty big deal,” said John Douch, a Cinch tie-down roper from Huntsville, Texas. “There are many up-and-coming kids that can rope good. I’m only 24, and there are kids younger than me that can really rope. If they could win that, they could make a big name for themselves.” Exempt contestants are only eligible for the $100,000 first-place prize. Douch is one of about two dozen Cinch endorsees who will be part of The American field, including three other tie-down ropers: Shane Hanchey, Ty Harris and Caleb Smidt, the latter of whom earned his third world championship this past December. They have earned the exemptions. Other Cinch endorsees that were automatic bids are: Bareback rider: Cole Franks Steer wrestlers: Tyler Waguespack, Will Lummus, Jacob Talley, Tyler Pearson and Jesse Brown Team roping headers: Erich Rogers, Clay Smith, Kaleb Driggers and Logan Medlin Team roping heelers: Jade Corkill and Jeremy Buhler Saddle bronc riders: Brody Cress, Zeke Thurston, Tegan Smith, Wyatt Casper and Dawson Hay Breakaway roper: Shelby Boisjoli Barrel racer: Emily Beisel Bull rider: Dustin Boquet Contract personnel: Announcer Garrett Yerigan and Stock Contractor Heath Stewart

GUYMON, Okla. – There’s an old-school feel to the Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo, one that certainly lives up to the 90th year of the grand celebration in the Oklahoma Panhandle. Cody Sosebee can feel it when he arrives at Henry C. Hitch Pioneer Arena, a stadium built as much by the rugged terrain as anything in the region. The crevice that creates the arena floor is like a canyon, and the overlooks stand as a great place for viewing the greatness that is the annual 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. “I tell everyone that Guymon is a cowboys’ rodeo,” said Sosebee, who returns to “No Man’s Land” as the clown and entertainer. “Guymon reminds me of the old gym that Rocky goes to and trains at in the ‘Rocky’ movies. It’s an old, tough-guy, tradition-rich arena, and you get to experience just about every weather condition you can think of, which just brings out the toughness in contestants. “The only thing tougher than the contestants are the fans. They can see the cowboys putting out the effort, and they appreciate it. It’s a really fun place to be.” He’s been part of the event’s success before. Pioneer Days Rodeo regularly brings nearly 1,000 contestants to Guymon every year, and the list of world champions and National Finals Rodeo qualifiers that have earned the trophy belt awarded to its annual champions is incredible. Sosebee just adds to the flavor. He’s not necessarily a larger-than-life persona; no, the Arkansas funnyman is more of a larger-than-most human being, and he really brings it out in his comedy and his antics. Mixing that in during dialog with announcers Andy Stewart and Ken Stonecipher makes for easy transitions from one run to another or any time the opportunities allow. “Ken is absolutely hilarious, and when I think of Guymon, I think him and Andy have a good one-two punch when it comes to entertaining and announcing to a crowd,” Sosebee said. “I always enjoy working with them. They’re so onery and funny and super talented, and that parlays with the crowd. When we work together like that, it’s an easy way to entertain people.” That is the goal, after all, especially for Sosebee. In 2017, he was selected by the bull riders to be the barrelman at the NFR. A year later, the voting members of the PRCA named him the Clown of the Year. Those honors are not just a sense of pride and accomplishment; they also reveal how much people in the rodeo business appreciate the work he has done. He’s a regular nominee for the association’s top clown, as well as one of its best barrelmen. “I didn’t expect either one of those honors,” he said. “I was an old guy in my career choice. Just walking down the hallway at the NFR and bumping into those bull riders, it made me feel good because they thought of me to help protect them at the biggest rodeo they’re ever going to be part of. “When I run into a top-end NFR bull rider and know he took time to vote for me, that’s something I’ll have with me the rest of my life. The money’s been spent, but getting acknowledged for your craft really humbles me.” Over the years, he’s been known as one of the most athletic big men in rodeo comedy. His acts showcase it. “Jokes are the unfortunate situations of other people, but you can’t hardly tell some jokes anymore for fear of upsetting some people,” Sosebee said. “I’ve changed my jokes in my acts to being about me; everything’s about me. I laugh at myself. I’m a big, chubby, dancing guy. I look funny when I walk. I sound funny when I talk. “It’s OK to laugh at yourself.” Now that he’s turned 50, there’s a little more dusting of gray in his hair. He knows some of the greatest clowns who have ever been part of the rodeo industry have shined at that age, and he’s working his magic to have it continue with him. His job is to entertain, and he takes it more seriously than it seems. “I want to continue to do this while I’m still effective and while I’m still doing this at a pro level,” he said. “People are paying their hard-earned money to see us, and they deserve a pro level of entertainment.” His approach is why he’s going to continue to be relevant for years to come, and he’ll be a hit the first weekend in May in Guymon. Cody Sosebee can feel it when he arrives at Henry C. Hitch Pioneer Arena, a stadium built as much by the rugged terrain as anything in the region. The crevice that creates the arena floor is like a canyon, and the overlooks stand as a great place for viewing the greatness that is the annual 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. “I tell everyone that Guymon is a cowboys’ rodeo,” said Sosebee, who returns to “No Man’s Land” as the clown and entertainer. “Guymon reminds me of the old gym that Rocky goes to and trains at in the ‘Rocky’ movies. It’s an old, tough-guy, tradition-rich arena, and you get to experience just about every weather condition you can think of, which just brings out the toughness in contestants. “The only thing tougher than the contestants are the fans. They can see the cowboys putting out the effort, and they appreciate it. It’s a really fun place to be.” He’s been part of the event’s success before. Pioneer Days Rodeo regularly brings nearly 1,000 contestants to Guymon every year, and the list of world champions and National Finals Rodeo qualifiers that have earned the trophy belt awarded to its annual champions is incredible. Sosebee just adds to the flavor.  Continue Reading »

Pickup man Jason Bottoms gets a kick out of working unique rodeo They are always at the center of attention in the middle of every rodeo arena in which they work, yet they’re almost invisible. That’s the way it should be for most likely the greatest cowboys at any rodeo. They are pickup men, and their jobs are to ride in and help unhitch every bucking-horse rider from the ends of their eight seconds horseback, but they barely go noticed if all is going well. Swoop in, release the flank strap to decrease the pressure on the bucker, then pick the cowboy off the back of his mount and ride away. If rodeo were a comic book, it would be just like Superman; before anyone knows what’s going on, the cape and tights are gone, and Clark Kent has returned to the newsroom. Enter Resistol cowboys Jason Bottoms and Shawn “Too Tall” Calhoun, two of the greatest pickup men going down the road today. Both have been voted to work the National Finals Rodeo multiple times. Together, they’ve also worked some of the biggest rodeos in the country. From Cheyenne, Wyoming, to Corpus Christi, Texas, they have proven to be good for each other and for rodeo. “We have done every American since they started it,” said Bottoms, a four-time NFR pickup man from Corsicanna, Texas. They start out working The American semifinals at Cowtown Coliseum in the legendary Fort Worth (Texas) Stockyards days before the champions are crowned. There are 10 exempt competitors in each event, and the rest of the field of 16 is made up of cowboys and cowgirls that have come through a series of qualifying events. The semifinals distinguishes which six advance to first round of The American, set for Friday, March 4, at Cowtown Coliseum The exempt participants will battle for the $100,000 first-place prize. The qualifiers are eligible for the side pot, which is typically $1 million. Because no qualifiers earned a championship in 2021, the side pot rolled over and will be worth $2 million this year. The top 10 times and scores from Friday night will advance to the final day of competition, set for Sunday, March 6, at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys. “That building is awesome,” Bottoms said. “It’s not like the NFR where everybody’s down on top of you. The atmosphere is great, especially where they do it like a football game. It gets pretty exciting.” Even people that have been involved in the technical side of rodeo understand The American’s importance. Bottoms likes to watch the winners celebrate their big paydays. “I usually hang around and watch it, because it’s exciting for everybody,” he said. “We’ve got relationships with these guys. The first year when Richie (Champion) won ($1 million) all by himself, that was a big deal. We’ve seen other buddies do well, too. “It’s neat when you see somebody you know get life-changing money like that.” Bottoms and Calhoun will be joined at The American by another Resistol superstar member of the event’s personnel: CODY WEBSTER, bullfighter, Wayne, Oklahoma: Cody Webster was intrigued by bullfighting at a young age. He didn’t seem afraid to stare down bulls or test his athleticism against theirs; if he was scared, he has never shown it. He has been chosen to fight bulls at the NFR each of the past nine years, an honor bestowed on him by the bull riders who vote on the men that protect them. Five years ago, he was part of The American’s festivities as a contestant when the event produced a freestyle bullfight. He returns to the Dallas-Fort Worth area for the real thing this time, his first time in cowboy protection. Webster is the two-time reigning PRCA Bullfighter of the Year and one of the regular bullfighters on the PBR’s Unleash the Beast Tour.

