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Blog
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Wrangler National Finals Breakaway Roping on tap for Nov. 29-30 Event will take place at South Point in Las Vegas
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RODEO BULLFIGHTER FIGHTING FOR HIS COMEBACK
Cody Emerson of Marble Falls, Tx is a Professional Rodeo Bullfighter.
A rodeo bullfighter is a mighty, selfless and heroic job. A bullfighter is not a matador. A bullfighter is not the rodeo clown that keeps the crowd laughing. The bullfighter has one job. Step in the line of defense between a rodeo bucking bull and the bullriders to keep the bullriders safe once the bullrider has completed his ride. They put their lives on the line every time they step into the arena dirt. And the adrenaline rush probably doesn’t hurt either.
Cody was doing just that task at the 2022 Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo in January at the new Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Tex; where the bulls horn picked him up, rolled him over in which Cody hyperextended his foot, resulting in the ligament separating off the bone in the foot. This injury is referred to as Liz Franc.
Cody is a crowned World Champion Bullfighter, National Finals Rodeo Freestyle bullfighting qualifier and has been nominated for the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) Bullfighter of the year 3 times. So, the lack of skill or talent wasn’t the cause of the injury but merely doing his job. It resulted in surgery. 12 weeks of no weight bearing, physical therapy and mental game strengthening to be ready to come back to the sport he loves so much. 12 weeks of no weight bearing didn’t keep the cowboy down. He purchased an iWalk peg leg to use to stay active and be able to live a somewhat normal life in the meantime. Cause “you can’t keep a good man down”
Cody will return to the rodeo arena to protect bullriders this coming week. 5 months since his injury at the Old Fort Days Rodeo in Fort Smith, Ar.
I know the rodeo community would enjoy hearing about a talented cowboy that has the Texas grit. A comeback story of a rodeo bullfighter from the Texas Hill Country, the Cowboy way.
I am not a journalist, I am not a writer but I believe this is a story that rodeo would love to hear.
-Sierra Emerson
@mrssierraemerson
#210.859.0048
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Miles City’s own, Houston Brown, is the 2022 PRCA Extreme Bronc Match Champion
Another World Famous Miles City Bucking Horse Sale is in the books! We wrapped up our 4-day event on Sunday by crowning Miles City’s own, Houston Brown, the 2022 PRCA Extreme Bronc Match Champion! His 91.5 point ride was a highlight of the day, and we know the $9,300+ he took home will help propel him up the PRCA Saddle Bronc standings.
The whole event was a resounding success starting with our Thursday concert and following through into the full weekend of events. The Friday night PRCA Permit SB Challenge was a first time event for us, and it proved to be a crowd favorite. Saturday featured the open bucking horse sale as well as the Bucking Horse Futurity. We saw some big money being spent to buy some of the best bucking horses around. One of the best, brought $43,000!
Pari-mutuel horse racing was available on 7 days throughout the month of May this year and we saw some great horse racing action! Our tradeshow was the biggest it has ever been and was enjoyed by thousands of people.
Downtown Miles City hosted a multitude of events for the whole family including the World Famous Miles City Bucking Horse Sale Parade on Saturday, a Quick Draw Art contest and, of course, the always popular street dances in the evening!
We certainly want to thank all our wonderful sponsors that make all this happen, especially our major sponsors and our daily sponsors who all contribute so much to make this a “go to” event for so many.
And, last but certainly not least, our heartfelt thanks to all the fans of the World Famous Miles City Bucking Horse Sale who come to have a great time here every year!
We really appreciate you!! We pledge to make the 2023 version of the World Famous Miles City Bucking Horse Sale even better!!
About Miles City Bucking Horse Sale: https://buckinghorsesale.com/ The Miles City Bucking Horse Sale annually debuts some of the finest bucking stock seen on the continent. Held the third full weekend in May each year, the BHS offers a special brand of rodeo action born right here in the heart of cowboy country. The MCBHS has evolved to include a wide array of western action that includes everything from a Kick Off Concert, horse racing, and of course bucking horses.
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Profile: Linsay Rosser-Sumpter
“I’m going to manage it all the same way most women do it all – make a list, prioritize it all, and like Dory said, ‘keep swimming’.”
Linsay Rosser Sumpter added another hat to her collection. The mother, wife, competitor, and rodeo coach now serving as the Commissioner for the Women’s Rodeo World Championship, produced by WCRA and PBR. This event (held May 16-18 at Fort Worth’s Cowtown Coliseum) offered ladies the largest purse for a single event, with $750,000 added within four disciplines. “The job came to fruition organically,” said the mother of two, from Fowler, Colo. “I competed in the last two making the trip to Ft. Worth for a shot at part of the $750,000. If competing for that kind of money doesn’t spark your interest what does? I knew what the WCRA was doing with the nominations but being involved with it and building it more – that just helps open the lines of communication.”
“Girls would come to me and ask me what I thought,” she continued. “I’ve done a little bit of everything in the business and I’m here to compete.” Linsay reached out to Scott Davis and Bobby Mote to give them some input and appreciation for what they were doing and make a couple of suggestions she thought that might benefit the event. “It turned into a few conversations – and then Sean Gleason (CEO of PBR) said we need to talk – It gave me butterflies – he’s a mover and shaker. I had the conversation with Bobby and Sean and we knew we needed female input and here I am.”
Linsay grew up on the road but didn’t start competing until she was 10. Born and raised in northern California, she traveled extensively helping with her grandfather’s (Cotton Rosser) rodeo company, Flying U. Now 93, Cotton is still involved with the company, which is 77 years strong. “I helped with all aspects of the business. I’ve been carrying the American flag since I could hold it. I would take care of saddle horses, do victory laps, and I spent a few years performing trick riding (11-13). I have also timed; we grew up rodeoing, on the work side of things.” Lee Rosser, her father, competed in the bronc riding, steer wrestling and team roping before creating his own rodeo company, Rosser Rodeo. He merged it into the Flying U 15 years ago. Linsay married former NFR qualifier Wade Sumpter and they have two boys Weston 8, and Lindon 5.
This isn’t her first time being involved with the PBR. About a year out of college, Linsay was working as a clothing company salesman, and had the opportunity to be the marketing manager for the PBR. She spent a year and a half there and left that position to take the head coaching job at Otero College. “It worked better with Wade’s schedule with professional rodeo,” she explained. “I would be gone with the Built Ford Tough Series, then he’d be gone. It fit better for me to stay closer to home. All through high school and college, coaching has always been a part of me.”
