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The National Finals Rodeo is coming up, set for Dec. 5-14 in Las Vegas. It’s the highlight of the year for the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association’s season. Many constants say the whole point of rodeoing hard, putting in the thousands of miles on your own dime, is to make it to the NFR, where you have a chance at some big money. Often called the World Series of rodeo, the NFR features the top 15 PRCA money winners in each event. Last year each of the 10 go-rounds paid $30,706 for first place. The average or aggregate paid $78,747. Since the NFR pays so much, contestants who have a hot NFR may win the world championship, which goes to the contestant winning the most money during the entire season. Contestants have come from 15th place to world champ based on a $100,000 plus NFR. No doubt there will be people from Pend Oreille River Valley that will make the trip to the NFR. It is a popular event for rodeo fans.
Northwest cowboy T.J. Gray of Dairy, Oregon, leads the bull riding standings with $244,843 in regular season winnings. Dairy is about a half hour east of Klamath Falls. Grey rides with his riding hand turned over, not palm up. It’s because of an old injury that prevents him from holding the rope the traditional way. It didn’t seem to hurt his riding, though. He won big rodeos like the Cheyenne Frontier Days and the Grand National in San Francisco.
But he really was hot at Northwest rodeos in the fall. He won Walla Walla, St. Paul, Oregon, and the Snake River Stampede in Nampa, Idaho.
Another Oregon cowboy, Dalton Massey of Hermiston, leads the steer wrestling with $199,262 in regular season winnings.
Remarkably, no Washington contestants qualified for the NFR. Ellensburg’s 13 -time NFR team roper Brady Minor and his brother, 11-time NFR team roper Riley Minor, finished just outside the top 15. Riley finished No. 17 among headers, with $100,100 in season winnings. Brady finished 19th in heeling, with $98,420 in winnings. The Minors won second and $1,800 each in the team roping at the Newport Rodeo, which counted towards their world standings.
The No. 15 heeler won $108,912 and the No. 15 header won $105,068.
The Minors did well in the Columbia River Circuit, which is made up of PRCA rodeos in Washington, Oregon and North Idaho. They were the circuit champs, as were Gray and Massey. They won the most money at PRCA rodeos in the circuit, rodeos like Newport, the Omak Stampede and Pendleton Round-Up Circuit cowboys and cowgirls have their own National Finals, where the season champs and average winners from each of the 12 circuit finals compete in the NFR Open, held in Colorado Springs in June.
Several contestants who won money at Newport qualified for the NFR Open.
Mattie Turner won the breakaway roping at Newport on her way to the season championship.
In the bareback riding Mason Stuller won the year end title as well as the average at the circuit finals, so second place Dylan Riggins qualified. They both placed at Newport.
In addition to the Minors in the team roping and Massey in the steer wrestling, saddle bronc season champion Joe Harper qualified for the NFR Open. Harper placed at Newport.
Both the NFR and the NFR Open showcase top rodeo athletes in elite competitions. The NFR will have competitors from Brazil, Australia, Canada, as well as from throughout the U.S.
The NFR Open will also have international competitors, with Canadians joining their American counterparts. No doubt some Brazilians will qualify as well.
For rodeo fans, it’s a good time to have The Cowboy Channel.
DON GRONNING IS A FORMER PRCA BULL RIDER WHO NEVER QUALIFIED FOR THE NFR OR THE NFR OPEN AS A RIDER BUT HAS BEEN TO BOTH AS A JOURNALIST AND PHOTOGRAPHER WHEN HE PUBLISHED NORTHWEST RODEO SCENE IN THE LATE 1980S.