Bulldogger knows the importance of unique rodeo at AT&T Stadium Resistol steer wrestler Will Lummus has never won The American, but he sees the benefit of competing in the rodeo every March. The winners of each event earn $100,000, a magnificent payday. If they were exempt in the competition, as Lummus is this year, that’s the top dollar they can achieve. If the winner had come through the qualifying events to claim the prize in any of the nine disciplines, then that cowboy or cowgirl is eligible for at least a portion of the side pot, typically $1 million. The closest the Bihalya, Mississippi, cowboy has come was a fourth-place finish in 2021. He collected $7,250 last March. “To me, fourth place is a pretty good payday there,” said Lummus, a four-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier who won the average title this past December. “The American is great. There’s a lot of money – a lot of life-changing money if you’re a qualifier. “The $100,000 is awesome for us, but the qualifiers have a shot at a million bucks, two million bucks. That’s huge.” Yes, it is. The side pot had been paid out every year beginning in 2014, when bareback rider Richmond Champion was the only qualifier to win an event; he walked away with $1.1 million that year. Since then, at least two people have claimed a share of that prize … until last year. No qualifier won, and the money rolls over to this year. That means the side pot is worth $2 million. “It’s great for rodeo, and I believe it draws a crowd in and a lot of different people to rodeo,” Lummus said. “We run three steers and have a chance to win $100,000. There’s nowhere else that you can do that. The only other place where you can win $100,000 is Calgary (Alberta), but you have to run a lot more steers. “Being able to run three steers and win that much money is awesome.” He will be one of 16 men in the long-round field, set for Friday, March 4, at Cowtown Coliseum in the legendary Fort Worth (Texas) Stockyards. The top times and scores from that performance will advance to the final day, Sunday, March 6, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. It will be a chance for the linebackers of ProRodeo to compete on the same field as the Dallas Cowboys. “It’s sweet being in that stadium,” said Lummus, who finished second in the 2021 world standings and pocketed nearly $170,000 in 10 days at December in Las Vegas. “I really love the way they changed it last year and made it one big arena. I think when they changed it, they made it even better. You can appreciate how loud that crowd can be. “To think that guys play football right there, it’s surreal to be on that field.” Lummus will be joined at The American by four other Resistol bulldoggers: TYLER WAGUESPACK, 31, Gonzalez, Louisiana: Before he made a name for himself, a number of elite steer wrestlers were already talking about Tyler Waguespack. Since then, he’s qualified seven consecutive years for the NFR and earned three world championships. In 2020, he finished fourth at The American, the followed that up last year by placing in the opening round. At the NFR this past December, he put the stamp on another gold buckle by placing in nine go-rounds, including the seventh-round victory. He placed second in the average and pocketed more than $213,000. TRISTAN MARTIN, 26, Sulphur, Louisiana: Tristan Martin popped onto the bulldogging radar several years ago, but steer wrestling is commonly one of the most competitive events in ProRodeo. It took him seven years to advance to the NFR, which he did this past December. Once there, he showed up and showed out. He placed in four rounds, winning the third round. He finished in a tie for third place in the 10-run aggregate race, collecting nearly $108,000 in the process and finishing the 2021 campaign No. 5 in the world standings. JESSE BROWN, 29, Baker City, Oregon: The fire inside Jesse Brown always seemed to be burning. Before he signed up to be a member of the PRCA, Brown won the steer wrestling titles at the 2015 and ’16 Permit-Holder Challenge in Las Vegas. A year later, he was named the Resistol Steer Wrestling Rookie of the Year. He earned his first qualification to the NFR in 2020 and finished the year 13th in the final standings. He returned to the championship this past December, where he placed in five rounds; he also collected a share of the ninth-round victory with three other bulldoggers. He finished sixth in the standings. TYLER PEARSON, 36, Atoka, Oklahoma: This just might be the year for Tyler Pearson. He finished third at The American in 2020, then moved up to second a year ago. In those years alone, he earned more than $35,000. All that’s left is the $100,000 prize for first place. The 2017 world champion, Pearson finished the 2021 season seventh in the world standings while placing in three rounds at his fifth NFR. He won the fifth round and placed in the average and finished his 10-day run in Las Vegas with nearly $70,000 in earnings.

Reigning heeling champ ready to defend American title at AT&T Stadium Arlington, Texas, has been a good place for Resistol cowboy Paden Bray to work his craft. Bray is a team roping heeler from Stephenville, Texas, a rodeo-laden community just less than 100 miles southeast of Arlington, home of the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers. A few days after his 22nd birthday in December 2020, Bray arrived at Globe Life Field, the one-time home of the National Finals Rodeo during the pandemic. He and heading partner Erich Rogers went straight to work. There were no first-timer jitters for the young Texan. With the 2017 world champion leading the way, Bray followed, and the tandem walked away with the NFR average championship. Three months later, they returned to Arlington for The American at AT&T Stadium, where the magic continued. They each pocketed $100,000 by winning the team roping title. “That’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience to win that rodeo,” said Bray, 23, the 2019 Resistol Heeling Rookie of the Year. “To have the cards fall our way to come out on top is an unbelievable experience. That’s one you want to win financially, and the experience is pretty hard to beat.” They will have a great chance to follow up with another title at this year’s event. Because they finished among the top 10 in the world standings in the 2021 ProRodeo season, they received an exemption to compete. They will be in the field in the long round, set for Friday, March 4, at Cowtown Coliseum in the Fort Worth (Texas) Stockyards. The top times and scores in each event will advance to the next round, which takes place Sunday, March 6, in Arlington. “That stadium has a surreal feeling to it,” Bray said. “I’ve been there twice now. Even before I made it, I was on the cattle crew. When I made it, I realized how big and beautiful the stadium is. You could actually feel the noise of the crowd come through the arena.” That’s part of the experience, but so is the purse. The exempt contestants will battle for the $100,000 first-place prize, but The American is unique because six of the top cowboys and cowgirls in each event will have worked their way to the long round through a series of qualifying events. If a qualifier goes on to win, that person will earn at least a share of the side pot, which is typically $1 million. Because no qualifier won in 2021, that amount rolled over into this year’s kitty, making the side pot worth $2 million. There is a chance that two people could be earn a million dollars by the time the final event concludes that Sunday afternoon. “I would put The American on a bigger platform than most, and I have qualified and gotten an exemption,” Bray said. “I’ve been on both sides of it. The amount of money it brings is like a lottery ticket. If the cards fall your way, you could be a millionaire, and that’s what every cowboy dreams of.” He will be one of six Resistol heelers in the mix at The American, joining: TRAVIS GRAVES, 37, Jay, Oklahoma: Travis Graves is a 13-time NFR qualifier who has been in contention to win the elusive gold buckle on several occasions. He won the NFR average championship in 2017 while roping with Chad Masters. In 2021 while roping with Dustin Egusquiza, Graves placed in three rounds, including two round wins; they split the seventh-round title and won the 10th round outright. He finished fifth in the world standings. JAKE LONG, 37, Coffeyville, Kansas: In his 11 qualifications to the NFR, Jake Long has finished among the top 10 in the world standings eight times. That’s an incredible string of excellence he’s roped together over the years. Last year, he finished sixth while roping with three-time champion Clay Tryan. At the NFR, they placed in five rounds, including a tie for first place on Night 7. They placed fourth in the average and earned $103,836 in 10 December nights. LOGAN MEDLIN, 30, Tatum, New Mexico: Nine seasons ago while competing at Eastern New Mexico State University, Logan Medlin won the first of two straight college championships. It took him seven years to reach rodeo’s pinnacle event, the NFR in 2020. Last year, he returned to ProRodeo’s grand finale with Coleman Proctor, and the duo placed in six rounds, including two wins; they shared the ninth-round victory and won the fifth round. They also tied for third in the average and earned more than $106,000. Medlin finished eighth in the world standings. WESLEY THORP, 26, Throckmorton, Texas: It wasn’t long ago that Wesley Thorp was the young kid on the block. Now, he’s a six-time NFR qualifier and a world champion; he earned the latter in 2019 while also roping in the average championship with his partner, fellow Resistol cowboy Cody Snow. What’s just as impressive as that incredible run two Decembers ago is that in his six trips to ProRodeo’s championship, he’s never finished outside the top 10. At the 2021 finale, he and Snow placed in three rounds, including a tie for the Night 9 title. TREY YATES, 26, Pueblo, Colorado: Trey Yates was born to do this. He is a third-generation cowboy, following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Dick, and father, J.D. He first qualified for the NFR in 2018 and won the average championship with Aaron Tsinigine. He returned this past December with fellow Resistol cowboy Tyler Wade, and the two won the first go-round and placed on two other nights. Yates finished the year 10th in the heeling world standings.

Resistol cowboys Douch, Harris excited for opportunities at The American Resistol cowboys John Douch and Ty Harris know what it’s like to rope for the biggest bucks in rodeo. They’re coming off the National Finals Rodeo and the 2021 season, where they finished among the best in the business and earned the right to compete at The American, set for Friday, March 4, at Cowtown Coliseum in the legendary Fort Worth (Texas) Stockyards with hopes of returning to the final day of competition Sunday, March 6, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Douch, competing at his first NFR this past December, finished the year 10th in the world standings to receive the automatic bid into The American field of tie-down ropers. The top 10 in each event earn their shot at the $100,000 first-place prize on that Sunday. Harris finished 11th in 2021, but he gets the chance to compete as an injury replacement. “The American is huge for rodeo,” said Harris, 23, a three-time NFR qualifier from San Angelo, Texas, who was the 2018 Resistol Tie-Down Roping Rookie of the Year. “There’s no other rodeo where a guy can go compete for $1 million to $2 million. It’s a big deal for the qualifiers, but it’s also big for a guy to come off this NFR and get an automatic bid into the $100,000 field. This rodeo is one of the biggest things going.” It’s also unique. In addition to the invitees, The American features a qualifying system that allows contestants in each event to battle their way through and into the 16-person field on that Friday night. The final six contestants will come out of the semifinals round on Thursday, March 3, and they will be eligible for the qualifiers’ side pot, which is typically $1 million. Any qualifier that wins the top prize on the final day will earn at least a share of $1 million; in The American’s inaugural year of 2014, bareback rider Richmond Champion was the only qualifier to do so, and it set him up for life. In the years since, the pot was split up between multiple qualifiers. That was until 2021, when no qualifier earned the side pot; that money was rolled over into this year’s event, so the side pot is worth $2 million. “The purse is a pretty big deal,” said Douch of Huntsville, Texas. “There are many up-and-coming kids that can rope good. I’m only 24, and there are kids younger than me that can really rope. If they could win that, they could make a big name for themselves.” Douch and Harris have been in that position before. Douch made it to the 16-man field a couple seasons ago, while Harris will be part of that performance for the fifth time; Harris was in the mix three times as a qualifier. Competing inside the Dallas Cowboys home stadium is a huge honor, especially for the two Texans. “It is the coolest stadium I’ve ever been in,” Harris said. “Whether you’re a Cowboys fan or not, they’re ‘America’s Team.’ It’s cool to compete in that time of stadium where ‘America’s Team’ plays football.” It’s also a big opportunity, whether they’re roping for millions or for $100,000. “That’s probably the biggest rodeo I’d ever been to,” Douch said. “Growing up without much money, winning money like that could mean a lot.”