“The stars have aligned – I’m back within the PBR realm with the Womens World Championship Rodeo, I’m coaching (13 years now), I’m competing, and I’ve got a wonderful family.” -
Back When They Bucked with Don Lee Smith
“There’s just something about getting on one of those horses and having them do the best he can, and you yourself do well.”
Good horses, whether they are saddle broncs, roping horses or cutters, are what make Don Lee Smith’s world go round.
The Texas native spent the first part of his life on the back of a bucking horse, then his mid-years in the roping arena, and now he’s in the cutting circle.
Born in 1937 in Aspermont, Texas, his dad, a banker-rancher-cowboy combo, leased a ranch in Ft. Pierre, S.D. The family spent their summers there and the school years in Aspermont.
Don Lee was the elder of two sons born to Wayman and Vista (Mays) Smith and had a younger brother, Jeff.
During the summers, he and Jeff would rodeo in the South Dakota Rodeo Association, but come school-time, they’d head back south to Texas. They were nearly always at the top of the standings in their events, but their leads would slip as they left South Dakota. Don Lee competed in nearly every event, but saddle bronc riding was his favorite
After graduating high school in 1955, he went to college, mostly to please his parents. He attended Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas and competed collegiately, in his main event,
Money was tight in college, and for a year, he roomed in the athletic dorm with the football, basketball and baseball players. He talked the baseball players into giving him half of his entry fees. “They’d come up with $100 and I’d enter at least three events, maybe four,” he remembers. “Then when I got home, I’d have to give them half of my winnings.” After a year, Don Lee finally got enough capital ahead he could have quit, but the guys kept paying half his fees.
In those days, only two teams from each of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association’s regions went to the College National Finals. For all four of Don Lee’s college career, Sul Ross finished as first in their region and headed to the CNFR, with Don on the team.
In those days, once a guy had qualified for the CNFR, he could compete there in whatever event he chose, not just the event he qualified in. So at the CNFR his four years, 1956-59, Don Lee roped calves once and bulldogged once, rode bulls and barebacks, and, of course, rode saddle broncs.
In 1957, he won the NIRA’s Southwest Region bull riding, and a year later, at the College National Finals, he won both the average and the year-end titles in the saddle broncs, making him the NIRA world champion.
His rodeo role in college included administration: he was part of the group that helped form the NIRA. In 1957, he served as a director, and the next year, was president.
It wasn’t easy, being president of a fledgling organization. Money was tight, and there was no guideline for what the student board should do. Don Lee remembers going to a payphone to make calls, and he recalls renting an airplane (“I don’t know how I paid for it”) and flying to Lamar, Colo., to visit with Hoss Inman, who was one of the adults helping with the NIRA.
Don Lee is proud of the things he accomplished while involved with the NIRA. He suggested a rule where before a person could be NIRA president, they had to serve a term as a director. At Sul Ross, where the administration looked down their noses at rodeo as a college sport, he got rules changed so that participation in the rodeo club was considered physical education, like participation in the other college sports was.
He lettered in rodeo all four years and got the leather jacket to prove it. He graduated with a degree in animal science in 1959 and hit the pro rodeo road. He had purchased his Rodeo Cowboys Association (forerunner to the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association) card two years prior.
But it was while at an airport, headed west to Oregon, that his pro rodeo days came to an end.
“I was sitting in an airport with my (bronc) saddle, and a little girl was playing on it. I told myself, ‘crap, you have one of those (little girls) at home, you’d better get your butt home.’ I loaded up my saddle, got another airplane ticket, went home, never went to another rodeo, and savored my little girl who is now taking care of me.” Roxanne, his oldest daughter, was about two years old at the time.
Don Lee’s attention turned to the ranch in South Dakota, which he and his brother Jeff leased. They had 40,000 acres, half deeded, half-leased and ran 1,000 mother cows with another 1,000 yearlings.
While he ranched, he and Jeff team roped. They had practice steers and competed at the South Dakota Rodeo Association rodeos and jackpots. Don Lee also judged SDRA rodeos as well.
He retired from ranching in 1999, and that year, was at a cutting in South Dakota when a good friend let him ride one of their cutting horses.
His new passion was ignited. “That was the last of my fortune,” daughter Roxanne laughed.
In 2000, he and his wife Lorren traveled the nation competing in the National Cutting Horse Association. That year, he finished as reserve world champion in the $50,000 Amateur and $20,000 Novice Non-Pro. “He is such a competitor,” Roxie said. “I think, let’s just go ride and turn some cattle back. But he doesn’t want to do that. That’s not his thrill. He wants to go and win. He works pretty hard at it.”
He considers cutting a true ranching sport. “The competition is to see whose horses are the best. It’s the way a rancher can take his horse, ride really quiet into a herd of cows, and pick out a particular one that might be sick, that we want to doctor, or one that we want to sell, and quietly move that cow out of and away from the herd, and hold her there, so she doesn’t get back in. That’s what the cutting competition is all about.”
Roxie remembers her dad’s philosophy when they worked cattle on the ranch. “Dad always stressed, don’t rouse them around.” That’s exactly what cutting is, Don Lee said. “Easy, with no disturbance of the herd. I enjoy getting a good cow cut out.”
He has four reserve world champ buckles, “great big things,” he said. “Somebody said, what are you going to do with these? And I said, I’m going to use them as hubcaps on my Freightliner trucks.”
College rodeo opened up the world for people like him, his classmates, and even kids today, he thinks.
“I think, in my day, those kids on the rodeo team were all smart kids who did well in college. But they went to college not to be educated, but to rodeo. I honestly don’t think some people would have gone to college without rodeo.” Some of his college rodeo classmates became teachers, architects, airline pilots, and more. “The point being, (college) took them out of their little bitty schools, and the NIRA rodeo did a world of good for them.”
Rodeo, team roping and cutting all three satisfy something deep in him.
“I don’t think it was the buckles or the fanfare,” he said, of his rodeo career. “It’s hard to explain. There’s just something about getting on one of those horses and having them do the best he can, and you yourself do well. It’s a challenge to get on one and ride them.”
The same goes for the cutting. “It’s not the buckles or the notoriety. Cutting is a real cowboy event, and it’s about getting a cow out easy with no disturbance of the herd.”
Don Lee had three kids: Roxanne, born in 1959, Judy, born two years later, and Lee, born in 1963. He married his second wife, Lorren, in 1970; she passed away in March of 2022.
