Friends organizing benefit event for injured Elmore City roper
Ted Harbin

WYNNEWOOD, Okla. – About three years ago, cowboy and craftsman Jack Keith created some bits for a benefit auction, a donation to help bring money to someone in need.

A gentleman purchased the equine equipment to provide the needed funds. Now the bits are coming full circle and will be part of a live auction that will take place during a benefit roping in Wynnewood that will go toward Keith’s increasing medical costs.

“Jack was at a steer roping, and his horse went down with him,” said Mike Henderson, a longtime family friend who is organizing the benefit. “The accident put him in a coma, and he had been in the OU Medical Center for a couple of weeks before he was transferred to a specialty hospital.”

The accident happened April 17, and Keith suffered a traumatic brain injury, a punctured lung and 10 broken ribs. As the bills continue to pile up fro the Elmore City, Okla., cowboy, friends and family members are seeking ways to offset the costs of his care. So the benefit roping is set to begin at 9 a.m. June 12.

“Jack is a steer roper and a team roper,” Henderson said. “We got an arena donated, so we’re going on with this thing.”

The benefit will include both of Keith’s roping styles. The Osage Steer Roping Club is sanctioning that event, and will have the open (A), intermediate (B) and novice (C) classes. The team roping will be open to all competitors, but will follow a handicapping system with four divisions: a No. 8, a No. 10, a No. 13 and the open class.

“We’ll be giving away a buckle to the average winners in each of the numbered classes,” Henderson said. “We’re going to get added money to help draw the top guys, the open class.

“In the steer roping, we’ll have a buckle going to the average winner in each class, plus there will be some prizes.”

He’s the kind of person, friends say, who will help just about anybody who might be in a bind. That trait is why organizers are hoping for a big turnout, among the ropers and the fans.

“Jack is my brother-in-law, but I’ve known him since before that all happened,” said Denny McCoy of Tupelo, whose wife, Janet, is a sister Gail Keith, Jack Keith’s wife. “He’s just been a cowboy who has always made bits and spurs. When you see them, they bring way more because their Jack Keith’s.”

The cowboy family is a tight-knit group. That’s why so many are involved and why many more want to be.

“Jack’s just a pretty special guy,” McCoy said. “I’ve been blessed to have him as a brother-in-law and a friend all my life.”

Team ropers can enter the competition for $20 per roper, and each contestant can enter as many times as they want. Steer ropers will pay $220 for the entry fee, which includes $35 a run for the stock charge.

“Steer ropers are used to paying that charge, but what we’ve done is have donated steers, so all the money coming from the stock charge will go straight to Jack,” Henderson said. “Jack’s done an awful lot for me, and I just want to help. A lot of us do.”

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