They divvied up the last of the $6.3 million purse at the record-setting National Finals Rodeo following Saturday night’s final performance. Load up the livestock and alfalfa bales, pardners. Y’all come back again, ya’ hear?
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The National Finals Rodeo has set an attendance record at Thomas & Mack Center, drawing 177,565 fans during the 10-day run and breaking the record of 176,558 in 2013.
The loud crowds and big-name cowboys were over at the National Finals Rodeo. But the business of rodeos and horses was being conducted in places such as the South Point arena, where rodeo stock contractors scouted for that next great bucking horse.
Kaycee Feild became the only cowboy ever to win four straight bareback riding world titles and National Finals Rodeo average championships. As the rodeo wrapped up Saturday, Feild also became only the second man ever to win four consecutive average crowns, joining team roper Leo Camarillo.
Americans started paying attention to Western wear was during the 1930s, says UNLV associate professor Deirdre Clemente. The modern interpretations get shown off in Las Vegas during the National Finals Rodeo.
It has been said that champions are made, not born. But Richmond Champion might beg to differ.
When you call Luke Branquinho on his cellphone, rather than hearing the typical ring in your ear, you get the Tom Petty classic “I Won’t Back Down.”
Well, folks, we’ve come to the culminating day of the 2014 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. The 30th installment of the world’s richest rodeo has been quite the ride, full of thrills, spills, surprises and heartbreak. So, pretty much your typical Wrangler NFR.
Before each round of the National Finals Rodeo, rookie bull rider Joe Frost has called his college coach — nine-time NFR qualifier Craig Latham — who has been battling cancer since 2011.
The animals that are part of the Wrangler NFR — from the bucking stock and the steer wrestling, tie-down roping, team roping and barrel racing horses, to the steer wrestling and team roping steers and tie-down roping calves — help make the rodeo the best of its kind. If they don’t perform well, the event suffers, and if they suffer, it hurts the sport even more.
There’s a saying in cowboy circles for those who have experienced the highs and lows: This isn’t his first rodeo. But for Sage Kimzey, this is his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.
Need a new belt or buckle? They’ve got it. How about a blanket for mom? Done. Quality entertainment, some food and even a new horse trailer? Yep, that’s all there, too.
Often referred to as the “Michael Jordan of rodeo,” Trevor Brazile can appreciate the comparison.
Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Commissioner Karl Stressman was upbeat and optimistic at his annual “State of the PRCA” news conference at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo press room inside the Thomas &Mack Center on Tuesday afternoon.