Now it’s his grandchildren that bring him joy. Roxanne is married to Chris Harrison; Judy is married to Robert Fisher, and Lee isn’t married. He has six grandkids and seven great-grandkids.
“I didn’t get to enjoy my children like I have my grandchildren,” he said. “I love having them on the ranch, and watching them do the things they do.
“And I became a Christian thirty years ago, and that has been a big thing in my life.” He knows where he’s headed after life on this earth. “Besides the buckles and the mementos hanging in my office, it’s having the security” of heaven.
The best part of life has been its fullness. “I’ve gotten to do everything I wanted to do,” he said. -
5 Star Featured Athlete: Tandy Meyers
The tail on Tandy Meyer’s horse went viral after Rodeo Houston.
Not in a bad way, but in a good way.
The Sallisaw, Oklahoma cowgirl’s barrel horse has a very long, beautiful, gray and white tail, and as she ran out of the arena after her run in Houston, Impulse Photography caught a shot of the tail streaming behind the horse.
Tandy has been running barrels since she was a kid, growing up the daughter of Gary Jacobs and Nita Jacobs.
She and her partner Doug Chaney have a 28-stall barn, all of them full of colts and young horses, and they ride and train.
Tandy is a 5 Star Equine Products customer who loves what their products do for her horses.
She got hooked on 5 Star saddle pads through the famous-tailed horse, Beep.
With Beep, she’d have to keep tightening the cinch and scooting the saddle up because the pad didn’t fit well. But at an event in Topeka, a friend had a 5 Star saddle pad and let her borrow it.
“When I put the saddle on,” Tandy said, “it was almost like you could hear it suck down on his back. I was sold. The saddle didn’t move.”
She loves the pads because they’re easy to clean, and durable. With Beep, she uses the normal style of pad, but she also likes the cutback ones for high withered horses, “because the saddle sits up so much better and they seem more comfortable.”
Tandy uses the 5 Star boots, too. “They’re durable and lightweight, and not a lot of dirt gets in.” She notices that when she takes them off, even if her horses have run in deep, heavy ground, their legs are clean.
Beep, whose registered name is Streakin Dusty Light, has taken her and Doug’s program in a different direction.
Because of him, Tandy bought her WPRA permit, filled it, got her card, and went to the WPRA Finals in Waco for the first time last year, at age 53.
“He’s just been a blessing,” she said. “He’s opened up other doors for us.”
He came to them as a two-year-old and they began training him for his owner. But after seeing his potential, they purchased him.
Beep started and trained easy, but he was spooky. “He wasn’t the best futurity horse,” Tandy said. “He let his surroundings bother him.”
Tandy took him to amateur rodeos, where he calmed down.
“The rodeos didn’t bother him. Once I took him to a couple of rodeos, he got settled in and was competitive everywhere.”
Beep isn’t scared, just spooks easily, although he’s gotten much better, Tandy said. “Around the farm, if he gets spooked, it’s because something is there that wasn’t there the day before.”
His beautiful tail came to be known by the rodeo world in Houston with the photo. “It’s so long, I trim it two or three inches every two weeks, and it still lays on the ground,” she said. The top half is gray and the bottom half is white, and usually Tandy braids it. For her first run, it was braided. The next night, the braid was fully loosened. The picture “is unbelievable,” she said. “He’s running in full stride, and his tail is flowing out behind him. It’s beautiful.” Clients of hers bought the picture, had it put on a canvas and it hangs over her couch.
It takes a team to keep things running at their farm. Her partner Doug Chaney, her daughter Mia Meyers, and their helper Kinsley Sweptson all work together. “We have a good team.”
Last year, Tandy finished fourth in the barrel racing average at the WPRA World Finals and third at the Senior World, both times aboard Beep. This year, he was second at the Barrel Bash in Guthrie, Okla., one of only two horses who made fifteen second runs. -
On The Trail with Karissa Rayhill
“Glory be to God – it’s a big thank you to Him – everything in my life is thanks to Him. I’m stronger in my faith and my relationship than I’ve ever been and I want to continue that.”
Karissa Rayhill was raised in Martin, South Dakota, on a farm and ranch. Besides the normal things found in a small town; banks, a post office, churches, and schools, Martin sports a sale barn, a bowling alley and a casino just east of town. Karissa spent most of her spare time on a horse or a tractor, helping her dad and grandpa with cattle or crops. “We worked hard doing what had to be done,” she said. “Our dad (Kory) taught us how to do it all, from pulling calves to grinding hay. My grandparents lived down the road, so we spent a lot of time there and being part of their lives. We played sports in school, and we had friends, but we lived in the boonies, and we always had a good time out there.” Her most heartfelt memories were at home in the practice pen with her parents (Kory and Angela) and grandparents (Rodney and Lawonda).
Dinnertime was almost always spent together around the table talking about the day. Kaitlyn, 29; Kyler, 27; Karissa, 23, and Keisha, 21, grew up like most farm kids. “They worked on the farm and spent the evenings practicing,” said Kory, who calf roped, team roped, and steer wrestled when he was younger. “That taught them a good work ethic.”
Karissa played volleyball, but eventually turned all her attention to rodeo, thanks to her older sister, Kaitlyn, who got her interested. The journey began with the Sandhills Barrel Racing Association and 4-H rodeos. “From there we went into high school and SDRA, and that all led to college rodeo.” During the summer, they were gone every weekend to rodeos. Sometimes it was the whole family, but Kyler only rodeoed a year, so he’d stay home and help with the chores. Once Karissa got older, Kaitlyn didn’t rodeo, but Keesha continued. “Mom and dad were almost always there as well as my grandparents.”
Karissa earned a spot at the National High School Finals twice (2015, 2017), winning the goat tying in the South Dakota High School Association as well as the 4-H Finals, setting an arena record for two years. “I got multiple state titles in goats and barrels mostly. I also did well in breakaway and almost made it to the National Finals in poles and breakaway but was one hole out.” Her accomplishments have resulted in several saddles as well as a trailer and hundreds of buckles. She owes much of her success to her sister. “My sister was in high school, and I drove myself to be as good as she was,” she recalls. “I would actually make a great run during practice and shed a few tears that I wasn’t going fast enough. I was so driven to be as good as those older girls. I grew to love it and it’s always been rewarding to me.”
