Growing up in central Oklahoma and roping as a kid meant Clint McMurtry occasionally heeled steers for Nick Sartain, the 2009 world champion header. In fact, McMurtry heeled so well that he made the National High School Finals Rodeo every single year of high school.
“That’s what I wanted to do for a living for the longest time,” said McMurtry, 44, now of Midland, Texas. “But it was difficult to get a break.”
Instead, after a stint at college and while working for Jack Holden, he lived with his Army veteran uncle who talked about the great life he had while serving. McMurtry enlisted in the Air Force.
“It was the best mistake of my life,” he said. “And I don’t mean that in a bad way. It taught me a lot, through life experiences.”
As an Air Force crew chief for 15 years, McMurtry worked on fighter jets—mostly F-15s and A-10s, but also unmanned aircraft called Global Hawks.
“They’re controlled by a computer,” he said. “I worked on them while deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq, and they were flown in there from California. With a wingspan of 78 feet, they’re the largest UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle]. They don’t fire weapons but are for ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance].”
While stationed in Alaska, McMurtry was sent to Las Vegas frequently, where fighter pilots are trained at Nellis Air Force Base. It’s a focal point for advanced combat aviation training that basically amounts to the Air Force’s version of Top Gun, McMurtry said.
“Those pilots fly with pilots from different countries and different aircraft, and they play those war games out over the desert,” he explained.
But despite being stationed in wildly different locales and through multiple deployments until his 2013 retirement, McMurtry never quit roping.
“I always found a place to rope,” he said. “Even in Alaska, where most ropers send their horses to Seattle for the winter.”
Even while working in Afghanistan and Iraq, McMurtry was known to order a Cowboy Toy and ropes from NRS.
“We’d work 12-hour days, six days a week, but somehow there was still a lot of downtime, too,” he said. “You’ve got to find a way to keep your mind involved in something because it’s tough missing your family.”
McMurtry’s son and daughter are now both out of high school. Only veterans understand the familial sacrifices that veterans make. That’s why Charly Crawford’s Military Celebration each fall is so special, said McMurtry, who won the roping there in 2021. It’s a place where veterans can get together, knowing they have both roping and their military backgrounds in common.
“You hear the saying that the outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man, and that’s as true as it can be,” said McMurtry. “Roping keeps our minds off everything else.”
These days, McMurtry practices with fellow vet B.J. Garcia and goes occasionally to East Texas to rope with Ty Arnold. In August, he’d already scored one WSTR Finale qualification in the #11.5 and was planning to enter the #12.5, too, having just gotten his number lowered to a straight 6.
While McMurtry has been known to head at military rodeos and for guys in the practice pen, he said he doesn’t love that end. His good heel horse that he bought out of a cutting program as a 3-year-old is by Kit Dual.
“I recently also bought a 3-year-old by Smart Chic Olena out of a Dual Pep mare and a 2-year-old by Peptoboonsmal out of a Kit Dual mare,” he said. “I think I’m going to try to play that futurity game.”
—TRJ—
Thank you to Equinety for helping us share stories of military members, veterans and first responders in the team roping community.
