Eric Randle won the richest roping ever this year when he and heeler Zane Edmondson split $350,000 in the Ariat #10 World Series of Team Roping Finale X. Just one year before, Randle won the Bloomer Trailer #10 World Series of Team Roping Finale IX, splitting $304,000 with header Wesley Mucha.

Randle won a Gist buckle for each of his wins, but both sit on his living room bookshelf rather than on his belt. 

“I don’t know if I’ll ever wear them,” Randle said. “It’s the simple fact I can say I did it. I understand it’s just a #10 roping. I know I’m not going to go match The Champ (Clay O’Brien Cooper) or anything. But it’s hard to do. We were one team in 595 other teams this year.”

The back-to-back wins, the first heeling and the second heading, were an unprecedented stroke of good fortune, Randle said. The money was life-changing, and Randle wants to be sure he’s not perceived as bragging about the win. 

“They say I should be more proud of what I did,” Randle said. “I like the fact that I did it. And I like the guys I won with. When somebody enters with me, I take it very seriously. I don’t brag about it, though, and I want to always do a good job. I don’t want people to see me as bragging. A lot of things went my way. And to win twice in a row took a lot.”

For now, Randle will leave his Cowboys For Cancer Research buckle from Las Cruces, N.M., on his belt to bear the brunt of his day-to-day work. 

“I just don’t want to scratch them,” Randle said. “They’re beautiful buckles, and I want to keep them that way.”