Karissa chose Eastern Wyoming College to continue her education. “It was close to home and both my parents came to Torrington. I love it here – it’s small and ag-related; I know most of the people in school. It was God’s plan to bring me here to meet Brock.”
Brock Gotschall, who just turned 28, proposed to Karissa at the final Central Rocky Mountain regional rodeo in Laramie, Wyo. He owns a welding company in Torrington and the proposal made a great ending to Karissa’s third year of college rodeo; she left with three titles and a diamond ring. The couple has a 14-month-old daughter, Silva. Karissa took a year off of college to concentrate on becoming a mother. “I don’t regret one bit of that. It was the best thing I could have done.” She still had the goal of winning, and knew that rodeo would still be there after her baby was born. She worked for Brock, helping him build his business, and she was able to see the other side of things – the not entering side. Her younger sister was still college rodeoing and Karissa went to support her from the stands. “I got to watch how people handled themselves and pushed themselves. I also was able to help other girls with goat tying.” It lit a fire under her to get back in shape. “It put a passion in me to win; it wasn’t easy to say the least. Throughout the summer she went with her sister to some rodeos in the amateur circuit. “I struggled with confidence, and I wasn’t in great shape,” she admitted. “I knew I wanted to come back to school, and I actually had a hard time for a bit, I’m not going to lie. Once I went back to school, I hit the gym and put my mind in a place to build confidence. I had to be religious about my workouts – that’s all there is to it.”She also had to focus on her horses to make sure they were in the best shape and be the best they could be. She has six horses in her string. Her goat tying horse is also her breakaway horse. “Teepee is nine this year and I broke and trained her,” said Karissa. “My grandpa picked her out; she came from Tom O’Grady in northern South Dakota. She was supposed to be my grandpa’s horse, but after I won my first goat tying in college, he let me have her.” Karissa’s good goat horse, Doris, died from cancer. “In 2019, the year when I was going to CNFR, she had a big lump on the side of her face. We were trying to figure out what it was, and she had gotten some pretty bad rope burns so I wasn’t going to use her except for the short go. I used my barrel horse up to the short go.”
Her barrel horse, Vegas, came from the Fall Extravaganza sale in Phillip. “I was about 10 and I told my dad he was the one. I still have the number tag from when we bought him. We got him for a great price and from the first day we got him, he was gentle. My dad sent him to some guys to ride, and it took nothing to get him going. We picked him up and stopped at a pasture to get some cows in. I jumped on him bareback with a halter and got the cows in. He’s 13 this year.”
Kory has ridden Vegas on several occasions on the ranch. “One blizzard, I had to pull a calf out of a crazy heifer,” he said. “We couldn’t get her in, and Vegas was the only horse in the barn, so I saddled him up and roped that cow and pulled the calf in the middle of the blizzard. Karissa can do about anything she wants to on him.” Kory recognizes the gift Karissa has with horses. “She knows them,” he said. “She can read them and figure out what they are thinking.”
Silva goes with Karissa from the practice pen to the rodeos to the gym. “She’s been many miles in her 14 months. My mom has been great help, and Brock comes when he can,” she said. “The rodeo family makes it easy to have little kids running around – I struggled with some sick days, but my mom would come through. And of course, Brock – he’s a great dad. I trusted and had faith that it was going to be fine and it was.”
“I’m going to bust my butt to do the best I can,” said Karissa of preparing for the CNFR. She took a few days off after regional finals to let her horses rest, but she’s back working harder than ever to prepare. “I want to make the goal I’ve had for a long time – winning the goat tying at the CNFR.” Karissa has goals beyond rodeo. “On a bigger scale, I want to be a better person, to have a better relationship with God. As a role model, I need to spread that and encourage others. I want to use that relationship with God to help others. Winning the CNFR would be amazing, but there are bigger things, and I have learned that with age.”Karissa has a passion to teach others what she has learned about goat tying and horsemanship. She is putting on a clinic right before the CNFR, expecting 10 girls to come. “We work on building and/or correcting the fundamentals.”
As far as the future. “I’ll continue to pursue training horses and helping others. As of right now, I’d like to go back to college, but I have a responsibility to take care of. Life is crazy and things happen all the time. It’s God’s plan and I am trying to listen to what He is telling me to do.”
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6 Over 60 with Pam Minick presented by Montana Silversmiths
Editors Note:
6 over 60 will feature women in the rodeo industry that paved the way for the next generation to step into the sport and contribute to it’s growth. Each of the six will receive a concho scarf slide created exclusively for this project by Montana Silversmiths. This is the first annual recognition of 6 over 60. If you have any suggestions for nominees, please send them to info@i4d.c86.myftpupload.comPam Minick is a pioneer for women reporting in rodeo—and sports as a whole. The now 68-year-old’s classic girlish love for horses set her boots down a trail to covering the largest rodeos in the country. She developed award-winning marketing skills, made history herself winning WPRA world championships, and even acted on the silver screen. And the rodeo arena was her classroom.
“I don’t know what this girl would look like without the world of rodeo,” says Pam. “Rodeo, especially being Miss Rodeo America, shaped my entire life.” Prior to winning Miss Rodeo America in 1973—one of the youngest to do so at age 19—Pam competed in 4-H, Little Britches, and high school rodeos in her home state of Nevada. She and her younger sister, Lynn, pioneered the love of horses in their family, and their parents, Ralph and Edith Martin, purchased a pair of palominos for the girls when Pam was 9. “We joined 4-H because we knew nothing about horses other than we loved them. That began my foundation for riding and horsemanship,” says Pam, who is an active 4-H volunteer to this day.
On a dare, Pam entered a rodeo queen competition in high school. She won Miss Rodeo Nevada in 1972, and just months later, she was crowned Miss Rodeo America 1973. “You’re really a marketing person for the sport of rodeo. It taught me that in any given town on any given day, if you pitch a story, there’s a chance it will be told by the media. That helped me in marketing later on—I spent over 30 years as vice president of marketing at Billy Bob’s Texas. Then there’s the foundation of independence to be able to figure things out. It’s not uncommon to find yourself with a canceled flight, or trying to get to a location that’s very obscure. During one stretch, I wasn’t home for 30 days in a row. I had to make sure my outfits were well planned, and I had to find a way to get them laundered.”