Wyoming bronc buster excels at riding broncs at an elite level Before he qualified for the College National Finals Rodeo, before he won the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo, before he qualified to National Finals Rodeo, Brody Cress was just a Wyoming cowboy who grew up on a small acreage just about 20 miles or so from the state’s capitol building. “My brother and I watched my dad ride colts, an that’s what we did in the summer,” said Cress, 26, now a five-time NFR qualifier and Cinch endorsee. “When we were younger, we broke ponies. We lived on 20 acres, but we had an arena. Both sides of my family were cowboys. I’ve always been raised up around that lifestyle and learned to love it.” It’s his life now. Like his father before him, Cress is a saddle bronc rider, and he’s pretty handy at it. He’s young, but he’s a veteran. He went to his first NFR in 2017, and he quickly emerged as a contender for the world championship. At the age of 21 years and 11 months, the fresh-faced schoolboy at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, earned the first of three NFR aggregate titles by having the best cumulative score through 10 go-rounds. He followed with average crowns in 2019 and ’21. It’s like he’s the odd man out, but he’s been among the top three in the world standings four times out of his five NFR appearances. In fact, the only year in which he struggled at the year-end championship was 2018, after his regular season had been cut short with a broken ankle; he hadn’t fully recovered from the injury and just wasn’t able to ride to his ability in Las Vegas. That’s just part of life as a rodeo cowboy, and it definitely didn’t deter him from excelling at the sport he loves. “I’ve been competing in rodeo since I was little,” said Cress of Hillsdale, Wyoming. “I rode sheep and calves, then I got on steers, but I never got on bulls. At that time, I was riding colts and working with horses, but I didn’t get on my first bucking horse until I was in high school. We had a bunch of practices horses to where we could get on in a controlled environment. I didn’t get on a bucking horse in competition until I was a junior in high school. “The whole idea was trying to control our environment. We had it set up where we could get on practice horses and get us prepared so when we went into competition, we’d be ready to ride.”   It worked, and he hasn’t looked back since. He was a three-time college finals qualifier and would have made it a fourth time if COVID hadn’t reared its ugly head in 2020 and shut down intercollegiate rodeo. While in college, he took care of business, completing a bachelor’s degree in agriculture business and a master’s degree in consumer science. When he moved to Texas, he carried his Wyoming work ethic and experience with him. “When you’re breaking colts, they may buck with you a little bit, and they’re not always the best in the chutes,” he said. “You learn a lot about horsemanship and the little things by being around the horses. Knowing how to be around the colts and handling them, you’re trying to set the colts up to have success as they get older. You teach them and reward them when they’re good so they can be that way throughout their careers.” That seems to be the right training for equine stars as it is for the men that ride them eight seconds at a time. It’s what’s propelled Cress toward the top of the world standings year after year. It’s the next chapter for a man who was interested in following his father’s footsteps, even as a youngster when he would sneak behind the bucking chutes to watch the rodeos. He and Blaze, his older brother by 21 months, would ride Dad’s saddle on the trampoline. He showed livestock, and wrestling provided another outlet for his competitive nature. Wrestling also taught him self-discipline and centralized focus. He was a three-time state champion, earning those coveted titles from his sophomore year in high school on up. That controlled movement was also the perfect precursor to what he does now, riding a 1,200-pound bolt of electricity in order to cash in at the end of the day. “The thing about bronc riding for me is it’s a never-ending battle,” Cress said. “You always find out you can improve yourself. You’re never bored with it. The rewards you get when you have a great ride or have a great year makes you hunger for more.” He remains hungry as he rolls through the 2022 season. As of mid-February, he was among the top three in the world standings again, and he’s proven to be consistent enough to remain among the elite through the remainder of the campaign. Since he began as a professional, he’s continued to call Hillsdale his home, but Cress has lived in Stephenville since he moved to Texas for college. There’s a reason behind his decision to remain in the Lone Star State. “I’m getting to have an independent life,” he said. “This is the first place I came from living at home. You grow up around a group of people, then you’re going through that phase of your life, and I feel like I still have that. “You also have the rodeo side of things. All the big winter rodeos are down here in Texas, and they’re spread out so that you can get to them easy enough. It’s also really beneficial living here, because you’re close to an airport here.” That allows him easier access to rodeos across the country, when he’s not in a pickup outfitted with a Capri camper while traveling the highways and interstates with fellow bronc busters Isaac Diaz and Shorty Gorham. “Whenever  Continue Reading »

Resistol bull rider knows the opportunities await him in early March The giddiness in Clayton Sellars’ voice was just proof of his readiness to compete at The American to kick off his March. Sellars, a Resistol cowboy from Wildwood, Florida, rides bulls for a living, and he did well enough in 2021 to be invited as one of the top 10 cowboys in rodeo to compete at the unique event that will take place in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He will kick-start his weekend by competing in the 16-man field Friday, March 4, at Cowtown Coliseum at the popular Fort Worth Stockyards. He hopes to advance to the final performance, set for Sunday, March 6, at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys. The winners of each event will walk away with at least $100,000. “The American jacks up the stakes, and it takes the sport of rodeo to another level,” said Sellars, 23, a three-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier. “Being cowboys, that amount of money can change most of our lives.” That weekend, the field will also include six contestants in each event that advanced through a series of qualifier events, including a week-long competition that leads up to Friday night’s showcase in Fort Worth. Qualifiers are eligible for the side pot, which is typically $1 million. If a qualifier wins The American on Sunday, that person will earn at least a share of the side pot. Only one time has a qualifier earned the entire pot, and that came in The American’s inaugural year in 2014. Since then, the side pot has been split among multiple qualifiers. In 2017, bull rider Sage Kimzey earned one-third of the side pot; along with the $100,000 first-place prize, he, bronc rider Cody DeMoss and barrel racer Hailey Kinsel each pocketed $333,333. Since no qualifier won in 2021, that money rolled over, and the side pot is up to $2 million this year. “It’s unfortunate for guys like me that you only have a shot at $100,000, but it can still be a big deal,” Sellars said. “That kind of money can set some guys up for a year, maybe two years if you do things right. “Riding at AT&T Stadium is going to be pretty cool. I think it’s really neat to get to play on the same turf as the Dallas Cowboys.” As exciting as everything is for the young bull rider, he still loves that there are a few dozen cowboys and cowgirls who have a shot at some incredible money. “With $2 million on the line, for most high-level athletes, it’s not going to change a whole lot about what they do as far as competition,” he said. “For the ones trying to win that kind of money, it’s going to add that extra dog effort, that extra couple of seconds of hanging on. That’s such life-changing money, especially for young guys that haven’t been up to the top levels. It’s going to bring the most try out of them. “You’re going to see the best of every competitor at The American.” Sellars is just one Resistol bull rider in the mix. He will be joined by: STETSON WRIGHT, 22, Milford, Utah: Wright is the reigning three-time all-around world champion who finished third in the bull riding world standings in 2021. He posted the highest-marked ride at the 2021 NFR, a 94.5-point ride in the fourth go-round. He also placed in four rounds, including wins on Nights 5 and 7. He finished fourth in the NFR average and pocketed just shy of $140,000 in bull riding alone. He also competed at the NFR in saddle bronc riding, where he won the world title. He finished the season with $686,513, with more than $100,000 coming in Xtreme Bulls. The 2020 bull riding world champion won his first all-around world title in 2019, the same year he won the Resistol Rookie of the Year awards in the all-around, saddle bronc riding and bull riding. KY HAMILTON, 22, Mackay, Queensland, Australia: At his second straight NFR, Hamilton kicked off the 10-day championship with an 87.5-point ride to share the first-round win with bull riding veteran J.B. Mauney. Hamilton also placed in two other go-rounds and finished eighth in the 10-ride aggregate. In all, the Aussie pocketed more than $76,000 in Las Vegas and finished eighth in the world standings. The year before, he earned more than $112,000 at the NFR and placed fourth in the world standings.

ALVA, Okla. – It’s taken two and a half years, but Northwestern Oklahoma State University’s Tyler Scheevel finally picked up his first Central Plains Region victory. Scheevel, an all-around cowboy from Lester Prairie, Minnesota, scored the steer wrestling title this past weekend at the Kansas State University rodeo in Manhattan, Kansas. He started off strong with a 4.4-second run to finish second in the opening round, then was 4.9 for a fourth-place finish in the championship round. The two-run cumulative time of 9.3 seconds was enough to claim the aggregate title. “From my freshman year, I knew the start at K-State was short, and I knew my first steer ran pretty hard, so I saw what I needed to see and adjusted,” said Scheevel, a junior who transferred from Western Oklahoma State College prior to the fall semester. “It was exciting. I am happy to finally get my first win. I’d made it back to the short go several times, but it was nice to finally come around and finish off on a strong note.” He was one of three Rangers to score points in steer wrestling. Kaden Greenfield of Lakeview, Oregon, placed in both rounds and finished just one-tenth of a second behind Scheevel in the aggregate race. Jeremy Plourde of Carleton, Michigan, won the short round and finished fifth overall. “It was really nice to see Northwestern bulldoggers up at the top again,” Scheevel said. “Jeremy is my roommate, and he made a really nice run to win the short round. It was fun to see everybody come back to the short-go and put more good runs together.” They weren’t the only Northwestern cowboys to find success in Manhattan. Tie-down roper Tucker Hoffman of Mutual, Oklahoma, placed third in the short round and finished third overall, while Kade Chace of Cherokee, Oklahoma, finished fifth in the first round. The team roping tandem of Camden Hoelting of Olpe, Kansas, and Austin Lampe of Dodge City, Kansas, finished second in the championship round and moved up to third overall. Stran Morris of Woodward, Oklahoma, roping with Jordan Lovins of Western Oklahoma State, placed in the long round. Barrel racer Samantha Chambers of Calhan, Colorado, finished sixth after placing in the short round. Overall, it was a strong showing for the Northwestern rodeo teams. Knowing success was possible, Scheevel realized transferring to college in Alva would be beneficial to his future in rodeo. “When I was at Western, I noticed I was bulldogging a little bit better, and that started to be my main event,” he said. “There’s no better college in the country to come to if you want to bulldog. There are so many good bulldoggers up here. That makes it fun to be around people like that.” It doesn’t hurt that rodeo coach Stockton Graves is an eight-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier in steer wrestling and that there are others around the community that can provide assistance when possible. Alva is also home to 2020 world champion Jacob Edler and NFR qualifier Bridger Anderson, the latter of whom won the steer wrestling national title in 2019. “I like that Northwestern is a smaller college,” Scheevel said. “Having Stockton’s knowledge is amazing. When you’re struggling, him and Edler can really help you. They can help you start fixing what you’re doing wrong.”

