In rodeo, some guys bust onto the scene. Others claw their way in. For Charly Crawford, the turning point didn’t come on a hot streak—it came on a long shot.
By September of 2007, Crawford was all but out of the running for the NFR. A brutal wreck early that year had left him with two bulging discs in his back and months of pain. He’d tried to tough it out, but the damage was real. He couldn’t ride, rope, or even function like a pro cowboy. Finally, friends stepped in—most notably Tyler Magnus—and dragged him to the doctor. Crawford started therapy, sat out, and told his partner Cody Hintz to go find someone else.
Hintz refused.
“I didn’t want to leave a man high and dry,” Hintz said. “I figured we’d be better off if I stayed home and waited for him to come back.”
By summer, Crawford was healed enough to compete again—physically, at least. But mentally and mechanically, he was off. The injury had messed with his roping. He was overcompensating and struggling to find rhythm. Magnus, Chad Masters, and Matt Funk all stepped in to coach him through the rough patch.
Still, the wins didn’t come easy. They made a few checks but couldn’t get over the hump. After missing a steer at the Ariat Playoffs in Caldwell, Idaho, Crawford thought his season was done. They were too far behind, and time was running out.
Enter Pendleton.
The Pendleton Round-Up isn’t just a rodeo—it’s a battleground. The grass arena. The long start. The chaos. And for Crawford, who grew up in Prineville, Oregon, it was the holy grail.
“I wanted to win that thing since I was a kid,” he said. “It’s the biggest rodeo where I come from. I felt like if I was ever going to pull something off, it’d be there.”
They came in swinging. First round: 5.5 seconds and the win. Second round: solid. They came back high call in the short round.
“I looked at Cody and said, ‘We can rope smart and win a little, or go for the win.’ He said, ‘Let’s win it.’”
And they did.
They roped three steers in 18.4 seconds and banked $8,603—enough to vault Crawford from outside the top 20 all the way to No. 14 in the world.
Looking back now, Crawford says that win was the spark that ignited his career:
“Holy smokes, that one was so cool. That was one of those rope-from-behind moments you always dream of. I think I was 24th or 26th in the world before it started—it was like that Eminem song: you got one shot. I had to dominate Pendleton to have a chance.
“I’d always wanted that win—on the grass, at home, under my belt. I’d done good there, I loved it there. I won the first round, then the short round, won the average. After Pendleton I went from 20-something to 14th in the world. And that gave us the chance to finish strong.
“That victory lap—hat whipping, riding across the 50-yard line, jumping the rail—man, that was something I’d always dreamed of doing. It was a special win.”
But they still had one wild weekend left.
Seven rodeos in three days. From Arkansas to Texas, Colorado, Arizona, California—they were running nonstop. Hintz drove one rig. Crawford flew and drove another. The final stop was San Bernardino, where Crawford had to place just to stay in.
“We got there during the clown act,” he said. “I knew I had to be sixth or better to make it.”
His steer ran hard and had a tipped right horn. He had to get it caught.
“I was swinging, riding, trying to find that horn. Finally, I let it go and Cody cleaned him up. We won $800—just enough.”
That money held. And Crawford, against all odds, made his first NFR.
That 2007 run wasn’t just a comeback—it was the birth of a contender. That fall in Pendleton kicked off a career that would see Crawford return to the NFR 10 times and rope among the best for more than a decade.
Every career has a moment when it turns. For Charly Crawford, it was Pendleton. The win. The lap. The comeback. The shot he didn’t waste.
