I’ve had a lot of help along the way, and I’ll never forget the special people who changed my life and career. I give Popeye and Jan Boultinghouse so much credit. I was just a little country hick college kid from Bloomfield, New Mexico, who didn’t have two nickels to rub together when they took me in. We lost Popeye to cancer in August. Jan asked me to speak at his service, and I couldn’t stop crying. Popeye was like a father and a brother to me all in one. We were family.
When I was graduating from Bloomfield High School in 1977, I was like, “Now what do I do?” I ended up getting a rodeo scholarship to go to Eastern New Mexico University in Portales. I was 17 years old and had no idea where my life was going. I just loved to team rope, and it was starting to catch on in Texas and New Mexico, especially on the jackpotting side. None of the major rodeos had team roping back then.
I hooked up with a group of guys, and we became the kings down there. Dan Fisher took me under his wing, and showed me some things about heading. Don Beasley was one of the great heelers in South Texas. Tee Woolman was down there. Clay (Cooper) and Bret (Beach) would come. Back in the day, those ropings were enter up. That’s when Clay and I started roping, and we clicked and won pretty good right off the bat.
At the end of my third year of college, Don Beasley set it up for me to go stay with Popeye and Jan in Cherokee, Texas, while we were amateur rodeoing. It was go twice at the rodeos, and I was roping with Dan Fisher as my first partner and Don Beasley second. Don was Tee’s first partner, and Dan was his second partner.
Tee and I were competitors climbing the ranks. He joined the PRCA in 1980, and he and Leo (Camarillo) caught fire. One day in June that year, I was at the barn and Jan whistled, then yelled, “Jake, you have a phone call.” It was Allen Bach. I’d never met him, but he was the reigning world champ from 1979 and was asking me to rope. I thought it was a prank. I’d never traveled or rodeoed.
Allen finally convinced me it was really him. I told him I needed to think about it. I didn’t have any money. I was comfortable down there at the amateur rodeos, but I was a mad bomber back then and my horses ducked so bad. I told Popeye and Jan at dinner that night that I wasn’t sure I was ready. They told me I might regret saying no later in life, and convinced me to go try it. I called Allen back, and told him I’d do it.
At that time, all it took was three people to sign for your card, basically vouching that you were good enough. I went and got on the first airplane of my life in Austin, got to Colorado Springs, took my first cab to the PRCA office and bought my card.
Then I went back to Cherokee to load up my stuff. I had an old worn-out truck. So Jan got a new truck and gave me the one she’d been driving. In those days, a dually crew cab 454 gas engine that got five miles a gallon was where it was at. My first rodeo with Allen was North Platte, Nebraska, in June 1980. I made my first NFR that year.
Popeye always had a lot of steers and good horses. My first experience riding a good horse was on one of Popeye’s, and I rode a couple of his horses at the NFR. Popeye Boultinghouse was the ultimate coach, and he used to tell me, “Jake, if you ever want to be a good roper, you’ve got to develop a good left hand. You can’t just be reaching and ducking all the time.” Popeye taught me about riding better horses, and how to keep them working.
Popeye Boultinghouse was the one-swing king, whether it was a one-header or a 10-steer average. But his greatest contribution was how he always harped on and helped guys like me and Tee, Speed (Williams) and Rich (Skelton), Bobby Harris and Clay. The door was always open, and he expected nothing in return.
—TRJ—