Cinch comedic duo hits the right chords with entertaining podcast Behind every rodeo story written, there are countless others that remain behind the chutes. It’s beyond the arena lights – back where horse trailers with living quarters park and Gold Buckle Beer is passed out of tiny refrigerators and coolers – that some of the best stories are told and where they’re retold over time. Justin Rumford and Josh “Hambone” Hilton grew up in rodeo and still make their livings in the game today. Rumford is a rodeo entertainer who has been named the PRCA Clown of the Year each of the last 10 seasons; Hilton is a two-time PRCA Music Director of the Year. Together, they make up RümpChät, a podcast that tells the most interesting of those tales in ways that are entertaining, enlightening and downright hilarious. “What makes it so easy is that it’s always just been us being us,” said Hilton, originally from the hamlet of Sidney, Iowa, in the state’s southwestern corner. “We barely do any, if at all, show prep; we just turn on the mics and go. We are just sitting in the trailer, having a drink and BSing. That’s what makes it natural.” It’s conversational and fun, and it’s very popular. “You don’t hear the real stories very often,” said Rumford, a third-generation cowboy from a stock-contracting family who has done just about everything in rodeo. “On the other podcasts, it’s not the real stories. Our stories go beyond the surface, where others don’t. We get a lot of cool people on our show.” That’s just another aspect for the two men that are also Cinch endorsees. Their friendship began a decade and a half ago, before either considered the roles in rodeo that they have now. They were just trying to find their ways in the sport they love, and their personalities and passions intertwined with bucking broncs and bulldogging. It’s those shared experiences that have been the guiding force behind RümpChät’s popularity … well, that and their large list of contracts within the rodeo industry. Their show has hosted rodeo legends like Joe Beaver and Bob Tallman and exposed Jacob Edler as the man to beat on the afternoon before he clinched the steer wrestling world championship Dec. 12, 2020. “I wanted it to be exactly what it is; I just wanted it to be real,” Rumford said. “It’s me and Hambone talking like we normally talk. I don’t want anything to be fake. I feel like there are a lot of these podcasts where people want to step around the truth. “I don’t want this to be exclusively for the rodeo crowd. I want it to be more for people involved in agriculture, people who are farmers and ranchers and blue-collar guys. We’re coming up on a million downloads in less than 100 episodes. I never thought it would get big. Now we get about 6,000 downloads a day. I really enjoy it.” He should. What he says on the podcast are things he says in everyday life. It’s Rump being Rump while talking to a dear friend in Hambone, who is equally as funny. The guests are just an added benefit to the program and, boy, do they get some incredible guests. “We just like to share our experiences and other peoples’ experiences,” said Hilton, who now lives in San Angelo, Texas, with his wife, Whitney, and their son, Gus; he is the rodeo manager for the San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo. “The podcast is for people that don’t get to go to the rodeos ad listen to the rodeo stories from around the trailer. It’s fun to share that side of it and of our friends with the rodeo world, the Western sports world. “We have full trust with each other. He’s done a few deals on his own because I was busy. He was making sure we had content out. RümpChät damn sure is not RümpChät without him, and he feels the same about me. We just have that trust, and we’re such good friends. We wouldn’t want to do it without each other.” Each man points out, though, that it’s more than a two-man operation. Aaron Ferguson is a former bullfighter and entrepreneur who helped come up with the idea; Justin Jacobucci is a former bull rider who is now a graphic designer; and Ashley Rumford handles other duties for the RümpChät brand. The enterprise is still growing. As the faces of RümpChät, Hilton and Rumford know the possibilities are endless. “This is something that’s been good for me,” said Rumford, who lives in Ponca City, Oklahoma, with his wife and their three children, Livi, Lola and Bandy. “This could be something that I can do in my post-rodeo career that could keep me involved in rodeo. “I want to do more RümpChäts. As much as I enjoy rodeo, if I could make this bigger so I could have more home time with my family, then it would be a good trade off. Our loyalty is to our families. When I want to be done rodeoing, and I don’t know when that’ll be, I want to have something like this so I can be around my family more but still involved in rodeo That’s the hard part about rodeo; top personnel are sought-after and on the road a lot. When the triplets were younger, the Rumfords were on the trail together. With the kids in school, the opportunities to do that are fewer. Hilton is equally as busy; even though he has a full-time job in west Texas, he also hits the road many times throughout the year, and most of those are without his wife and young son. That also makes it tougher to put together content. Earlier this year, the two took advantage of working the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver and recorded several episodes; they’ll do that throughout the year when they can. Technology has also allowed  Continue Reading »

5-time world champ among several Resistol Rookies of the Year in the field The saddle bronc riding field at this year’s The American is filled with some incredible young talent. Four of the 10 men that have drawn the automatic exemption into the rodeo have been named Resistol Rookies of the Year. One, though, owns three of those titles. The year was 2019, and Cody Wright’s third son was setting the rodeo world on fire. Stetson Wright barely missed qualifying for the National Finals Rodeo in two events, finishing 20th in bronc riding; only the top 15 advance to Las Vegas. He did, however, win the Resistol title in the all-around, bronc riding and bull riding; he finished the year No. 3 in the bull riding world standings and as the all-around world champion. Stetson Wright then added the bull riding and all-around gold buckles in 2020, and he proved multipurpose talent last year by claiming his third all-around world title and adding the saddle bronc riding gold to his resume. He will be the top dog at The American during its 16-man round, set for Friday, March 4, at Cowtown Coliseum in the Fort Worth (Texas) Stockyards. If he can finish among the leaders, he will advance to the finale on Sunday, March 6, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. “It’s cool to be going to The American in two events, but I don’t feel like it’s just an invitation,” said Wright, 22, of Milford, Utah. “I feel like I’ve worked my tail off for it. It’s not necessarily a privilege for me, because I’ve been working my whole life. “I’ve broken bones, been beaten to death and sacrificed a lot to get here.” Yes, he has, and it shows with is work inside the arena. Take the NFR bronc riding, for example: He placed in six go-rounds, including two titles; he split the eighth-round victory with Canadian Layton Green, then won the 10th round outright. He pocketed $150,428 in his 10 nights in Las Vegas and beat his older brother, two-time world champion Ryder Wright, by just $1,297. He now has the unique ability to win two events at The American, but that’s nothing new to him. Each event’s winner will walk away from “Jerry World” with $100,000. The 10 with the automatic bid come directly from the 2021 world standings. The other six in Friday’s field will come from a series of qualifying events, culminating in the semifinals that conclude Thursday, March 3. Qualifiers are eligible for the side pot, which is typically $1 million. Because no qualifier won last March, that money has been rolled over, and the side pot is worth $2 million. “I think The American is really important, because when someone sees they can win a million dollars, it makes others work harder at it,” Wright said. “They start entering the qualifiers, and it just draws a ton of people “It’s life-changing money if you win it.” He knows a thing or two about that. Last year alone, he pocketed just shy of $700,000 riding bulls and broncs. He will join three other rookies of the year, brother Ryder Wright, uncle Spencer Wright and Canadian Dawson Hays, in the field at The American. The other Resistol bronc rider is Wyatt Casper, who won The American in 2020. RYDER WRIGHT, 23, Milford, Utah: The second child to two-time world champion Cody Wright, Ryder is also a two-time bronc riding titlist, earning ProRodeo gold in 2017 and ’20. He finished last season second in the standings, ever so close to his younger brother. Ryder Wright is a six-time NFR qualifier who won The American in 2019. He was the 2016 Resistol Rookie of the Year. At last year’s NFR, he placed in eight go-rounds, including wins on Nights 5 and 6. He placed fourth in the average and earned more than $160,000. SPENCER WRIGHT, 31, Milford, Utah: Spencer Wright was the 2012 Resistol Rookie of the Year; two years later, he proved his value by winning his first world championship. He is now a four-time NFR qualifier and joins brothers Cody and Jesse, along with nephews Ryder and Stetson, as owners of that impressive gold buckle. At the championship in December, he placed in eight go-rounds and finished fifth in the average, pocketing $110,368. WYATT CASPER, 25, Miami, Texas: While his victory at The American two years ago was the catapult to an amazing run, Casper has shown he has the ability to remain among saddle bronc riding’s elite for some time. He finished the 2020 season second in the world standings and returned to the NFR for the second straight year in 2021. He ended up eighth in the world standings. At the NFR this past December, he placed in four rounds, including the Round 7 victory, and collected $67,000. DAWSON HAY, 23, Wildwood, Alberta: Don’t let his 2021 NFR fool you; Hay is a member of bronc riding royalty. His father, Rod, was a 20-time NFR qualifier, and Dawson Hay has already made his name in the game twice. Look for more to follow soon. He was the 2018 Resistol Rookie of the Year, then followed that up with his first qualification to the NFR in 2019, where he placed in five rounds, including a round victory, and placed in the average. Hay finished the 2021 season eighth in the world standings.

