Elite cowboys to show off their roping,
bronc riding skills Ted Harbin
GUYMON, Okla. – Rick Furnish is a cowboy and is proud to wear the hat that
goes with it.
The manager of the Hitch Ranch, Furnish knows what it takes to be a cowboy.
In his lifetime, he’s roped running cattle and ridden through a colt bucking
in the pasture. He knows the importance of feeding and branding and roping
and riding and making a living that is dependent upon livestock.
“I’ve been around this all my life,” said Furnish, who also owns Bob’s
Cowboy Bar & Rodeo Room. “Steer roping and bronc riding are the two oldest
events in rodeo, but there are timed-event guys and riding-event guys.
You’ve never had a crossover where you had to rope so many and you had to
ride so many in order to be the champion.”
And that led Furnish to the creation of the Classic Events Championship set
for 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 29, at Henry C. Hitch Pioneer Arena during the
weeklong Pioneer Days Rodeo competition. It will feature 20 contestants who
have been invited to ride two saddle broncs and rope and tie down two
steers.
Taos Muncy of Corona, N.M., rides a saddle
bronc at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo during his world championship
season of 2007. He is expected to be part of the 20-contestant field in the
inaugural Classic Events Championship, set for 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 29,
at the Henry C. Hitch Pioneer Arena in Guymon, Okla. The new event is taking
place in conjunction with the Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo. PRCA ProRodeo photo
by Mike Copeman.
“In my opinion, we don’t have a true all-around champion,” Furnish said.
“I’ve known Trevor Brazile his whole life, and he’s the best roper I’ve ever
seen. But he’s not the all-around champion cowboy, not until he can ride a
bucking horse or bull.
“You can be the best roper in the world and the best rider, but you can’t be
the all-around champion until you can do things at both ends of the arena.”
That’s the premise behind the upstart competition. In Canada, the all-around
champion must compete in a timed event and rough-stock event. In the
Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, the all-around title goes to the
cowboy who has won the most money competing in at least two events. Brazile,
the seven-time and reigning all-around champ, qualifies regularly for the
finals in steer roping, team roping and tie-down roping.
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Trell Etbauer of Goodwell, Okla., has won the last two Linderman Awards,
named after Bill Linderman and given to the contestant who works three
events, with at least one being timed and rough stock.
“A bunch of the PRCA bronc riders were sitting at Bob’s and we got to
talking about being a cowboy,” Furnish said. “We started asking why they
don’t just have something like that.
“Well, I’m going to have one. They said they’d all come.”
That includes Etbauer, an Oklahoma Panhandle State University graduate and
son of two-time saddle bronc riding world champion Robert Etbauer – he’s
also the nephew of five-time world champ Billy Etbauer and 11-time Wrangler
National Finals Rodeo qualifier Dan Etbauer.
“I think it’ll be fun,” Trell Etbauer said. “I’ll be here at the house
anyway. Back in the day, everybody worked both ends of the arena, and now
there aren’t very many people who do it.”
The idea has developed and been refined. The contestants will not only show
their rough-stock and roping skills, but also their talents as horsemen.
Besides drawing steers to rope and broncs to ride, the combatants will also
draw the roping horses they are to use in that aspect of the competition.
They will also compete in two go-rounds in each event – and they must make
four attempts at competing in order to be eligible for the financial gains.
“If a guy wins the steer roping and doesn’t ride both broncs, then he
doesn’t win anything,” Furnish said.
Each contestant will pay a $250 entry fee, and Furnish has raised $4,000 in
sponsorship dollars to go into the prize pool.
“These guys are the true cowboys in our sport,” said Ken Stonecipher, a
member of the Pioneer Days Rodeo committee and the announcer of the Classic
Events Championship. “It takes quite a hand to rope well and ride a bucking
bronc, and this is the kind of event that we need to showcase that.”
Besides Trell Etbauer, the field will I include a who’s who list of PRCA
contestants, including 2007 saddle bronc riding world champion Taos Muncy
and NFR qualifiers like Rod Hay, Jesse Bail, Mike Outhier, Cody Taton, Dusty
Hausauer and Heith DeMoss. It will also feature a Panhandle State flair –
the majority of the contestants attended the Goodwell school.
“I think the biggest reason for that is that Panhandle State recruits
talented all-around hands,” Stonecipher said. “Cody Taton comes from a
family of steer ropers, and usually enters that event here in Guymon,
but he won the average in the bronc riding at the National Finals Rodeo.
Taos Muncy can rope about anything. Trell Etbauer is the Linderman Award
winner.
“All of these contestants are going to be entered in the rodeo anyway, and
this is a good way for them to show everybody their all-around ability. It’s
going to be a lot of fun to watch.”
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