I’ve been asked to describe Coleman Proctor a lot here lately to people who don’t yet know him personally. I say Coleman’s a cowboy character with character. He’s funny, and doesn’t let foolish pride get in the way of poking fun at himself when he feels he has it coming. He’ll let a guy trying to beat him borrow his horse, and go out of his road to help a friend from another team trying to reach his first National Finals Rodeo finish line. And if you weren’t sure just how much cowboy game Coleman’s got, he just set the record straight on that—again—in two events at Pendleton.
The 39-year-old pride of Pryor, Oklahoma jumped to second behind only Shad Mayfield in the world all-around race after his $28,351 all-around title at the Daddy of ’em All in Cheyenne in July.
After finishing fourth in the team roping with Junior Nogueira and second in the steer roping at the Pendleton Round-Up, which just ended Saturday, September 14 and was worth another $24,154 to him, Proctor pulled to within less than $50,000 of Mayfield—$230,630 to $181,922—as we head into the last two weeks of the 2024 regular rodeo season.
“Winning this all-around championship at Pendleton is the greatest accomplishment of my career, because it’s the most cowboy accomplishment of my career,” said eight-time National Finals Rodeo header Proctor, who’s now won well over $1.5 million in PRCA rodeo arenas.
“Winning the all-around at Cheyenne was a great accomplishment, but when you can conquer the Green Mile and win more than any other contestant there at Pendleton, that’s a dream come true. I just think it’s the most cowboy thing you can do in rodeo. To be known as a cowboy, and a damn good one, is all any of us has ever wanted.”
Thanks in part to a big win with his main man, Logan Medlin, the other day at the Washington State Fair Pro Rodeo in Puyallup, Washington, Proctor is now ranked No. 4 in the world heading standings with $144,979. He’s also rolled up to 17th in the world steer roping standings with $41,612 ($11,770 was won at Pendleton).
READ: Coleman Proctor and Logan Medlin Sweep in Puyallup with $19K Trip
To set the record straight on why he has $181,922 in the world all-around standings instead of that two-event total of $186,591, there are a couple of factors to consider. Single-event stand-alones don’t count toward the all-around, and you can only count 70 rodeos toward the all-around. Steer ropers don’t have an event limit, but team ropers can count 80 rodeos toward their official standings count in 2024.
If you’re wondering why Proctor and Nogueira joined forces at Pendleton, we’re back to them both being contenders in the world all-around race.
“Logan and I had a pretty full schedule booked, but once we got the Governor’s Cup (in Sioux Falls) made, he was able to drive his family home (to Texas) and me just have a peaceful Pendleton experience without having to fly back and forth to other rodeos,” Proctor explained. “I had to go to Pendleton, because I’m on the bubble in the steer roping.”
Proctor flew straight from Pendleton to the New Mexico State Fair & Rodeo in Albuquerque yesterday (Sunday, September 15) to head for his fellow-Okie homie Tanner Braden, who’s fighting for his first NFR back number. They were 5.5 for 11thand won $850 a man. With that money in the bank, Braden’s now 15th in the world. Meanwhile, Albuquerque with Braden and Amarillo this Thursday with Medlin are the last two regular-season rodeos Coleman can count toward the 2024 world all-around standings.
“Mandan (the North Dakota Rough Rider Cup, September 20-22) will be a $15,000 one-header, and I won $35,000 in Sioux Falls (at the Cinch Playoffs Governor’s Cup Rodeo, which this year runs September 26-28), but I can’t count either for the all-around,” Proctor explained. “I can count them in the team roping, because we get 80 rodeos in that, and won’t get to 75. But I’ll be over the 70 I can count toward the all-around.”
When did Coleman set his sights on the world all-around crown?
“I started thinking about the all-around when I was leaving the NFR last year,” he said. “That’s what I’ve been working on like a maniac, and why I have four steer roping horses. I want to be like Tee Woolman and Taylor Santos, and qualify for the NFR and NFSR (National Finals Steer Roping) the same year. The elite of the elite cowboys—starting with Trevor Brazile—got it done, and I want to join that list.”
Proctor will steer rope in Amarillo and Seminole, Texas this week, with high hopes of clinching his first NFSR qualification. If he has to, he’ll charter from Sioux Falls to Stephenville and Decatur to catch the last two steer ropings of the regular season.