GUYMON, Okla. – In his heart, Josh Frost is not just a bull rider; he’s a cowboy. That’s why his two Linderman Awards are as cherished as any trophy he’s ever won; in order to win one, cowboys must compete in at least three events and be on both the timed-event and roughstock sides of the arena. He earned his first Linderman in 2019, then followed up with another this past season, earning more than $135,000 over the regular season in three events: bull riding, tie-down roping and steer wrestling. Oh, but it was just a precursor to how he finished the 2021 campaign. For the second time, he earned a bull riding qualification to the National Finals Rodeo, where he followed that by winning the 10-ride aggregate title, the second most valued honor in ProRodeo behind the world championship. “It was a great year,” said Frost, an Oklahoma Panhandle State University graduate who plans to return to the region for 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. “I went to 125 rodeos during the season, and I went to the finals sitting fifth. That was the highest I’d gone into the finals. I had more 90-point rides than I’d ever had before, and I won more rodeos than I’d ever won.” He parlayed it into a fantastic run at the NFR. He placed in six go-rounds, winning the final night with a 92.5-point ride, and earned $233,160 while in Las Vegas. He finished second in the standings with nearly $365,000 yet behind his traveling partner, seven-time world champion Sage Kimzey. It was, by far, his best season in the PRCA. “Winning the average is a huge deal,” said Frost, a four-time qualifier for the College National Finals Rodeo (three in bull riding, one in steer wrestling). “If you can’t be the world champion, being the NFR average champion is the next best thing. You’re there for 10 days, getting on 10 of the rankest bulls in the world and going against the top 15 guys in the world. “Coming out No. 1 in the average through all that is a huge accomplishment. Momentum is big in bull riding, especially at the finals. You’re getting on the rankest bulls in the world every night, so it can be really easy to get in a slump there. It’s great to bounce back from a buckoff and continue winning.” Frost rode more bulls in Las Vegas than any other cowboy, which is how he claimed the average crown. What’s bigger is that each time he rode, he placed. In go-round payouts, he pocketed more than $150,000. That’s very impressive. He earned the most out of the seven cowboys with ties to the Panhandle region that had qualified for the NFR. Frost was joined by three others who competed at Panhandle State, bareback rider Orin Larsen and saddle bronc riders Dawson Hay and Spencer Wright. The other three were bareback rider Cole Franks, who was born in Guymon; steer wrestler Cody Devers of Perryton, Texas; and Wyatt Casper, who finished high school in Balko. All but Devers – who suffered a torn pectoral in the opening round of the NFR – are expected to compete in Guymon come the opening weekend of May; Devers hopes to return to action by mid-June. “It’s always awesome to come back to Guymon,” Frost said. “It was always cool during college, because it would be the week right before you got out of school, and the college rodeo was always the weekend before. It’s always exciting. It’s the first weekend in May, and the weather’s usually getting better. You always get on great stock there, and it’s a great rodeo.” It’s also nice to return to Texas County and visit with the people who have supported him since he first arrived on campus in 2013. He is one of three Panhandle State cowboys to have earned the Linderman Award – Goodwell-raised Trell Etbauer is a four-time winner, while Frost’s brother, Joe, won the Linderman in 2014. “The Linderman Award means a lot to me, and it’s a big goal of mine,” Josh Frost said. “It really ties to the Panhandle. One of the reasons I went to college at Panhandle was because they excel in roughstock events and timed events. It’s great having my name up there with Joe and Trell. “I recommend Panhandle to anybody looking at college, especially college rodeo. You get to experience rodeo and the cowboy atmosphere. The support from the community and the college is great, because they make it a priority. Any time you need a sponsorship, it’s very easy to get help from external resources. It’s why the rodeo program has been so successful through the years.” For Frost, the dual focus of rodeo and classwork was the perfect fit as he sought rodeo dreams and earning an education. As an intercollegiate cowboy, he competed in four events at all 10 rodeos on the Panhandle State schedule each season. It’s what’s provided a drive for excellence as he makes a significant living in the sport he loves. “A regular week of school for me was pretty busy between going to class, roping calves every day, wrestling steers and going to other practices,” said Frost, who was No. 1 in the bull riding world standings as of Feb. 14. “One thing about (coach) Robert Etbauer; it doesn’t matter what event you’re doing, as long as you put out the effort, he’s going to be out there cheering you on.” That’s a pretty good reflection of everyone who lives and works in the Oklahoma Panhandle.

Kaycee Feild has reaped life-changing rewards from big-paying rodeo Four years ago, Resistol cowboy Kaycee Feild was going through a rough patch in his life. “There was a time there that I wasn’t winning,” said Feild, who, at the time, was a four-time world champion bareback rider from Genola, Utah. “At home, I lost my father and was starting a business, and there were things that distracted me; it made it really hard going down the road.” As one of the elite cowboys in all of ProRodeo, the downturn was unexpected. He didn’t compete at the National Finals Rodeo in 2016 or ’17, and he was relegated to trying to earn his big cash through a series of qualifying events for The American. It was unique for the second-generation champion, but he took to it because of the big carrot dangling at the end of The American’s hook. In 2018, he was one of a handful of qualifiers to advance out of The American semifinals and join the 10 cowboys that had been invited based on their finish in the 2017 PRCA world standings. The event pays its winners $100,000 in each discipline, but there’s a caveat: Those that had come through the qualifying regimen are part of the $1 million side pot. Even though he owned more gold buckles than any other bareback rider at the 2018 event at AT&T Stadium, he was eligible for that money. When he won the title, he was one of three qualifiers to do so in their respective events, so they all split the side pot while also pocketing the $100,000 first-place prize. “The $456,000 I won at The American that year changed my life,” Field said. “What I’m able to do now with that amount of money was a true blessing. It helped me become a better bareback rider and get back to my winning ways.” Since then, he has added two more world titles and another win inside “Jerry World” in Arlington, Texas. It was a financial boon, but that’s the reality of The American, which is expected to pay out $3 million on its final day, Sunday, March 3. Because no qualifiers won in 2021, the side pot rolled over and is $2 million this year. “It’s the icing on the cake and at the end is life-changing money,” he said. “It’s a no-brainer. Go jump through the hoops and get the big bucks.” The top 10 from the 2021 world standings are invited to compete at The American. In bareback riding, that will include four other Resistol cowboys: JESS POPE, 23, Waverly, Kansas: Pope finished second in the 2019 Resistol Bareback Riding Rookie of the Year race, then earned his first trip to the NFR in 2020; he promptly won the aggregate title and finished third in the world standings. He returned to the NFR this past December and won the average title again. He finished just behind Feild for the gold buckle. GARRETT SHADBOLT, 25, Merriman, Nebraska: Shadbolt had a terrific run at his first NFR in December. He finished fifth in the world standings and proved why he earned the 2019 Resistol Rookie of the Year title. That year, he earned his spot in the 16-man field at The American by coming through the qualifier. While he didn’t advance beyond that point, he gained solid experience. “The American is awesome, and it’s gong to be really fun,” Shadbolt said. “You know everybody is going to be riding their best out there. You can see it when you watch it.” COLE REINER, 23, Kaycee, Wyoming: Reiner was presented the 2020 Resistol Rookie of the Year award at his first NFR in Arlington, Texas. He won two rounds and finished fifth in the world standings. By doing so, he earned The American invitation and finished fourth overall. Reiner returned to the NFR in 2021 and finished seventh the world standings. CLAYTON BIGLOW, 26, Clements, California: The year 2016 was pretty big for Biglow. He won the Resistol Rookie of the Year award, then parlayed that into his first qualification to the NFR. That year, he won two go-rounds in Las Vegas. He has returned to the NFR five more times and, in 2019, set records in winning the world championship. Biglow has finished among the top five in the world standings three times. In 2020, he finished second at The American, worth $25,000.

Young tie-down roper says the right mental approach his is key to success Kincade Henry is the youngest of three children born to Chad and Melody Henry of Mount Pleasant, Texas. He and his siblings are close and always have been. Just a year and a half apart, it’s just the natural progression of their relationship. Jace is the oldest, having just turned 23. Kincade is 20, and their sister, Keely, is 21. Following in the footsteps of their parents, the Henrys were horseback as toddlers and itching to compete shortly thereafter. When a heart condition forced Keely to stop competing, her brothers joined her on the sidelines. “Me and my older brother said we’d quit rodeo because she couldn’t go,” said Kincade Henry, a third-year PRCA tie-down roper. “We wouldn’t go without her being able to compete, so I started playing baseball and really got into it.” He was just 8 at the time, and he made the conscious decision to move on with life. He transitioned his passion from swinging a rope to swinging a bat. He and his teams found success, but there was always something deep in the crevices of his own mind that just needed a bit of a spark. When doctors cleared Keely to return to rodeo a few years later, the fire was lit. “Before she got cleared again, we’d always go to the clinics at the Josey Ranch,” he said. “My dad learned to rope there, and he’s an instructor there now. We would just rope that one time a year when we went there. “When my sister got cleared, we just went back to rodeoing again.” Kincade Henry hasn’t stopped. When he became eligible to compete in PRCA rodeo, he did at age 18, but it wasn’t all biscuits and gravy; just weeks after he became a ProRodeo rookie, COVID shut down the world and rodeo along with it. The virus-shortened season – one he’d hoped would end with a National Finals Rodeo qualification – forced his hand and led him back home 31st on the money list. “I think I was so young and stupid, I didn’t care at all,” Henry said of his rookie campaign. “I thought I was still going to make it to the NFR. I was optimistically ignorant. When I got out there on the road, it hit me pretty hard that I wasn’t prepared for it and that I didn’t have the horsepower for this. That was rough. I took that harder than anything.” Each missed opportunity was a lesson learned. From the rodeo trail, he returned to east Texas and transitioned to college life as a student at Panola College in Carthage, Texas. He is still taking classes and is part of the men’s rodeo team, which finished second at the 2021 College National Finals Rodeo. In fact, it’s there that he’s gaining a new edge to his competitive nature. Panola, which won the men’s team title in 2019, is coached by Jeffrey Collins, the 2000 bareback riding world champion. While riding bucking horses and roping calves are part of rodeo, they are vastly different concepts and competitions. “I was planning on going to McNeese State, but a friend told me to come check out Panola,” Henry said. “I fell in love with the coach, Jeff Collins. It’s probably the best decision I’ve ever made. He’s really helped me with my mental game most of all. “Jeff doesn’t know a lick about calf roping, but he’s had his back against the wall and had to ride out of it. He’s been in pressure situations. He’s already faced every factor I see myself in with my future when it comes to competition.” Henry has already seen some adversity. After realizing that the horse he rode in 2020 wasn’t going to work, he invested into horsepower to kick start the 2021 campaign, but that, too, didn’t go as well as he expected. “I rode that horse all winter, but by the time February came, I realized it wasn’t going to work out, so I was back on my little bay that I rode in 2020,” he said. “I went into the Fourth of July sitting eighth in the world.  I figure that I’m set up; I just have to finish. “But I didn’t do it. I still didn’t have the horsepower. Guys let me mount out. I had opportunity after opportunity to make a move, but it was the little things that happened. I roped a back leg to win a couple thousand here, or I broke a barrier to win a couple thousand there. Looking back, there were so many ‘couple thousands’ that I missed out on from the middle of July to the end of September that kept me out of (the National Finals Rodeo).” The NFR features only the top 15 contestants on the money list at the end of the regular season; Henry was 18th. He had crisscrossed the country, ridden other people’s horses and came within a few thousand dollars of earning his first bid to ProRodeo’s grand championship. “I took it hard, but I didn’t take it as hard as I did the first year,” Henry said. “You get that mindset that you can compete with the best guys in the world. When you realize it’s all over, you step out of that mindset a little bit. I called Jeff and Tuf (Cooper), and they helped me realize that I was 19 years old, and I finished 18th in the world; I’m OK.” Yes, he is, and early in the 2022 season, Henry is proving it. As of Feb. 7, he was eighth in the world standings. He has a long way to go, but he’s in the game at this point and has adjusted his approach as necessary. He leans on the words of motivational coach Tim Grover: “No emotion; just energy.” “I feel like if I have any emotion in my head when it’s time to compete,  Continue Reading »