By the end of her Miss Rodeo America reign, Pam had been interviewed hundreds of times, ridden a mechanical bull on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, and even undertook a two-week tour for her sponsor Parkay, cooking with their squeeze liquid margarine. She got her timer’s card and timed rodeos, helped the stock contractors with their opening ceremonies, and was active in any area of the event that needed an extra hand. She made scores of friends, and when the PRCA began televising their rodeos in earnest in 1976, Pam was an obvious choice for handling the commentary and reporting. Her first television broadcast as a commentator was the Wrigley’s Big Red Rodeo with Donny Gay and Jim Shoulders in 1976. “My mother was a very positive person, and she wouldn’t let us say the word ‘can’t’,” Pam recalls. “If you can dream it, you can do it. So when the PRCA called and said would you do the commentary on this rodeo, I said yes and didn’t even think about the millions of people who would be watching.” There were only four television networks at the time, and the PRCA televised eight rodeos a year in 1978 and 1979, which Pam covered, followed by a dozen rodeos a year with ESPN starting in 1980.
She commentated on the live broadcast of the National Finals Rodeo from 1978 on, and conducted numerous interviews. Pam also co-announced the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in 1994, the first woman to do so. Her firsthand knowledge of many of the events helped her with both commentating and interviewing. “I found that people like to talk about their performance, and if you pick a certain part of a ride and have a competitor expand on it for you, they’ll be ready to tell you. The challenge back then was the athletes hadn’t seen anybody be interviewed and cowboys at that time were shy by nature. But most competitors knew me after my year of travel as Miss Rodeo America, so being a familiar face was a leg up, and asking the right questions. You have to ask a question that’s thought provoking.”
One interview in particular stands out to Pam from the 1995 PBR World Finals when bull Bodacious broke Tuff Hedeman’s face in the short round. Pam was a sideline reporter at the event and her director sent her to the locker room to report on Tuff’s condition. “I went in there, and his face was completely rearranged. He looked at me and said, ‘Tell my wife I’m okay.’ I still remember that because he was more concerned about his wife, who was sitting in the stands watching. The fact that he trusted me to deliver that message was pretty cool too.”
Pam’s broadcasting and marketing skills, and their impact on the world of rodeo, have earned her inductions into numerous halls of fame, including The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, as well as the Tad Lucas Memorial Award. She currently hosts two shows on RFD-TV and covers the Fort Worth Stock Show for The Cowboy Channel. The American Rancher was one of the first series on RFD-TV in 2004, while Gentle Giants, which Pam produces and hosts, became the top equine show on RFD-TV when it started in 2012.
Pam continued to rope and run barrels following her reign as Miss Rodeo America, and recently found another passion in showing. She competes in the ranch riding and versatility ranch horse events, and won Reserve World Champion at the AQHA World Show in 2020 on her horse “Smart Smartie”. She and her husband of nearly 40 years, Billy Minick, now make their home in Argyle, Texas. “I’ve had a glorious life. I just never said no to an opportunity,” Pam concludes. “If somebody said can you do it, I said yes and figured out a way to do it. And I still say yes!” -
Daylon Swearingen Furthers Stronghold on World No. 1 Rank and Surges to the Event Lead with Monster 90-Point Ride in Round 5 of the 2022 PBR World Finals
Jose Vitor Leme wins Round 5 to climb to No. 4 in the world and inch within 270.66 points of No. 1 Swearingen as he seeks his unprecedented third consecutive gold buckle
FORT WORTH, Texas – Daylon Swearingen (Piffard, New York) continued to ride supreme inside Dickies Arena, delivering a monster 90-point ride during Round 5 of the 2022 PBR (Professional Bull Riders) World Finals: Unleash The Beast on Friday. He furthered his stronghold on the world No. 1 rank and also overtook the top position on the World Finals event leaderboard.
While both No. 2 Joao Ricardo Vieira (Itatinga, Brazil) and No. 3 Kaique Pacheco (Itatiba, Brazil) bucked off their bulls, Swearingen is now firmly locked in the sights of two-time reigning PBR World Champion Jose Vitor Leme (Ribas do Rio Pardo, Brazil). Leme won the round on a patented ride that was both flashy and in total control to rise to No. 4 in the world and second in the event.
For the second consecutive night, Swearingen padded his lead atop the standings by converting in the final out of the evening.
Swearingen was a picture of perfection atop Lone Survivor (Whitman Bucking Bulls/Jenkins Cattle Co.), reaching the requisite 8 for 91.5 points.
The 90-point ride is Swearingen’s second of the marathon event. In Round 2, Swearingen recorded his first score of the 2022 PBR World Finals when he rode Big Black (K-C Bucking Bulls/Joe & Nina Webb) for a career-best 93 points.
The score, which was the fourth-best of Round 5’s four 90-point rides, earned Swearingen a check for $10,000 and a crucial 41 world points. While he began the evening 44.99 points out front, Swearingen now leads No. 2 contender Vieira by 85.99 points.
Swearingen is also now the top-ranked rider in the World Finals event standings. Having gone 4-for-5 with a combined aggregate score of 359.75 points, he leads second-place Leme in the event by five points.
Leme put the field on notice in Round 5, delivering the top score to return to the world No. 4 rank.
In perfect time with Canadian bull Norse God (Wild Hoggs Bucking Bulls), making giant moves while completely centered on the bull, Leme was marked a commanding 92.75 points to earn $35,000 and 89 world points.
“I’m glad to be here,” Leme said on top of the Can-Am cage in accepting the event buckle. “This buckle means a lot after everything I’ve been through this year. I’m so blessed. I thank God. Without him, I’m nothing.”
As the 40 best bull riders in the world ready for Round 6 on Saturday night, Leme is now within 270.66 points of the world No. 1 rank.
Should Leme once again be crowned the PBR World Champion in 2022, the stoic Brazilian would become the first rider in history to claim the honor in three consecutive seasons and just the third three-time PBR World Champion.
For the second consecutive night, world No. 2 Vieira was upended by his bovine athlete opponent.
In the fifth round of bull riding’s most prestigious event, the popular veteran rider was bucked off in 5.63 seconds by Soy El Fuego (Winston/Melton/Stockyards Pro Rodeo).
Vieira, who is attempting to become the oldest PBR World Champion in history this season, is now seventh in the event standings, having gone 3-for-5 thus far.
World No. 3 Pacheco also suffered defeat in Round 5.
Continuing to compete with a broken foot, 2018 PBR World Champion Pacheco was bucked off by Tortuga (Halpain/Martinelli) in 5.02 seconds.
The “Ice Man” is now 87.49 points back of No. 1 Swearingen. In the event standings, Pacheco, who has gone 3-for-5, is fourth, 87.5 points behind leader Swearingen.