“I’ll pull out all the stops, if it comes to that,” he said. “But I’m hoping to get it done before then.”
Proctor and Medlin’s final four stops this regular season include Amarillo, Omaha, Mandan and Sioux Falls. And with or without the NFSR, he has high hopes for his all-around chances.
“I have a lot of confidence in Logan and me at the Thomas & Mack,” Proctor said. “Our run is very efficient, and Heisman’s great there. There’s not really a lead that scares me.
“Fighting with Junior for a world title is nothing new (Nogueira is currently ranked third in the all-around race). And I can’t control what Shad does in the calf roping. I just have to try and out-win everybody.”
Proctor entered one California jackpot with Nogueira years ago, but Pendleton was their first rodeo roping together.
“I’m blessed to head for Logan Medlin every day,” Coleman said. “When we won Puyallup, my phone went to ringing. My main focus at Pendleton was to try and win about $12,000 in the steer roping (he won $11,770), to give myself a shot at making it.
“Junior and I had fun. At Pendleton, you really want your heeler up there blocking them off, and Junior did an exceptional job of that every run. Even when I missed the barrier so bad on that last one, I could still feel where Junior was and where I needed to lead the steer for him; the route we needed to run. It was OJ’s first trip down the hill, so I also looked at it as a free chance to season a grass horse.”
About that black horse…Proctor headed on Poco Tuck Drift Gin at Pendleton. He calls him OJ, and he’s the same black horse Billy Good just won the steer roping on at Ellensburg. Good, who’s currently ranked 15th in the world steer roping standings, has ridden OJ everywhere but Pendleton during this year’s Northwest run, and will probably finish the season on him, according to Coleman.
As Proctor put it, “Steer ropers are the bulldoggers of the roping world. Billy and I are both vying for the 15th spot, but cowboys are supposed to exemplify helping your fellow man. If I’m not good enough to beat him on the best horse he can get on, then I don’t deserve to go. Billy’s also seasoning OJ, and if he’s there, I can always jump on and ride him, too.
“Kelton McMillen had a big shot at making the NFSR after almost 40-percenting them at Abilene, Texas the other day. And Kelton let Billy ride his great bald-faced horse that he just set the Cheyenne record on at Pendleton.”
Proctor—who rode the 20-year-old chestnut Dualotaplayin, “Cheeto,” who came from CA Lauer in the steer roping at Pendleton—also won the Round-Up timed-event all-around buckle, the Ron Currin Jr Memorial. It’s just hard to put into words what this Pendleton all-around championship means to him.
“I was two days old the first time I attended Clem McSpadden’s (Bushyhead) Pasture Roping,” he said. “I come from Tom Ferguson country, and he was a great all-around hand. I know this made my mom (Melody Brewer) and dad (Keith Proctor) really proud.
“To think that I’ll now get to walk into the Rainbow Café in Pendleton and see my name and picture on the wall with the all-around greats, and heroes of mine, like Trevor Brazile and Kyle Lockett, is awesome. I don’t think I’ll ever miss Pendleton. It’s not for everybody, but it’s a great rodeo and I love it.”
Neither of his draws on short-round Saturday was a day off.
“I had to make two wild, gritty runs yesterday, lay all caution aside and go as hard as I could,” Coleman said. “I never thought I’d be over-and-undering my horse, gapped wide open coming down the hill, but both (short-round) steers beat me at the barrier.
“I really try to stay draw neutral and respect my opponent, even when I draw the loper. If you mess him up, you make him a medium steer. Both steers Saturday came by me so fast that there was no gauging going on.”
The prize line at Pendleton is way past impressive. The three-bucking-horses buckle went straight onto Coleman’s belt. The rest caught a ride back to Oklahoma in the Proctor family toterhome.
Coleman’s father-in-law, Gary Arnold, passed away seven years to the day of Proctor’s big Pendleton win. The prize that struck a sentimental chord was a compound bow.
“When they handed me that bow, I thought how Gary would have loved to teach me how to use that thing,” he said. “Pendleton is the greatest rodeo in the world, and this is the greatest accomplishment I’ve ever had. This is one of the coolest days in rodeo a guy could ever wish for.”
