Raised by his grandparents on 90 acres, J.R. Berry of Deleon, Texas, never had any exposure to horses or roping. But 30 years ago, his hometown of Poolville was engulfed in one of the worst wildfires in state history. Local, state and federal firefighters showed up to battle flames that would torch 25,000 acres west of Fort Worth.

“Our assistant fire chief was a cowboy,” recalled Berry, then 10, who wanted to become a Texas Ranger. “I thought, ‘Man, I want to be a cowboy. Also, I want to be a fireman!’”

Out of high school, Berry was drafted to play baseball by the Phillies. But he got hurt. Opting out of surgery, he remembered one doctor suggested he ride horses. So, he bought his first horse despite the fact he could barely ride.

“Down the road from my house was an arena with high-numbered ropers,” Berry recalled. “I’d go down and watch them and run chutes. Then I figured out how to head steers, and after a few years I went to heeling.”

Answering the call

In the meantime, he attended fire academy. Berry is certified as both a structural and wildland firefighter, plus certified in emergency medical services as an EMT. Now, after 20 years as a medical responder, battalion chief and master fireman, he’s semi-retired at 39. The man responded to more than 30,000 emergency calls and performed more than 300 hours of live CPR on dying individuals. He has cut people out of destroyed vehicles and saved burning houses.

“The worst part was the smell,” recalled Berry. “With the car wrecks, once you smelled the air, you knew what you were going to see. People probably don’t think about the times we have to pick up body parts off the highway. Over one nine-month stretch, I worked on 82 people who died. That’s one to four every day, from car wrecks to gunshot wounds.”

Firemen only go to people at the worst time of their life, Berry said. Back when he started, the shifts were 24 hours on and 48 off. Now, firefighters work 48 hours on and 96 off. It was truly a brotherhood, he said. When asked how often an emergency patient dies despite an EMT’s best efforts, Berry said it’s 80 to 90 percent of the time.

“The stress in those situations—it’s not there in the moment; it happens afterward,” said Berry, who will get married in April. “That’s the hard thing. That’s why you see military vets or first responders go to drinking or drugs. It’s why a bunch of them just get lost and go down dark trails. The mayhem can make you hate people, to be honest. We need an outlet to get rid of that. It’s why you see us firemen sometimes joking and laughing on the side of the road after a bad wreck. It’s not a disrespect thing.”

Calming the storm

The job is not for everybody. The fulfilling part for Berry was what he called calming the storm for people.

“I liked to be able to take the chaos and just slow it down and make it run like a well-oiled machine,” he said.

Berry had never been to a roping clinic when he was accepted in 2022 to Charly Crawford’s American Hero Celebration. He won the Pro Am heeling that year for Kaleb Driggers, and won it again in 2023 at the back end for Nelson Wyatt. This year, he was heading for Joseph Harrison when they clocked the fastest time. 

“It’s awesome they show up to support us and rope with us, and they’re grateful for everything we do for them on a daily basis,” Berry said. “It’s great to bring those vets in and get them to open up and get that brotherhood back.”

Crawford’s pointers have helped his heeling quite a bit, Berry said, and in 2025 he qualified to the WSTR Finale for the first time in three different ropings. But he ended up staying home because of the EHV outbreak. Still, he’s primed to make it back there in ’26.

Helping hands

Berry’s day job now is managing a 550-acre hunting ranch. 

“Just being in the country helps me,” he said. “I like living in God’s country and experiencing Him while I’m out here working.”

He also owns a prescribed burn company, so Berry has his own personal fire truck. He gets calls to help during wildfire season, and jumps in his truck and hits the road whenever a big grass fire rages. He said he may become a fire marshal when he gets his final certification as a peace officer.

Luckily for Texans, Berry has always found it fulfilling to be there for people in the worst crisis of their lives. He likes helping people. So, he has an arena at his house and makes it available for guys that need that.

“We rope and hang out,” he said. “That really helps me—helping them.”

—TRJ—

Thank you to Equinety for helping us share stories of military members, veterans and first responders in the team roping community.