Round 5 of the 2022 PBR World Finals featured a breakthrough performance for 19-year-old sensation Bob Mitchell (Steelville, Missouri).
Converting atop Big Wave (Lone Star/Outlaw/Maynes/D&H Cattle Co.) for his first qualified ride at his debut PBR World Finals, Mitchell was marked 88.75 points, earning 28 world points.
Atop the standings in the race for the coveted Rookie of the Year honor, Mitchell extended his lead over No. 2 Clayton Sellars (Fruitland Park, Florida) to 66.92 points. Sellars, who missed Round 2 due to injury, has yet to cover at the event. In Round 5, he was bucked off by Buffalo Heifer (Lucas Manning Bucking Bulls) in a heartbreaking 7.06 seconds.
Returning to the Round 5 leaderboard, Dalton Kasel (Muleshoe, Texas) and Dener Barbosa (Paulo de Faria, Brazil) tied for second after logging matching 92-point rides. The duo covered Mr. Excavator (Cornwell Bucking Bulls) and Flapjack (Parker/OK Corralis/Gordon/D&H Cattle), respectively, each collecting $17,500 and 47 world points.
Kasel remained No. 7 in the world, and Barbosa climbed one position from No. 12 to No. 11.
Reigning PBR Rookie of the Year Eli Vastbinder (Statesville, North Carolina) delivered his second consecutive ride, and third overall of the event, in Round 5 to gain one position in the world standings.
Vastbinder, who covered WSM’s Trail of Tears (WSM Auctioneers/Clay Struve/Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger) for 89 points to finish sixth in the round and collect 32 world points, is now No. 9 in the world after beginning the evening’s competition No. 10.
The reserved North Carolinian trails No. 1 Swearingen by 495.33 points.
The score also elevated Vastbinder to sixth in the World Finals event. Having gone 3-for-5 to amass 264.25 points, Vastbinder is within 95.5 points of overtaking the event lead.
Round 5 of the 2022 PBR World Finals also included the Top 15 3- and 4-year-old ABBI (American Bucking Bull Inc.) Classic bulls from Round 1.
Current No. 1 Classic bull in the ABBI standings Cool Whip (Julian Cattle & Staci Addison/D&H Cattle/Crooked W) extended his lead with a 91.6-point out Friday evening, and a 180.4-point average across the two performances. The bovine earned the championship title and more than $10,000.
Alakazam finished second with 178.88 points for just under $7,000, while Tchoupitoulas (Heavy Hitters Group/Twisted T Livestock) was not far behind with 178.56 points for a third-place finish and more than $5,000.
Flapjack landed in fourth with 178.08 points for $4,000 and Mr. Excavator rounded out the Top 5 with 177.68 points for just under $3,500.
The 2022 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast continues with Round 6 on Saturday, May 21 at 7:45 p.m. CDT.
PBR RidePass on Pluto TV will offer re-airs and on-demand replays of every PBR Unleash The Beast event. PBR RidePass is available on desktops, laptops and mobile devices via www.pluto.tv. Tune to channel 720 for the latest programming schedule, and click here for on-demand PBR programming.
PBR Unleash The Beast
PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast
Dickies Arena – Fort Worth, Texas
Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3-Round 4-Round 5-Round 6-Round 7-Round 8-Event Aggregate-Event Points)- Daylon Swearingen, 0-93-89.5-85.75-91.5-0-0-0-359.75-166 Points.
- Jose Vitor Leme, 85.75-90.25-86-0-92.75-0-0-0-354.75-156.33 Points.
- Cody Jesus, 89-90.25-89-84.75-0-0-0-0-353.00-129 Points.
- Kaique Pacheco, 0-91.75-89-91.5-0-0-0-0-272.25-168 Points.
- Luciano De Castro, 0-91.25-90.25-0-85.25-0-0-0-266.75-146 Points.
- Eli Vastbinder, 87.5-0-0-87.75-89-0-0-0-264.25-90 Points.
- João Ricardo Vieira, 90.25-86-87.75-0-0-0-0-0-264.00-89 Points.
- Dalton Kasel, 90.25-0-0-0-92-0-0-0-182.25-92 Points.
- Josh Frost, 88.75-92.75-0-0-0-0-0-0-181.50-77 Points.
- Dener Barbosa, 0-0-0-89.25-92-0-0-0-181.25-87 Points.
- Brady Oleson, 91.25-0-0-89.5-0-0-0-0-180.75-133 Points.
- João Henrique Lucas, 0-0-0-91.25-86.5-0-0-0-177.75-73 Points.
- Ezekiel Mitchell, 88.5-89-0-0-0-0-0-0-177.50-52 Points.
- Ramon de Lima, 0-0-88.75-87.75-0-0-0-0-176.50-66 Points.
- Lucas Divino, 0-0-85.75-0-89.5-0-0-0-175.25-52 Points.
- Andrew Alvidrez, 85.75-0-89.25-0-0-0-0-0-175.00-60.33 Points.
- Mauricio Gulla Moreira, 0-94.25-0-0-0-0-0-0-94.25-89 Points.
- Mason Taylor, 90.25-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-90.25-45 Points.
- Bob Mitchell, 0-0-0-0-88.75-0-0-0-88.75-28 Points.
- Eduardo Aparecido, 0-0-87.5-0-0-0-0-0-87.50-24 Points.
- Ednei Caminhas, 0-87.25-0-0-0-0-0-0-87.25-20 Points.
- Marcelo Procopio Pereira, 85.75-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-85.75-16.33 Points.
- Cody Teel, 0-0-84.5-0-0-0-0-0-84.50-13 Points.
- Brady Fielder, 84.25-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-84.25-12 Points.
Austin Richardson, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Derek Kolbaba, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Chase Dougherty, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Manoelito de Souza Junior, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Clayton Sellars, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Rafael Henrique dos Santos, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Dakota Louis, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Keyshawn Whitehorse, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Matt Triplett, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Marco Eguchi, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Claudio Montanha Jr., 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Silvano Alves, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Alex Marcilio, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Adriano Salgado, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Brandon Davis, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Casey Coulter, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Alex Cardozo, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
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WORLD CHAMPION TIE-DOWN ROPER JEFF COPENHAVER PASSES AWAY
Jeff Copenhaver, the 1975 PRCA World Champion Tie-Down Roper, and an instrumental figure in the cowboy ministry, passed away May 17 in Granbury, Texas. He was 73.
