Joe Beaver, trying to rope a calf in this 2001 file photo, will return to the National Finals Rodeo this year after not qualifying in 2005. Photo by K.M. Cannon.
DALLAS -- Joe Beaver was a bit downtrodden at last year's National Finals Rodeo when he worked as a commentator for ESPN's telecasts of the 10-day event.
When this year's NFR begins Nov. 30, Beaver won't be sitting in an announcers' booth up in the rafters of the Thomas & Mack Center. Rather, the 41-year-old resident of Huntsville, Texas, likely will be where he's most comfortable: on horseback in one of the chutes.
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But, still, there will be some unrelenting sadness.
Beaver let everyone believe last December that his limited summer rodeo run was due to an injury. But he said Friday night that he returned home to be with his father, Walter, who was fighting cancer. His father improved over the winter, but his health began to decline again this summer and he finally lost his battle five weeks ago. He was 70.
"A lot of people didn't know why I left last year," Beaver said of cutting his season short. "They thought I just quit or was hurt."
Beaver's only injury was a broken heart. Rather than trying to make it to his 19th NFR, Beaver realized the priority at the time was to be home with his father.
"It was an easy decision for me," Beaver said. "It wasn't any choice for me."
Beaver virtually has locked up spots for this year's NFR in calf roping and team roping. He ranks sixth in both Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association event standings.
Beaver did it by winning $70,000 over a 40-day run late in the summer in his roping events. He credits fellow ropers Cody Ohl for providing inspiration and Barry Burk for selling him a top roping horse.
"It picked up toward the end of the season," said Beaver, who owns three world titles in all-around and five in calf roping.
"I didn't deal with it well," he said of his father's health. "I'd never had anything that happened outside the arena bother me inside the arena."
Beaver placed ninth and out of the money in team roping Friday night in the first round of the Texas Stampede ProRodeo Tour Finale at American Airlines Arena when his partner, Jhett Johnson of Casper, Wyo., missed a hind leg.
Beaver, an eight-time PRCA world champion, has had a solid year with earnings of $72,073 in calf roping and $56,882 as a team roping header.
Another calf or team roping world title are within reach for Beaver, but he knows it would take a miracle to catch Trevor Brazile in the all-around standings. Brazile's earnings of $247,346 is nearly twice Beaver's total in the No. 2 spot.
The three-day rodeo continues today with 12 contestants again competing in each event before the fields are cut to the top eight for Sunday's semifinals and finals.
