Coleman Proctor’s been busy putting himself out there in this year’s world all-around race, which without Stetson Wright in it is a whole different ballgame. And it shows. Pryor, Oklahoma’s Proctor just won $28,351 for his second all-around title in the past three years at The Daddy in Cheyenne—Stetson won it last year—and is second only to world all-around and tie-down roping frontrunner Shad Mayfield, who won his trademark event at Cheyenne yesterday and is now taking a couple weeks off to rest his weary hips.
“I’m telling you, we didn’t give Trevor (Brazile) enough credit,” said eight-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo header and 2022 and 2024 Cheyenne All-Around Champ Proctor, 38. “I’m exhausted. We started here at Cheyenne weeks ago—I spent the last three weekends here. I was entered in the steer roping here over the top of the NFR Open, which required me to get on a jet to rope at Colorado Springs after my first two steer roping runs. I can’t turn my team roping partner out, especially after we worked so hard to make it there.
“Logan and I won fourth on our team roping steer here in Cheyenne slack, and that might be the best run I’ve ever made at this rodeo. It felt like what it looked like watching Clay Tryan and Jade Corkill rope at Cheyenne. Then it was Nampa (Idaho); Salt Lake City (Utah) slack; home for two days; Spanish Fork (Utah); Nampa short round; Deadwood (South Dakota) steer roping; the Cheyenne quarter finals, where we snuck in fourth and barely made it back; back to Salt Lake; Ogden (Utah); Salt Lake again; an all-night drive to Burwell (Nebraska) for both events; we team roped at Gordon (Nebraska); then back to Cheyenne for Saturday’s semis and the finals here today on Sunday.”
Coleman was duking it out for the all-around at The Daddy with 18-year-old bareback and bull riding phenom Wacey Schalla, who just won the all-around title at the College National Finals Rodeo, leads all newcomers in the Resistol rookie all-around race and is third behind only Mayfield and Proctor in the world all-around race right now. In the end, Schalla split second in the Cheyenne bareback riding finals, and third in the bull riding.
But this time, that second-place team roping finish closed the deal for Coleman before the bull riding. All told, Proctor and Medlin cashed four Cheyenne team roping checks for $15,185, and three steer roping checks worth $13,166.
“I still haven’t capitalized on that high-call run in the steer roping,” smiled Coleman, who also was high back in 2022, and this time finished eighth in this tournament-style format. “The steer roping slacks have been good to me over the years, but I haven’t mastered the perf runs yet in that event. The team roping’s a different story. When you have a partner like Logan Medlin and the horses he has, I feel like we have a distinct advantage.”
Coleman’s wife, Stephanie, and their three daughters—Stella’s 6; Caymbree turns 5 today (7-29); and baby Sterling Grace was born on April 9—flew in to join their road-foundered cowboy on Friday night. The plan was to hit the Cheyenne carnival on Saturday, so they could get rolling to the next one right after the short round on Sunday. Then the rains came.
Being a dad of his word, Coleman stepped off of center stage in that arena and took his girls to the carnival after the short round. The Proctors really know how to party, so the celebration continued with Panda Express via Uber Eats delivered right there to Frontier Park.
“I promised my little girls they got to go to the carnival in Cheyenne,” he said. “Luckily, it closed at 6. And Panda is our go-to. When I won The American, we ate Panda Express. I’m a bowl guy. I go orange chicken and fried rice, with a few bites of the Beijing beef on top.”
He was saved by that 6 p.m. bell at the carnival, because next on his list was loading up his family in the toterhome for the seven-hour drive to Abilene, Kansas for steer roping slack this morning. Coleman and Stella had first shift. She brought cotton candy from the carnival to the first order of events after take-off, which was watching the movie “Minions” with Daddy. He couldn’t take his eyes off of the road, of course, but you know Coleman was there for the Minions commentary.
Today is Caymbree’s fifth birthday, and there will be a unicorn-themed party at Abilene slack to celebrate, complete with a cake—half vanilla, half chocolate—baked by the same kind committeewoman who started mailing Coleman cookies from there when he was in college 20 years ago.
This little road show will then roll on to Hill City, Kansas, where Proctor and Medlin are out in the perf tonight.
“I’ve never had $100,000 won in the team roping leaving Cheyenne before, so that feels good,” Coleman said. “I was on the bubble when Logan and I started roping in 2021, then there’s a learning curve. Now we’ve got a level of chemistry that I haven’t had since I roped with my childhood friend Jake Long.
“Logan and I are always on the same page. We’re never mad or placing blame, and we can sit and talk about it. He tells me what he sees back there, and I need to give him an opening to where he can see it coming. We’ve had a good winter, spring and summer. We’re having a great year.”
Coleman headed on the 9-year-old he calls Mills, which came from his college rodeo partner Mitch Barney. Mills is a half-brother to Jr. Dees’s signature sorrel, Dillon. Medlin heeled on his horse Cantina at Cheyenne.
In the steer roping, Proctor rode his 8-year-old gray, Gambler, that came from Shane Boston and Southern Ranches, home of The Notorious B I G. Gambler came up through the futurity system with Clay Logan and Billy Jack Saebens, who suggested Proctor give him a go in this second event.
Coleman’s rolling on his 2024 goals.
“The first one is to be a world champion header,” he said. “Second is the all-around world title. Outside the arena, it’s just to be the best daddy to my girls that I can be. Oh, and I want to win the team roping at the Indian National Finals (in October at the South Point in Las Vegas) this year (Coleman is one quarter Cherokee). I went last year, and sprained my ankle on my second calf.
“I’m very serious about my steer roping, and it’s the hardest event I’ve ever tried to learn. There are so many cowboy skills involved, and you have to know when to hit the gas and when to slow down. I have four steer horses. It hasn’t shown in the results as much as I’d like it to, but it’s starting to come together. I started off this year wanting to be an all-around contender. At the time, we knew we had a head start on Stetson Wright. Now he’s out for the year. A big stepping stone for me is making the National Finals Steer Roping.
“I want to have a chance to win the all-around when I get to Vegas. I have a lot of confidence in Logan and I, our run and our horses. A $100,000 lead can go fast when you get to Las Vegas.”
