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Show Vernal's record holder, CCenv Cooper, 'ties -for Isfl By Aldon Rachele The second highest saddle bronc score in the world at 93 is owned by Kent Cooper of Delco, Idaho, which was set at the Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo in Vernal and although Cooper didn't match his performance of 1980 he still had a smile on his face as his 80 point score on Bearhug, Thursday, enabled him to tie for first place saddle sad-dle bronc honors with Mike Miller of Big Piney, Wyo. Cooper gained his 93 score on "Hang 'em High." "Bearhug is a horse that comes from Idaho the same town I live in. D.A. Swanny Kirby bought him two years ago. I knew the horse when he was a saddle horse and he started bucking riders off," said Cooper. "This is the first time I have even been on him in bronc riding. I just turned out and took a short run. The horse bucked buck-ed real strong." Cooper added, "I would like to get another 93 ride. 'Hang 'em High' was just a real good horse. I placed in six go arounds at the National Finals Rodeo and scored a 79 on Transport in 1982. Transport is the horse that Doug Void gained his world record saddle bronc score of 95 on. It was a good ride. The horse circled around to the left and jumped and kicked. I want to go back to the National Finals and do it again. I joined the pro circuit in 1975 and it had been a goal of mine for a long time to reach the National Finals Rodeo and I competed in my first NFR in 1982." Cooper finished in seventh place in the 1982 world saddle bronc standings. Another top ranked cowboy, Mickey Young, formerly of Wellington, Utah, has competed in many Dinosaur Roundup Roun-dup Rodeos and Young placed third in the 1982 bareback bronc standings and added some points to this year's total when he split second and third at the 1983 version of the Vernal rodeo. "I wanted to try and come back and win something at the Dinosaur Roundup Round-up Rodeo. Guys are rated on how much they win. It doesn't matter where it is at. It can be at Vernal or the National Finals Rodeo. They guy who has the most points wins. It's just a matter of getting the points together. I work all the ones I can get to," remarked Young. Young won $21,951 at the 1982 National Na-tional Finals Rodeo when he placed second se-cond in the average. "I was first on two horses, split first and second on two more and won second on two. I placed on six horses. I gained an 83 score on one horse. Sipping Velvet was a real juicy horse and Thunder and Lightning was a good horse. They jumped pretty good. I won a round on another good horse out of the south country in Florida or Alabama." "I ride every horse the best that can be rode. Ride him the best he can be rode. If you are going to win, you are, if you're not, you're not," said Young. When asked what he thought of his 73 ride in the bareback bronc event in the Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo, Young commented, "I felt like I made a pretty pret-ty good ride, but just one rider was better bet-ter tonight on one horse. The horse blew high in the air. They do that all you can do is ride them." Young competed com-peted in the rodeo in Vernal, Thursday and took part in a rodeo at Madison, Wisconsin, Friday. Young took part in rodeos at Spooner, Wis., and St. Paul, Minn., Saturday. Young posted third place in the 1982 world bareback riding standings at $60,976. Danny Brady of Henderson, Nev., won the Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo bareback bronc riding title in 1981 and 1982, but a third crown was not to be for Brady in 1983 as he finished out of the money with a score of 70. "My ride wasn't very good. I've been pretty lucky here in Vernal until this year. This year I didn't draw as well as in the past two years," stated Brady. "I competed in my first National Na-tional Finals Rodeo in 1982 and I was pretty tickled. I thought they were all right. I finished fourth in the average. I won one round on a horse called Magnificent Seven. It was a good ride just fine. He was a right nice horse jumped, kicked and circled to the right. It's the kind of horse a cowboy likes to get. Those are the kind you enter rodeos for, but you don't always get them." Brady placed eighth in the world bareback standings. Lewis Feild, another top ranked cowboy, tried his luck in the bareback bronc event, but he gained zero money for his efforts on a 71 score. Feild finished in fifth place in the world bareback bronc standings. "I won second at Greeley and third at St. Paul, Ore., with scores of 78. They were good horses and bucked hard and good to win money on," said Feild. "I won $10,000 at Cheyenne Days Rodeo in 1982 in bareback, saddle sad-dle bronc and all-around. It was a wild one. Bareback bronc riding is a hard event on the cowboy. If a guy is strong he has a pretty good chance at bareback bronc riding." The 1982 second place world calf roper, Jerry Jetton of Stephenville, Texas, was a Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo contestant. Jetton is the co-holder co-holder of the second fastest time in calf roping at 7.3 set at Watonga, Okla., in 1979. "He was a very good calf and I gained gain-ed my 7.3 time in a long box arena. I've tied two or three in seven seconds and twenty in eight seconds and a lot r . - ' - " . ( J ' I THREE TOP ranked cowboys are: left to right, Lewis Feild, Mickey Young and Kent Cooper. Young placed third and Feild fifth in the 1982 world bareback bronc standings stan-dings and Cooper pocketed seventh place in the 1982 saddle bronc standings. SADDLE BRONC rider, Kir by Werner of Brighton, Colorado, trie 3 his best to stay on Johnny's Velvet for an ei;ht second i' from 9 to 10 seconds," said Jetton. "I won $13,000 at Cheyenne and $7,000 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco last year. I won a lot of money at all the big rodeos. The main thing in calf roping is to try not to beat myself. You win 90 percent of the time if you don't beat yourself." Jetton added, "I didn't go up to the National Finals Rodeo with the right attitude, but that's over with I forgot it. I've been at 60 rodeos where as some cowboys have been to 80 or 90. Last week I won Preston and Cody. I won $8,000 early in the year at Denver." Many ropers have ability, says Jerry Jetton, but they haven't learned learn-ed how to win. "There are a lot of guys at home who rope really well, but they've never won and they'll stay at home. There's a difference dif-ference between being able to rope and being able to rodeo," he says. Learning Learn-ing to rodeo as well as rope was the key to Jetton's turning professional in 1979. He was named top rookie that year and qualified for the National Finals in 1979, 1980 and 1981. "During my rookie year, rodeo was all I lived for," said Jetton. "I always wanted to be rookie of the year and I won it." Jetton's next goal, one he wants, "More than anything in the world," is to win a world championship. In September of 1981, ranked second in the world and closing in on Roy Cooper's lead, he said, "If you give 120 percent and are very good, ride the best horses, get good breaks and are very lucky, you might become a world champion cowboy." But in 1982 it wasn't to be. After taking tak-ing a commanding $14,600 lead over Cooper into the Finals, Jerry placed only three times, losing the championship champion-ship with a broke barrier and a hard-kicking hard-kicking calf on the final run of the season. The number one ranked team ropers in the world as of late June, Julio Moreno and Rickey Green, were in first place at the Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo after two days of action, but they dropped to third place when Saturday's ropers knocked them out of the top spot. Green regards his role of team roping rop-ing heeler as an art form. "Every day I get up and think about heeling," said Green from California's San Joaquin Valley, a hotbed of roping. "I'm built real well for a heeler, 5'11'" HO-pounds, because I can extend ex-tend more," said Green. Becoming one of world's best heelers was a gradual process. "I learned timing at age 10. I started to build confidence and proficiency. I got better and better with my talent," Green said. "I reached a peak about three years ago and went to Walt Woodard, 1981 team roping champion with partner Doyle Gellerman. He taught me a lot about mental stuff." Woodard is a major proponent of 9 I , t i i c' J r i- , , 'j - . ,.1 1 . ; ': .... ; vxvw : , , , . ; ' t . ' ' - . . ..'- 4 "'. . t t - .."; t ... : " ' V : . . ' ...... . . . - . - . r - v n" r v v ; . A . ride. Werner posted a 71. but finished out of the money. psychocybernetics, relying heavily on the mental aspects of competition. Green just missed making the National Na-tional Finals Rodeo as a teenager two consecutive years, 1977-78 with partners part-ners Joe Murray and Brian Burrows. "After that I went to Walt and he told me I had even more ability than he had." He said I had a lot of uncontrolled uncon-trolled talent in my hands," said Green. Trying to perfect Woodard's mental techniques, and coordinate them with his physical talents, Green dropped out of competition for two years in 1979, returning in July 1981 to win $11,000 in the latter half of the year. He and Moreno showed up at more than 100 rodeos in 1982, with Green qualifying for his first Finals. They won the final two NFR rounds, $5,500. Growing up around his father's roping rop-ing arena in Bakersfield, Calif., Moreno began competing in junior rodeos and high school com. attending college at BaVi ; wrestling scholarship J pro-rodeo career in he -ind.H, father "He always wanted me to TO could accomplish," jn thel i remembers. "un?snr. 1 After taking out a PRri 1975 he earned his full card m just a few months t t the Association's team rnl- ; of the year. Healso q first NFR, finished and has ranked among the wr ': team ropers ever since. ; "The travel is the hardest- said Moreno. "It's the gl0' rung that keeps me going ? '' feeling." !: I In 1982. partnering with Green Moreno qualified " seventh NFR in eight yean ' ed the season in ninth placew" ' $35,500. r ) ! C- I1 -3 t. 'i'-T- " ' I 9 . c - : - ' i r THE NUMBER 2 ranked calf roper in 1982, Jerry Jett:r competed in the Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo in Vernal. ; : xc ,' ' , i r .' ' , - I ' I ,'. I " . V',1.J DANNY BRADY of Henderson. Nevada, who is the numtt 1 1 ranked bareback bronc rider as of June 20 charges c: of the chute during a trip on Trails End. I -J r 7 I , " J i - " 1. . h . " Nl VADACOWIiOY. Pannv Hr.ulv. takes .1 slvit coinivtm,: m the baieb.uk bnw eve-H l'".'' n'K' l.)ieha( k buMK t,tles in l'Vil and 1"S. h'l ,vVl ' H'T." (Muled this ye.ii |