Copenhaver is the son of ProRodeo Hall of Famer and two-time Saddle Bronc Riding World Champion Deb Copenhaver. Deb passed away Feb. 6, 2019, at the age of 94.
“It was a great ride,” said Sherry Copenhaver, about her marriage to Jeff for 43 years. “I want people to remember that he made a difference for God in this Earth and that he was a great mentor, a great roping coach and I lived with a champion, and I lived with a fighter.”
Jeff and Sherry had one child, daughter, Shandy, who is married to Cody Stromberg.
Jeff qualified for the National Finals Rodeo six times – 1971, 1973-76 and 1978. He was fourth and fifth in the world standings in 1974 and ’76 and was the world champ in 1975.
“Jeff lived life with a passion and zeal,” Sherry said. “He was able to give back to others. He was able to be a great mentor and tutor and helped others become world champions.”
Jeff was born Jan. 12, 1949, and raised on a ranch in Post Falls, Idaho.
Jeff started roping at age four and by 11 he was competing seriously. In addition to help from his dad, and roper George Richmond, and Warren Wuthier, Jeff also honed his roping skills by watching old movies of ProRodeo Hall of Famers Dean Oliver and Jim Bob Altizer roping.
Jeff did go through a one-week binge of wanting to ride roughstock but that faded quickly.
“When I was 14 years old, I weighed 175 pounds, which was too big to start with, and I decided right quick to leave the broncs and bulls to someone else,” said Copenhaver in a May 31, 1978, article of the ProRodeo Sports News. “I had been roping since I was about 11 years old, and I liked tying down calves best, anyway.”
Jeff joined the PRCA in 1968. He won the Columbia River Circuit Year-End title in 1976 and Lone Star Circuit, now known as the Texas Circuit, in 1978 and was the champion at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo in 1974 and 1978.
“A contestant might have all the ability in the world but he’s not going to do any good until he learns how to win by eliminating all his mistakes,” Copenhaver said in the May 31, 1978, article of the PSN.
Jeff trained champion tie-down and breakaway ropers for more than 30 years, in the U.S. and Canada. He has also trained champions in Australia and Cuba.
In 1986, Jeff and Sherry started America’s first Cowboy church at Billy Bob’s in the historic Fort Worth (Texas) Stockyards. Jeff and Sherry spent years traveling nationally and internationally teaching roping schools and motivating others to be champions for God in their world.
Copenhaver also wrote a book titled “God Wants You to Win!”
“It was great to accomplish a goal that was my whole life,” said Copenhaver about winning his world championship in a Dec. 9, 2008, article in the Spokesman-Review. “It consumed my every thought, every breath, my very existence. That night I sat on the edge of my bed and asked, ‘Is that all there is?’ Even with the satisfaction of accomplishing that there was a void, and it started a three-year search.”
According to the article in the Spokesman-Review, three years later, at a rodeo in Madison Square Garden in New York, Copenhaver and his wife, Sherry, ran into an old friend, “a calf roper from Connecticut, you can imagine how rare that is,” Copenhaver said.
The Copenhavers were struck by his demeanor.
“I could just see the peace, the contentedness, that something good had happened to him,” Copenhaver said.
After grilling their friend, the Copenhavers returned to their motel.
“We knelt down at the end of our bed,” he recalled, “and asked Jesus Christ into our hearts.”
Steer roper and pastor Corey Ross praised Copenhaver.
“The greatest thing about Jeff is he had a heart for the Lord,” Ross said. “When you have a heart for God then you have a heart to want to help people. That’s what his mission was. I met Jeff many, many years ago and I had such a love for him and his family.”
Funeral services for Copenhaver will take place at 10:30 a.m. (CT) May 23 at the Cowboy Church of Erath County in Stephenville, Texas.
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Rodeo Historical Society Announces 2022 Award Honorees and Nominees
The Rodeo Hall of Fame, housed at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, continues its 67-year tradition of honoring rodeo’s greatest athletes.
OKLAHOMA CITY — The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum and Rodeo Historical Society are pleased to announce the 2022 Tad Lucas Memorial Award, Ben Johnson Memorial Award and Director’s Choice Award honorees, as well as the 2022 nominees for induction into the Rodeo Hall of Fame.
The Tad Lucas Memorial Award honoree of 2022 is Martha Josey. Each year, the family of trick-riding legend Tad Lucas bestows this award upon a living female whose actions promote the values represented by Tad Lucas.
The 2022 Ben Johnson Memorial Award honoree is Chuck Sylvester. This award winner is chosen by the Rodeo Committee and honors a living individual who represents the Western lifestyle as exemplified by screen and rodeo legend Ben Johnson. Sylvester was made aware of his receiving this award by Jeff Ewing, Chief Development Officer, during a special announcement at the National Western Stock Show Annual Member Meeting held in Denver, Colorado, May 12.
Jeff Medders will also be given the Rodeo Hall of Fame Director’s Choice Award. Not an annual honor, this award is chosen by the RHS board in exceptional circumstances.
Rodeo Hall of Fame inductees and award honorees are recognized each fall during Rodeo Hall of Fame Weekend, which includes an Induction Ceremony and Champions’ Dinner as well as an Inductee Panel Discussion, the Rope ‘N’ Ride Cocktail Reception, live and silent auctions to benefit RHS and other festivities. The 2022 Rodeo Hall of Fame Weekend will take place November 11 and 12 at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
RHS members receive voting privileges to select Rodeo Hall of Fame inductees, among other benefits. Voting begins in June, and members must join RHS no later than June 30, 2022 to be eligible to vote. RHS members will receive ballots in the mail, and ballots must be returned to the Museum postmarked by August 1, 2022.
The Rodeo Hall of Fame Class of 2022 nominees in both the Living and Deceased categories includes:
LIVING
- Guy Allen
- Jerry Beagley
- LaTonne Sewalt Enright
- Gary Gist
- Cleo L. Hearn
- Joyce Kernek
- Bill Nelson
- Tommy Puryear
- Tom Reeves Johnnie Ray “Jon” Taylore
- Tee Woolman
- The Kirby Brothers (Butch, Kaye and Sandy, all nominated together)
DECEASED
- Ben Bates
- Jake Beutler
- Thelma Warner Cody
- Don Endsley
The RHS will also elect a new board member. Members of the RHS will be asked to vote on this year’s nominees.