Injuries may have slowed cowboy a little, but he’s building toward his future Injured reserve is no place for a cowboy. Rodeo athletes have no guaranteed contracts. They don’t have million-dollar signing bonuses. Money only comes by winning it, and there’s no chance at winning a paycheck if they’re not in the competition. Bareback rider R.C. Landingham had missed two ProRodeo seasons over the last four years. He was looking at a partial third year in 2021. He’d earned $6,000 from Jan. 1 to June, and finances were tight at home in Hat Creek, a tiny community near the Lassen National Forest in northern California. It’s a home he shares with his wife of two years, Bliss, and their 7-month-old son, Wynn. “I got in the rig in June, and I told my traveling partner, Clayton (Biglow, the 2019 world champion), that I was going to have to make some money in a hurry,” said Landingham, 31. “ ‘If things don’t turn around over the Fourth of July, I’ll have to go home and get a job.’ If you’ve been around Clayton any, you realize that’s not in his mindset. “We made a joke out of it, and things finally turned around. It’s crazy, even for rodeo. For six months, I couldn’t win a dime, then I couldn’t not win. Maybe I picked up on things, fixed some things by just working on it at home that made a big difference. It saved my year. I was about to go home and ended up having a really good year.” Yes, he did. He earned his third National Finals Rodeo qualification, finishing the regular season with a little more than $72,000. That put him in the No. 13 position in the world standings heading into the 10-day championship in Las Vegas, where he placed in seven go-rounds. He shared the Round 4 victory with eventual world champion Kaycee Feild and earned just shy of $109,000 over that special 10 nights. “That was the best finals I’ve ever had,” said Landingham, who also played on the sport’s biggest stage in 2016 and 2017. It was actually during the 2017 season that things started going downhill for the California-born cowboy. He suffered a torn rotator cuff in his left shoulder, which is his free arm. He rode through the end of the season and at the NFR, then opted for surgery. There went the 2018 campaign. He hit the rodeo trail again in 2019, but that didn’t last long. He went back under the knife. “I don’t know if I came back too soon or what, but I never really felt 100 percent,” he said. “It got torn apart again, and I had the laterjet surgery.” That procedure was done to restore stability in his left shoulder joint, but that, too, didn’t hold together. “It ended up breaking,” said Landingham, who didn’t ride in 2020 after having surgery in November 2019. “I think I came back too soon, maybe did too much therapy. I broke the bone and the screw in half. They came back in and did another surgery and made sure I took it really easy. It was a slower healing process, but thankfully I came back stronger. “Throughout those three years, I rode hurt the entire time. I had that thought in that back of my head that it was hurt. Now, to be able to get on and not have it cross my mind is a blessing.”   His pain-free approach showed inside the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. It was a shining moment in a time he needed it, and much has changed in his life and his livelihood since Landingham started competing in ProRodeo 13 seasons ago, and a great deal of that has happened over the last five years. “My rodeo life has completely changed,” he said. “I used to be a kid that rodeoed for the fun of it, the adrenaline side of it. I never took it into perspective that it was my job, that I was doing it for a living. It was how I made my money, but I didn’t take it as serious as I should have back then. “I was with my wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, when I got hurt the first time. Being hurt and at home and seeing her worry about the future and what life was going to be in store for us … it gave me a perspective on what I was going to make of this career.” It was a flip of the switch. He went from a kid in a candy store to a grown man with a plan to build on what he’d learned and what he could do with a better diet and being in better shape. Bareback riding isn’t for the timid; it’s the most physically challenging event in rodeo. “I finally got my shoulder fixed, but at that point, we still didn’t know what was going to be come of it,” he said. “I knew I was going to have a chance to ride again, but we didn’t know at what level. I wanted to build my body the best I could to ride at a top level. “We’re not just cowboys anymore; we’re a bunch of athletes now. Everybody works really hard at this job. You have to be at the top of your game and in the best possible shape.” His adjustment came when Landingham realized he was riding for more than himself. He now has a wife and son that depend on him, and his purpose shows with his flashy long legs spurring bucking horses. He and Bliss have known each other for several years, dating back to high school. They began seeing each other in earnest in 2015. From losing his mom to cancer to battling through the injuries, she’s weathered the storm by his side. “She’s been through all the ups and downs, between rodeo and family and  Continue Reading »

Lifetime of lessons helped build team roper into a world champ Pressure makes a steam engine work; as the pressure builds, the engine goes in motion and creates a force that drives the machine’s purpose. Over 13 years, the pressure continued to build in team roping header Kaleb Driggers. From his first run in 2009 through his nine qualifications to the National Finals Rodeo to his four runner-up finishes to the world championship, his head of steam kept arching toward that red line. The pressure has often built ever so close to the relief valve, that Montana Silversmiths gold buckle. Time and time again he was on the verge of a reprieve, only to watch it fade away in someone else’s arms. In 2021, he walked away from the NFR with the wearable rodeo trophy. “It’s a little nerve-wracking when you come so close and don’t quite get over the camel’s back,” said Driggers, 32, of Hoboken, Georgia, now living in Stephenville, Texas. “To finally get that done, it was definitely a little pressure relief.” He first finished as the runner-up in 2012, his second season to advance to Las Vegas. He followed that up with second-place finishes in 2016-’18 – three straight years of being just behind the titlist. In 2016, he watched his heeling partner, Junior Nogueira, become the first Brazilian world champion in ProRodeo history when Nogueira won the all-around gold buckle. This past season, though, the longtime partners were able to snag gold together. “It means everything,” said Driggers, a Cinch endorsee. “A guy is always happy when he wins the world no matter what, but I feel bad for the guys that have split titles because you’ve spent all year roping with your partner and don’t get to enjoy it together. It’s so much sweeter when you can do it together. We’ve been close four or five times, and to finally pull it off is incredible.” What’s it like being a world champion? “I don’t know if it ever really sinks in,” he said. “There are times that it hits me and kind of brings a tear to my eye, but it’s a lot of pride.” He’s not puffing out his chest in any regard. He earned that world title. He and Nogueira entered the NFR second in the world standings, then pocketed $143,896 over 10 December nights in the Nevada desert. They placed in six rounds, including the fourth-round title, and placed third in the average. Driggers finished the campaign with $263,227 and well ahead of his runner-up, Erich Rogers. “In order to win rounds out there, a guy has to take a little bit of a high-risk shot,” Driggers said. “I was trying to stay away from that; I was trying to take a higher percentage of shots. When you have the best 15 guys going at them, you know you have to stay in your comfort zone but still take a calculated risk when you can.” He’s learned that through a lifetime of swinging a rope. Driggers was raised around the sport, the son of a horse trainer who roped. Driggers’ uncles and cousins roped, and there were arenas within a mile of his family’s house that allowed plenty of practicing opportunities “I’d say my dad is the one that probably shaped me, along with my mom,” he said. “They’ve always been there for me. When my dad had to do shiftwork and couldn’t go to the rodeos, my mom made sure I got there. Their support was a huge deal for me growing up. “Brad Culpepper introduced me to ProRodeo. I was a rookie, and I made dumb, rookie mistakes, and he was the guy that helped me with that stuff. Every partner I’ve had has added a piece to me. There’s not just one person that’s stuck out the most. I try to take a little bit from everyone’s opinions and figure out what works on my own. “Speed Williams has helped me with my horsemanship. He’s given me tips on how to use my hands and legs better. There have been a lot of people that have impacted my career, even to the people that allow us to stay at their places while we’re out rodeoing and give us a place to practice throughout the year. They’re all important.” That includes his wife, Nicole, who trains and runs barrel horses. She understands the work it takes and the hours spent practicing and all the other little things that come with competing at a high level. Along the way, each person has made an impact on who and what Kaleb Driggers is today. Just in ProRodeo, he’s teamed with some of the greatest in the game, from Culpepper to Jade Corkill to Travis Graves to Patrick Smith and now with Nogueira. Each run he’s made with each man has taught Driggers something about himself, about being a cowboy and about being a teammate. In essence, he’s a reflection of them in some capacity. “There is no substitute for experience,” he said. “Everything you can think of, good or bad, it feels like we’ve done it. We know what works and what doesn’t, and we learn from that. We know in situations you get in that you have to overcome it a little bit. From the first time I made the NFR to now, I’d like to think I’ve learned a little bit.” That’s what makes this gold buckle special. Every experience he’s had played a role in finally winning the war. It’s nice to win battles, because this is how he makes a living, but the world championship is the prize for which they all strive. “The No. 1 key to me winning the gold buckle was my partner,” Driggers said of Nogueira. “He didn’t make one mistake. He was 100 percent, and that definitely helped us. He helped me keep a level head and treat each steer for what it was and rope each steer from that. I  Continue Reading »

