Jackpots

Q: Where did you grow up, and what was your childhood like?A: I was raised in the eastern part of the state in McClave, near Lamar. My dad was a farmer—we raised sorghum, alfalfa, and sugar beats—and ran a few head of cattle. I grew up milking cows every morning, and separating ...read more

Chad Townson, 46, of Stephenville, Texas, proudly wears this Chance Britain Benefit Roping buckle he won in honor of Britain, 18, also of Stephenville, who is recovering from critical injuries caused by a rollover accident in December 2017. Britain’s sister, Cheyenne, works for ...read more

Andrews, Texas' Marcos Bustamante earned $8,417.50 between the Wiley Hicks Jr. Memorial Roping (March 17-18) and the ADVO Companies Roping (September 21-23), which made him the highest money earner between both ropings, resulting in the first-ever Top of Texas Two trailer win. “I ...read more

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO DO AS WELL AS YOU HAVE?It takes a lot of time and effort, and a lot of practice. I’ve had good luck with my partner, Sterlin English. We’ve been winning a lot together. I’m just thankful for my nice horses and my partner’s horses. We go to a lot of good ...read more

While working in business engineering in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Robert Callaway started tinkering with the thought of making ropes for the burgeoning roping industry, when a friend bet him that he couldn’t design a motorized piggin string machine.“My mother, Tommie, was ...read more

Catcher Gasperson, 14, of Decatur, Texas, has been on a roll in 2018, picking up Junior NFR #10 wins at the Panhandle Classic in Amarillo, Texas, and at the Oklahoma Winter Championships in Guthrie, Oklahoma, both with his friend Taylet Rademacher. Who taught you to rope, and how ...read more

When it comes to team roping accomplishments, it’s often a matter of who won what for how much in what time, and have they done it more than once. Within those parameters, there’s certainly no shortage of legendary feats such as the historic eight consecutive world champion ...read more

Gist Silversmiths has made the BFI buckles for nearly all of the storied roping’s 41-year history, but the BFI Champion buckle on Cody Cowden’s belt is one-of-a-kind. Cowden won the 1997 Bob Feist Invitational with a time of 47.72 seconds on six head with his Wrangler National ...read more

Dr. David Fletcher kicked off February by winning the Wildfire XX #11 Businessman’s Super Qualifier with his partner, header Alan Chappell. In an event that paid out more than $231,000 and drew 420 teams, Chappell and Fletcher took the winning check for $43,000 after securing the ...read more

Looking AheadThis year I just want to rope good; to rope to my potential, and try not to let my head get to me. I don’t have one particular goal in mind, other than to do my best at every roping. Then I’ll be okay. I’m just trying to get over last year. It was a hard year. I’m ...read more

In Denver, each new year kicks off with the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo, a Colorado tradition since 1906. It’s a tradition that team roper Dr. Jason Stoneback has taken part in since he began working with the Justin Sports Medicine Team in 2011. Getting to work behind ...read more

Horse trainer Casey Hicks’ winning weekend started off after he heeled four steers behind Dick Yates in a time of 33.12 to earn $4,300. He then went on to dominate in the #12 where he roped with Jimmy Suggs to take home first in the average with a 30.46 on four head worth $19,260 ...read more

There’s really nothing like the creek of the swing of the back gate of an old steel stock trailer as it bangs against the pipe alley it’s backed up to, followed by a few whoops and hollers, and then the clambering of hooved feet as they jump off the trailer into their new ...read more

Team roper Jeff Busby, 55, of Brock, Texas, spent his early years chopping weeds in cotton fields for $1 an hour. As an engineer in his garage some years later, he began what would become Av-DEC, a company that specializes in anti-corrosion aviation technologies and caters to the ...read more

Q: What does it mean to you to end the year in the #1 spot?A: It means quite a bit, even though it wasn’t anything like battling out to the last round. I had a big enough lead that I kind of had it sewn up before I even got there. The gap was big, but it’s still awesome. I ended ...read more

Jaxson Tucker, 16, dominated both the Open and #15 at the South Georgia Classic in Perry, Georgia, December 29, 2017. In the Open, Tucker headed for partner Ty Ethridge to turn in a time of 32.74-seconds on four head worth a total of $3,030. Not long after, Tucker roped in the ...read more

At the Journal, we’ve attempted to corral all of the fuss on these pages. That’s an impossibility, but we’re hoping this package is an entertaining and resourceful glance at snowbird paradise, whether you’ve already nabbed a second home in the Valley of the Sun or are taking your ...read more

W.T. Ridings was going to school at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater when he got a letter May 20, 1958, from then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower, telling him his service was needed in a conflict on the Korean Peninsula, some 6,614 miles away. "I had never even thought ...read more

Doug Rich began college with a rodeo scholarship to Western Oklahoma State College after taking the all-around, tie-down and team roping titles at the 2013 Illinois High School Rodeo Association State Finals. Rich is in his final semester at University of Tennessee at Martin, ...read more

It would be understandable for a couple of brothers, busy starting families and running the companies they founded, to let their team-roping hobby slide. After all, who has time while scouting projects, managing businesses, and building custom homes to work the arena, saddle the ...read more

Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira won the United States Team Roping Championships Cinch Jeans National Finals of Team Roping Open and $53,400 by roping five steers in 32.05 seconds, including a 5.54-second short round run. Nogueira won $50,000 earlier in the day with partner ...read more

Texas' Cooper Hatley and Brazil's Junior Nogueira roped four steers in 27.2 seconds to win $50,000 at the #15 Shoot-Out at the United States Team Roping Championship's Cinch National Finals of Team Roping. Hatley also placed fourth with Louisiana's Jonathan Torres with a time of ...read more

Number and End  I’m a 5 heeler.  Louisiana Ropings We can go to a roping every weekend. We don’t have the little jackpot ropings during the week. When you get east of the Mississippi, you’re dealing with the blue collar people that work eight to 10 hours a day, Monday through ...read more

Colorado’s Jessica Amicarella and Hawaii’s Riley Pedro took home the number-one spot in the #13 at the World Series in Gill, Colo. Their team turned in a time of 36.96-seconds on four head to split $3,069. “The steers were strong—our first two steers were really strong,” Pedro ...read more

Ree Dees and Joe Mike Clem teamed up for the #12 World Series of Team Roping qualifier produced by Mathews Land & Cattle in Las Cruces, New Mexico, last month, turning in a time of 33.5 seconds on four head to take home $7,490 and a trip to the WSTR Finale. Dees works for Joe ...read more

Originally from New Jersey’s farm country, Bob graduated from West Virginia University with a degree in animal sciences before taking a livestock management job on an Angus ranch in Montana. Colorado called to him next, where he wrangled a dude string for Sombrero Ranches’ Rex ...read more