RHS Board Member Nominees:
- Sharon Camarillo
- Doug Clark
- Don Graham
- Gary Parli
- Kendra Santos
- John Shipley
About 2022 Tad Lucas Memorial Award honoree Martha Josey
Martha Josey’s rodeo career began when she purchased a horse, CeBe Reed, from her family friend with $2500 she borrowed from her mother in 1964. The pair went on to win 52 barrel races in a row, seven horse trailers, four Texas barrel racing championships, won 30 of 34 AQHA shows and qualified for the 1968 and 1969 NFRs. She and her next horse, Sonny Bit O’Both were also champions, with Sonny being the only horse in history to win both AQHA and WPRA World Championships in the same year. Martha was chosen to represent the United States in the 1988 Calgary Olympics. Martha and her subsequent horses continued to win championships through 2005, while she personally overcame hardships and obstacles including a potentially paralizing injury. After her nearly 50 year rodeo career, Martha is considered to be one of the most accomplished barrel races worldwide by many. Martha also impacted the lives of many by lending her skills to training young barrel racers.
About 2022 Ben Johnson Memorial Award honoree Chuck Sylvester
Chuck Sylvester was born in La Salle, Colorado on a farm he continues to work to this day. He showed his first steer at the age of 15 at the National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colorado. He became a member of the Rodeo Club while attending what is now Colorado State University, and participated in the Little National Western and Skyline Stampede Rodeo. Following CSU, he was a member of the Colorado Fair leadership team. After that he went into ranching and became the Manager of the National Western Yards operation from 1976-1978. His excellent work opened the role of General Manager of the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo, a position he held for 25 years until 2013. During his tenure, he was responsible for managing the rodeo, stock show and horse show. Under his leadership, attendance tripled and the National Western Rodeo was honored as the best Indoor Rodeo of the Year in 2000 and 2001. He was also responsible for organizing the Draft Horse Show and Pull and developing the Dancing Horses Event in the horse show, as well facilitating school tours and supporting youth programs.
About 2022 Director’s Choice Award honoree Jeff Medders
Jeff Medders has spent the last two and a half decades hosting sports programming for a who’s who of networks. He has been the television host of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo since 1991. His passion for the “cowboy life” is a big reason why he has become synonymous with groups like the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, American Quarter Horse Association, National High School Rodeo Association and Championship Bull Riding. Medders is President/CEO of Geronimo Productions. Geronimo produces the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (CBS Sports Network), Championship Bull Riding (Fox Sports), Wrangler Champions Challenge (CBS Sports Network), the Justin Boots Playoffs (CBS Sports Network) and the Cinch High School Rodeo Tour (RFD-TV). He lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma with his wife Diana and their four children. Medders owns a cattle ranch near his boyhood home in Talihina, Oklahoma. He graduated from Oklahoma State in spring of 1985 and was named an OSU College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Alumnus in 2014. He was inducted into the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2016.
For more information, visit nationalcowboymuseum.org/rodeo-hall-of-fame-weekend.
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About the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City is America’s premier institution of Western history, art and culture. Founded in 1955, the Museum collects, preserves and exhibits an internationally renowned collection of Western art and artifacts while sponsoring dynamic educational programs to stimulate interest in the enduring legacy of the American West. The Museum is located only six miles northeast of downtown Oklahoma City at 1700 Northeast 63rd Street. For more information, visit nationalcowboymuseum.org.About the Rodeo Historical Society
The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum’s Rodeo Historical Society (RHS) helps preserve and interpret the history of rodeo in the North American West for the education and enrichment of its diverse audiences. RHS membership supports the rodeo programs of the Museum, including the prestigious Rodeo Hall of Fame, an ongoing oral history project and acquisition of collection materials for the American Rodeo Gallery. For more information, visit nationalcowboymuseum.org.
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A Nurse’s Care
Nebraska high school cowgirl headed for a nursing degree with full ride scholarship.
Broken Bow, Neb. (May 9, 2022) – A Nebraska high school rodeo cowgirl is getting her college education paid for.
Kenna McCaslin, Broken Bow, Neb., has been selected as one of nineteen students from across the state for participation in the Rural Health Opportunities Program (RHOP).
The program pays for her entire tuition and board at Chadron (Neb.) State College and guarantees her a spot at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Scottsbluff. In return, RHOP recipients must spend two to four years working in rural Nebraska.
The eighteen-year-old cowgirl competes in the breakaway roping, barrel racing and goat tying. A graduate of Broken Bow High School, throughout her high school career she played volleyball for a year, basketball for two years, and was a member of her school’s FFA chapter and Future Health Professionals (HOSA). She is a member of the National Honor Society.
Tagging along with her veterinarian grandpa, Harold McCaslin, as a kid, she always wanted to be a vet. “I looked up to him in so many ways,” she said. “I loved spending time with him and at the farm.”
But as she job shadowed at the local hospital in high school, she changed her mind. “I did a twelve-hour shift the first day and fell in love with it.” Being able to talk to her patients instead of guessing where they hurt, like with animals, made a difference. “I thought it might be nice to have patients that can tell you what’s wrong, instead of playing a guessing game,” she joked.
In addition to rodeo and her high school activities, Kenna stays busy with several other activities. She loves her job at the feedlot and got her certified nursing assistant certificate (CNA) and will work at a local nursing home this summer.
McCaslin has qualified for the Nebraska State High School Finals Rodeo the last three years, finishing in the top twenty in the goat tying twice.
She will work towards a bachelors in science- nursing degree and is undecided if she will specialize in pediatrics or trauma.
High school rodeo teaches life lessons to students, she believes. “I think it builds character. It teaches you how to be responsible, because you’re not only caring for yourself but your animals, too. And you’re learning how to balance something that takes a lot of time, and staying on top of your schoolwork. It’s not an easy thing to accomplish, but it is possible.”
She is the daughter of Thomas and Ann McCaslin.
The RHOP program requires that recipients maintain a grade point average of 3.3.
McCaslin, along with about 150 other high school youth competitors, will compete at the Nebraska High School Finals Rodeo in Hastings June 10-12 at the Adams County Fairgrounds. Rodeo performances begin at 11 am and 6 pm on June 10-11, with the short round on June 12 at 1 pm.
The cutting horse competitions will be at 7 am on June 10-11 with the finals at 8 am on June 12. The reined cow horse takes place at 10 am on June 10-11.
For more information, visit AdamsCountyFairgrounds.com or hsrodeo-nebraska.com, or call 402.462.3247.