A torn pectoral sidelined bulldogger, but not before he made a statement Cody Devers walked in to the Thomas & Mack Center in late November, he felt that adrenaline rush that every first-timer experiences when he arrives in Las Vegas for the National Finals Rodeo. He’d done everything he could to prepare for his moment on ProRodeo’s biggest stage. Truth be told, a lot of NFR veterans feel that rush every time they meander through the yellow Priefert gates and onto the dirt, but there’s nothing quite like that first time. He looked around the arena, taking in all that he could. A cowboy never knows when he might return to this championship, so he may as well take in all the sights, sounds and smells he could. He’d earned the right to be there, and, by God, nothing was going to stop him from making steer wrestling runs inside that legendary building. On opening night, he rode into the arena during the grand entry, tipping his cap along with the others to acknowledge the rambunctious crowd and its support of the cowboys on parade. Twenty-five minutes later, he nodded his head to make his first run at his first NFR. Within seconds, he knew he was in for trouble. “Whenever I dropped in the hole (between his bulldogging horse and the steer), my pec felt tight and when I grabbed the steer’s head, everything was perfect,” said Devers, 26, of Perryton, Texas. “Right as I was about to go forward to the nose, I felt it pop. Even as loud as the Thomas & Mack is, I still think I heard it.” Let’s back up about a month, because that’s when everything went south at the Cooks Days Rodeo in Lubbock, Texas. He partially tore the muscle during a run. He didn’t get to finish the rodeo, and he started his rehab assignment in order to be ready for the NFR. Apparently, there was more to his injury. The pop was his first indication of trouble. The pain was his second. “It was a pretty intense pain,” said Devers, a Cinch endorsee who attended both Garden City (Kansas) Community College and Northwestern Oklahoma State University on rodeo scholarships. “I went into the Justin Sportsmedicine room, and (Dr.) Tandy (Freeman) evaluated it and told me that it was, for sure, a torn pec.” Despite the pain, despite the difficulty mounting his horse, despite the inability to properly lift the rein with his right hand, much less grab a steer’s horn, Devers pressed on. He turned in times in Rounds 2 and 3, then was unable to even throw his steers on Nights 4 and 5. His mind and his heart told him to continue; his body told him to stop. He finished his 2021 season after his fifth-round run at the NFR, one that saw him so limited by measures set to protect him and his damaged chest. The Justin Sportsmedicine team tried to tape his right arm in a way to allow him to compete. Devers still had difficulty making anything work. Dressed in a bright-pink Cinch shirt to honor cancer awareness on Pink Night at the NFR, he tried to lunge for his steer but didn’t have the capacity to even reach for the animal. “I’d worked so hard to get there, and it’s been one of my life’s goals to compete at the NFR,” he said. “I also didn’t want a torn muscle or a torn tendon to hold me back. If I think I could compete, I was going to try. “What made the decision for me was not being able to get the start I needed. The Thomas-&-Mack start is so fast, and it’s hard even if I’m healthy. I couldn’t physically put my hand up enough to cue my horse to get the start we needed. I was behind every run. It’s got to be a perfect go for me to catch a steer, I realized without getting a good start, I wasn’t going to be able to have a perfect go.” Still, he proved to be one of the toughest competitors, if not the toughest, at the 2021 NFR. He couldn’t sleep because of the pain, and he still found his way into the saddle every night knowing full well he was in for a world of hurt when he dismounted a fast-moving horse onto a running steer. He arrived in Las Vegas 11th in the world standings with $67,715, and all he earned at the NFR was the $10,000 every contestant pocketed for qualifying. His dreams of a big Las Vegas jackpot drifted away with his chest, right shoulder and right arm thumping in pain. Devers had surgery Jan. 3, by Dr. Chris Miller of the Kansas Orthopedic Center in Wichita, Kansas. During the process, Miller drilled a hole into bone and attached a suture anchor, which was then sewn to the tendon. He had a checkup nine days after surgery, and all looks to be healing well in the early stages. “We’re shooting for five months after surgery, which would be the first of June before I’d be ready to go,” Devers said. “I’d like to maybe start back at North Platte (Nebraska) or Reno (Nevada). If possible, I’d like to go to Woodward (Oklahoma).” Woodward, which is scheduled for June 9-12, is about 100 miles from his family’s home north of Perryton, so that would be a great place to make his return to the sport he loves and, even in pain, already misses. “It is nice being home a little bit; I just wish I could do more,” he said. “I’m dang sure missing it. I love these winter rodeos. There are quite a few in Texas that aren’t very far from me. I like going down to those, camping out for a couple days, seeing everybody and easing around. “It’s a lot different than the summer when you’re constantly going, running at two rodeos in the same  Continue Reading »

LAS VEGAS – When the 2021 ProRodeo season came to a close with the 10th round of the National Finals Rodeo on Saturday night, Richmond Champion bowed his head a bit. He realized that placing in just three rounds wasn’t what he expected at this year’s NFR, the sport’s championship event that has a purse of more than $10 million. He’d hoped for better. He’d trained for better. He also knew that’s the reality of rodeo. His final ride – 83 points on Pickett Pro Rodeo’s Uncapped – was out of the money and turned into a reflection of his 10 days in the Nevada desert; he didn’t win much in the go-rounds, but he rode strong each night. “I came here to give it everything I had, and I really believe I did that,” said Champion, 28, of Stevensville, Montana. “No, I didn’t have the greatest finals, but I really have nothing to complain about either. I would have liked to have placed more, but that’s the way things go. We are getting on 10 of the greatest bucking horses in the world, and my friends are tough to beat. “There are 15 guys here that ride bucking horses very well, and it’s going to be a fight every night for 10 nights. I think my theme this week has been consistency.” Yes, it has. He scored 841 cumulative points on 10 rides and finished fourth in the all-important NFR average. That was worth nearly $33,000 and bolstered his Sin City earnings to $89,793. He finished the season with $188,739, good enough for eighth in the world standings. That’s actually a pretty strong way to end his seventh NFR. “This is just an awesome rodeo every year,” he said. “I get to come in here and compete for a world championship. Sure, I wanted to be in the mix to win the gold buckle, but it was still fun to be part of this event and to be in that locker room with those 14 other guys. You get to do what you love, and you get to hang out with some great friends.” Champion’s best go-round came early in the NFR, placing as the runner-up in the third go-round and pocketing $21,000 with an 88.5-point ride on Stace Smith Pro Rodeo’s Mr. Harry. He followed with a check for nearly $10,000 by tying for third place with three other bareback riders. When he placed, he earned good money; that included his third-place ride in Wednesday’s seventh round on Hi Lo Pro Rodeo’s Wilson Sanchez, which was worth $16,000. “I really feel like I rode good all week,” Champion said. “I had a few good horses, but there were just some match-up issues with what I had. There were some nights that I felt like I rode better than the scores showed, but that’s also part of rodeo. You deal with it and move on. You can’t look back at it and worry about it, because that won’t change anything. “Overall, I’m happy with my week here. I won $90,000; that’s a pretty good week.” Yes, it is.

LAS VEGAS – Cole Franks is pretty reserved on a daily basis. He doesn’t have a lot to say, but even the news he learned at the National Finals Rodeo left him virtually speechless. “Wow,” he said after learning that he finished his rookie season with $227,422 in earnings. “That’s crazy.” He sat stunned after earning $150,029 over 10 nights in the Nevada desert, aided in large part by finishing third in the aggregate race after riding 10 horses for a cumulative score of 860 points. It was an incredible way to conclude his inaugural season in the PRCA. “I don’t have the words to put to it,” said Franks, 20, of Clarendon, Texas. “It is definitely not what I expected when I started the year. It is life-changing money. It sets you up for years to come.” He was just talking about his NFR earnings. It’s all gravy for the cowboy that almost didn’t get to compete on the rodeo trail after a rough winter and early spring because he didn’t have much money earned. If it hadn’t been for a big payday in San Angelo, Texas, he might not have had the success he had: Rookie of the Year and third place in the final bareback riding world standings. He finished his first trip to ProRodeo’s grand championship with an 85.5-point ride on Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s Dirty Jacket. Though he didn’t place, his score helped him maintain his spot in the average, which paid him $44,414. His traveling partner, Jess Pope, won the average title and just shy of $70,000 by having the best cumulative score. Franks grew up idolizing some of rodeo’s greats. His father, Bret, is a three-time NFR qualifier in saddle bronc riding, but he also has handy friends who own bareback riding world championships: Mark Gomes in 1998 and Jeff Collins two years later. But money has changed considerably in the last two decades since those men were awarded their gold buckles. Gomes finished his world-title campaign with $143,000, which is less than Franks earned over the last 10 days alone. “I’ve always said it would be cool to compete against those guys back in the day,” he said. “Looking back at that, I’d much rather be now. “It’s crazy how much it has changed. We are athletes, not just rodeo cowboys. Tim (O’Connell) and Jess said that a lot this year. That really hit home. Rodeo has turned into rodeo athletes, not just cowboys anymore, and it shows.” The money will spend, but the memories made will last a lifetime. Franks is still in awe of his experience in Las Vegas and his magical season that included three college titles – bareback riding, all-around and part of the champion’s men’s team at Clarendon College – and enough money to buy a nice place in his hometown. “It sets up everything for here next year,” Franks said, referring to another NFR qualification. “That’s the top goal for next year. Once I get here next year, the first goal is to get a gold buckle. I want to get that and more will come after that.”

LAS VEGAS – For the second straight year, Jess Pope has been crowned the average champion at the National Finals Rodeo. It’s quite a feat. He scored 873 cumulative points on 10 rides, which is a difficult task in any event, even harder in bareback riding, which takes a toll on one’s body every jump. But it’s also the second-most sought-after prize in rodeo behind the Montana Silversmiths gold buckle. Oh, and he was definitely in that race. It came down the final day of the 2021 campaign, and Pope did everything he could do to be crowned the world champion. He just fell a bit short to six-time titlist Kaycee Feild. “I tried not to think about the world-title race, taking it a day at a time,” said Pope, 23, of Waverly, Kansas. “At the end of the day, it’s hard not to get past. Everybody is texting you and calling you and wishing you luck. I’m super thankful for it, but it makes your mind start to wonder. “I showed up tonight, got in the locker room and I just had to tell myself, ‘You’re the only guy to control your own destiny; you can either show up, take care of business and do your job the best your can, or you can go out there and screw it up.’ ” He handled his business, riding Frontier Rodeo’s Gun Fire for 92 points to win the final round and pad his earnings in a big way. The victory was worth just shy of $27,000.  By winning the average, he grabbed the bonus check worth $69,234 and left Las Vegas with $230,475 over 10 December nights. Feild was the only cowboy to have a better NFR, but only by $1,100. They also were the only bareback riders to win at least a share of four go-round titles, so it was a dominating performance. Pope ended the year with $340,499 and as the reserve world champion. “Like I said at the beginning of the week: The cards are going to lay where they are going to lay,” Pope said. “I’m happy for Kaycee, and I’m ready to come back next year. “It’s been a great week. He did his job. They pay me to ride bucking horses, not to write scores down. It’s all out of my control. I was super blessed to be here for 10 days and to have the finals I did.” The NFR is a goal for every cowboy that wants to rodeo. It’s a destination because of the money available, but it’s also the place where the world champions are crowned each year. Because of that, the stress that comes with the finale intensifies, and the challenges increase. Winning more than a quarter million dollars in 10 days is a major accomplishment. “It’s the longest but the shortest 10 days of your life,” he said. “It feels like an eternity, but we are at Round 10, and I feel like we just started yesterday. It flies by. “I drew outstanding, and I had a great support system behind me. I have two great traveling partners (Rookie of the Year Cole Franks and three-time world champion Tim O’Connell) that helped me all year long. Without them, I don’t think I’d be where I am. They push me to be the best. I am forever grateful to be able to call them my best friends.”

