Utah cowboys at the National Finals Rodeo

Ten of the best days of the year ended Saturday night with the completion of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association’s National Finals Rodeo. Rodeo fans know that cowboys from across America and Canada, with a few thrown in from Australia and Brazil, compete all year long to win enough prize money to rank among the top 15 cowboys in their events and qualify for the National Finals.

It’s a grueling test—ten straight days of matching yourself against the best bucking horses and bulls, and select calves and steers in the timed events.

Utah cowboys cleaned house this year, sweeping up all the honors in the roughstock events.

Josh Frost of Randlett won the bull riding, winning two go-rounds and placing in five others, sewing up his place as the World Champion Bull Rider. Hayes Weight, from my hometown of Goshen, finished up second in the world standings, winning two go-rounds. Just behind him in third place in the world is Cooper James of Erda, with two go-round wins and placing in three other rounds. Tyler Bingham of Howell won a go-round and placed in two others, and finished in the world rankings at number eight.

Dean Thompson of Altamont won two go-rounds in the bareback riding and placed in six more and came home the World Champion Bareback Bronc Rider.

In the saddle bronc riding, Ryder Wright of Beaver won four go-rounds and placed in five more to become the World Champion Saddle Bronc Rider—for the third time. His younger brother Statler won a go-round and placed in four more, and finished the year in eighth place in the standings.

A Utah cowboy made some noise in the timed events as well. Cash Robb of Altamont won the steer wrestling at the Finals, winning money in six go-rounds and placing third in the world standings.

The State of Utah should be pleased with this unprecedented performance by our cowboys. I know I am.

 

NFR Icons.

Like many of you, I suspect, I recently spent ten days in rodeo heaven watching the National Finals Rodeo. This year, the festivities included a new event: the naming of “NFR Icons,” honored with a banner hoisted into the rafters and their image enshrined in a bronze sculpture.

The first honorees were Ty Murray, Charmayne James, and Trevor Brazile. The reasons for honoring those three are many and well chronicled, so I won’t go into that. What I will mention is the bronze sculpture each received.

The sculptures are the creation of cowboy artist Jeff Wolf, a friend I have known since our boyhood days in the same hometown. Jeff’s work has been honored and exhibited and displayed and featured and awarded far and wide. And rightly so, as his depictions of Western life capture the soul and spirit of the people and the place, right down to the animals. His heart and hands find essence and energy in lumps of clay and breathe life into bronze.

I had the pleasure of seeing the NFR Icon sculptures in progress while visiting Jeff at his studio one day this past summer. That memory will be treasured as much by me as the finished works will be cherished by the recipients.

Jeff’s name as artist and creator was not mentioned in any of the reports I read about the NFR Icon honors. Shame. As well miss out a bronc, tip over a barrel, or break a barrier.

The Big Rodeo.

 

    For ten nights in a row recently, we sat in front of the TV watching the National Finals Rodeo. We were especially impressed with how well the cowboys from Utah did, bringing home several world championships.
    For years now, the saddle bronc riding at every level in rodeo has been dominated by the Wright family of Milford, a small, small town way off the beaten path in southern Utah. Before this year, six Wright brothers had won among them five world championships and more other accomplishments than you can imagine. The oldest of the brothers, Cody, won two of those world titles.
    Now, it’s his sons who are in the limelight.
    Back in 2018, I wrote a magazine article about that next generation of Wrights. I spent an afternoon and evening with two of the boys at the Utah State High School Rodeo Finals. The picture above is from that day—that’s father Cody in the middle offering advice and encouragement to his sons Ryder, on the left, and Rusty on the right. Too young for high school rodeo at the time was another son, Stetson.
    All three are now full-time professional rodeo cowboys, and proved themselves the best of the bunch at the recent NFR.
    Rusty, the oldest at 25, tied for first (with his brother) in a go-round of the saddle bronc riding, placed in seven of ten go-rounds and fifth in the average, and came away ranked fourth in the world standings.
    Ryder, at 22, placed in nine and won or tied for first place in five saddle bronc riding go-rounds and won the average, and walked away wearing the World Champion belt buckle (for the second time).
    Stetson, at the ripe old age of 21, won one saddle bronc riding go-round and tied for first in another and ended up seventh in the world standings. Stetson also rides bulls and won four go-rounds at the NFR and was crowned world champion. He entered the National Finals Rodeo second in overall winnings for the year in the All-Around Cowboy race, but passed the leader and left him more than $158,000 in the dust, bringing home his second All-Around Championship.
    The Wrights are a wonderful family, making history in more ways than one, both in and outside the rodeo arena. It has been a pleasure to know them over the years, and we’ll be hearing more of them in the future.
    It also bears mentioning that Kaycee Feild—son of the late Lewis Feild, five-time world bareback riding champion—matched his father’s accomplishment by winning his fifth world championship in my favorite rodeo event.