LAS VEGAS – Garrett Shadbolt was the odd man out during the bareback riding at the National Finals Rodeo. He placed five times, all in Rounds 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10. “Every other round, I’d win a check, then I’d win nothing, then win a check, then nothing,” said Shadbolt, 25, of Merriman, Nebraska. “It was an up-and-down roller coaster, but at the same time, I was consistent. I’d say the Shadbolt brand of riding bareback horses is consistency, don’t let off and finish every ride.” He proved that method works, riding Macza’s Stevie Nicks for 87.5 points to finish fourth in Saturday’s 10th round of the National Finals Rodeo. That was worth $11,321. He also finished sixth in the aggregate race, worth a bonus of $16,982 and left Las Vegas with $96,906. He finished his season fifth in the world standings with $192,919. Not only that, but he learned many lessons over the 10-day championship. “I’m happy with how it went this year,” he said. “I want to improve my riding. Getting on 10 head in a row is a whole different ballpark. It is a different mentality. I think I’ve got some things I’m going to be able to do next year that’s going to improve my riding. “Stevie Nicks was really the one I wanted out of this pen. There are probably some stronger buckers in this pen, but I’ve seen her before. I always wanted to be there, and I was excited to get on her tonight. She was a little more than I expected. It is a ride I am happy to hang my hat on and finish the finals out with.” The goal every year for every cowboy that makes a living on the rodeo trail is to end the season as the world champion. Finishing among the top five is a fantastic feat, especially for the Nebraska cowboy making his first appearance in Las Vegas. Collecting as much cash as he did in the Nevada desert is a fantastic bonus, but rodeo is different than most sports: dollars equal points, and the person who finishes each year with the most money will be crowned world champions in each event. “I had a couple of goals coming into the finals,” Shadbolt said. “I wanted to finish in the top 10, and I wanted to ride everything I go on. Well, by golly, this was a lot better than I thought. That is a lot of money; the money is not really real right now, because I haven’t seen it. “I’ve just been pedaling down. There are a lot of things I can use that for. I have two little ones to take care of. I’ve been rodeoing out of a Dodge Grand Caravan, but I think I’m going to try to find a rodeo rig.” With an extra 100 grand in his pocket, he can get something nice.

LAS VEGAS – If he could go back in time, tie-down roper Ryan Jarrett would love to have figured things out at the National Finals Rodeo a little sooner. He started off hot, finishing third in the opening round to collect more than $16,000. Then things went cold. He wasn’t getting a good start out of the timed-event box, and it slowed his chances of placing at the always-difficult NFR. Things go fast in Las Vegas, and the only way for Jarrett to earn money was to finish among the top six in the rounds. After placing in Round 1, he failed to earn a payday the next six nights. He recovered, though, to close out the 10-day championship, placing in each of the final three nights. He closed out his NFR with an 8.7-second run to finish sixth, worth another $4,354. “I was hoping for more (Saturday) night,” said Jarrett, 37, originally from Summerville, Georgia, but now living in Comanche, Oklahoma. “I was just late on the barrier, and I was just glad to hang on for a sixth-place check.” He ended the NFR with $46,577 in Las Vegas money, pushing his 2021 salary to $138,510. He’s a veteran who understands that every day provides lessons that he can use in the future. He’s had fantastic NFRs, including his first in 2005, when he walked away with the all-around world title. Then there have been years like this one, where he placed in four rounds but on the lower end of the pay scale. “You have to take the good with the bad,” he said. “You plan for a little better, hope for a little better next time. I’m not real impressed with 2021.” He will change his focus a bit for next season. He will compete at the big rodeos that kick off the new year and see where that takes him. His primary focus will be competing while his wife, Shy-Anne, and daughter, Jurnee, with him. It will allow his wife an opportunity to compete as well. “I’d love for the winter to go real well and come summertime not have to rodeo like a wild man,” Jarrett said. “I’d like to ease around and just go to the ones I want to go to. I’ll also do a little breakaway roping and barrel racing in between with Shy-Anne and Jurnee.” Family time is special, and he plans to have more opportunities to have it soon.

LAS VEGAS – Coleman Proctor had a message for his supporters after closing out his seventh qualification to the National Finals Rodeo. “Enjoy not being stressed on this 10th round, because it’s not going to be that way next year,” he said, pointing to his goal of being in the world-championship hunt for 2022. “This year did give me a lot of confidence from the finals. To be able to go that fast and not feel like I was trying to go that fast is absolutely big. I felt comfortable being able to go that fast.” It showed for six nights. He placed that many times, including at least a share of two go-round wins. He and his heeler, Logan Medlin, failed to secure a time in four rounds but more than made up for it the other nights inside the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. They won the fifth round outright, the third time in his career that Proctor earned the title on Pink Night, when the cowboy culture wears pink at the NFR in order to raise money and awareness for cancer research. He and longtime friend and heeler Jake Long did it in 2014 and ’15, and it was the last time Proctor had a round win until this year’s run. He and Medlin also earned a share of the ninth-round victory, stopping the clock in an event-best 3.5 seconds. In all, the Pryor, Oklahoma, team roper collected $106,231 over 10 nights in the Nevada desert. He ended the season with $198,986, good enough for eighth in the world standings. His last payday came with a 4.3-second run to finish in a tie for third place in Saturday’s final round. “We had a great finals,” said Proctor of Pryor, Oklahoma. “You can look at it that we went 0-4 in some rounds, or you could look at it that 60 percent of the time it worked every time.” It proved that the partnership between him and Medlin is solid. They didn’t let the no-times slow them down, and they built on the good runs. “Our chemistry is everything when we practice our run, because it fits in the Thomas & Mack really good,” he said. “We can bring a lot of consistency moving forward. This is his first trip to the Thomas & Mack. It’s a different go for a heeler. The last quarter of the NFR was like our season; in the fourth quarter, we came back strong.” By finishing among the top 10, he and Medlin have secured their spots in big rodeos that begin the 2022 calendar year, including The American, a rodeo Proctor won in 2019 with then-partner Ryan Motes. It offers a $100,000 payout to the winners of each event, half of which will count toward the PRCA world standings. “If you’re not winning the world, you’ve got The American accomplished,” he said. “This is the most money I’ve won in the go-rounds; I won about the same amount before, but we finished second in the average. We didn’t get an average check. To win $106,000 in the rounds, you find a lot to build off of. I think the toughest thing for a team roper is how to be fast enough. When you’re trying to beat the other guys, it’s a significant question.” That’s the case inside the Thomas & Mack Center, where the arena is about the size of a hockey rink. The slowest winning time was 4.2 seconds, which is lightning fast considering all that goes into team roping. There are two horses, one steer and two ropers, and it all has to come together flawlessly. “The gold buckle is always on the table,” Proctor said. “That’s what I told my partner (Saturday) night. We shook hands and agreed that a lot of positives came out of this week. Logan is that kind fo heeler; he not only excites me about roping and team roping, but he’s a special guy with a special talent and a really special horse. It makes it a lot easier to grind through the season with that. “It feels like we’ve got a pretty sweet mix.” The last 10 nights have proven that.

LAS VEGAS – The winter and early spring were a bit dry for bareback rider Cole Franks. As a PRCA rookie, he was trying to make a name for himself but wasn’t having much luck. He had entered the rodeo in his birth home in Guymon, Oklahoma, but he didn’t get to ride because he didn’t have enough money won to be included in that ProRodeo Hall of Fame event that takes place the first weekend in May. It seems strange to look back upon now, because he’s been named the 2021 Rookie of the Year and this week is playing on the sport’s biggest stage, the National Finals Rodeo. May was seven months ago, but it may as well be a lifetime in Franks’ season. “I don’t know if something clicked or if something changed,” said Franks, 20, of Clarendon, Texas, who placed for the seventh time in night nights in Las Vegas. “I was so broke, I was going for broke. At San Angelo, I had $20 to my name after I paid my fees. That’s all I had. I knew I had to win money there, or I’d be stuck at home working all summer.” Instead, he won the first round, placed in the championship round and finished fourth overall. He pocketed nearly $8,300, and his financial troubles were over. From there, he went on to win bareback riding at the College National Finals Rodeo, claiming national crowns in it and the all-around. He built on that, then jumped in the rig with Tim O’Connell, a three-time world champion, and Jess Pope, the 2020 NFR average titlist. “Everything really built up after that,” Franks said. “The college finals is when it burst and exploded a little more. I think that was another big step on the year. “Tim and Jess are a huge help. They are both really strong-minded and pretty positive. That helps boost you up. It’s hard being down when you are around them.” He rode Cervi Championship Rodeo’s On Your Own for 86.5 points to finish in a tie for third place in Friday’s ninth round. He earned $13,716. Just as importantly, he held on to third place in the average race. If he remains there when the NFR concludes Saturday, he will pocket a bonus of $44,414. Already, he’s earned $105,614 in Las Vegas cash and moved up to eighth in the world standings with $183,008. Friday’s ride marked the second time he’d been on the Cervi horse; he was 82 points on On Your Own in Cave Creek, Arizona, in 2020. Many things have changed since that ride. “I was pretty confident I could place on him,” he said. “I had a little better ride today, a little more stuff going on. I felt like I rode him a lot better than I did when I had him last time.” It showed.