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A special supplement to the Cleburne Times-Review

Johnson County

PRCA Rodeo

June 15-18

une 2011

Johnson County Sheriffs Posse Grounds

h n s o n C o u n t y

SHERIFFS POSSECleburne, Texas

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PublisherKay Helms

khelms@trcle.com

Managing EditorDale Gosser

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Graphics DirectorAshley Garey

Business ManagerLynn Coplin

Staff WritersMonica Faram

Pete Kendall

Matt Smith

Photography Darlene Moore

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Diane Hall

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PRCA Rodeo 2011 , a special section by Cleburne Times-Review . All rightsreserved. Reproduction in any form

without prior written permission isstrictly prohibited.

from staff reports

The Johnson County Sher-iffs Posse Rodeo com-mittee has finalized plansfor its 57th annual ProfessionalRodeo Cowboys AssociationRodeo for Wednesday throughSaturday at the Sheriffs Possegrounds on Texas 174, withperformances starting eachnight at 8.

Saturday will be the kidsmutton bustin competition anda county team roping, with fi-

nalists returning to competeduring rodeo performances thefollowing week. Admission tothe Saturday pre-rodeo eventsis free to watch the local kidsand team ropers.

Sponsored by Cleburne Fordand many other local businesspartners, organizers anticipatethis years production to be ex-citing.

Robert Johnson, co-chair-man of the event, said that pro-ducer Will Cook and the RockyMountain Rodeo Company willbring exciting professional ac-tion and entertainment to thisyears rodeo.

Hell bring some newstock. It will all be new, John-son said. It will be his firstyear coming down for thePRCA Rodeo. Were going tohave new bulls and new horsesand the roping will be new also.Were excited about having himdown to see what hes got. Ithink well have a real good ro-deo this year.

The event is the possesmain funding event for the year,which enables the SheriffsPosse to continue to supportarea youth and benefit activi-ties.

In 2010, the posse donatedmore than $30,000 in cash,scholarships and facility-useback to area youth groups andcharity efforts as with the Chil-drens Advocacy Center bull

riding event.The posses goal is to con-

tinue to provide the communityand surrounding area with aquality, low-cost, family-ori-ented event that residents canlook forward to attending yearafter year.

The official rodeo paradewill start at 5:30 p.m. Wednes-day to usher in a full week of rodeo events. Anyone whowould like to participate in theparade may sign up and line upat the Sheriffs Posse groundsstarting at 4:30 p.m.

Thursday nights perfor-mance has been dedicated asGod and Country Night, and

with the assistance of PastRuss Weaver and ShepherdValley Cowboy Church iEgan, Christian singer SusMcEntire Eaton will appear concert beginning at 7 p.m., bfore the start of the eveningrodeo performance.

Posse arena director KiWoody said that many of thsports top contenders have etered the event.

Weve got 13 of the top 1bull riders entered this year. Whave six of the past worchampion barrel racers enterthis year, Woody said. W

Sheriffs Posse preparesfor 57th annual rodeo

Darlene Moore/Special to the Times-Review

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B y M oniCA F ARAMfeatures @ trcle .com

A young, new face will takeover the microphone for the John-son County Sheriffs Posse Pro-

fessional Rodeo Cowboy Associ-ation Rodeo this week.Thirty-year-old West Huggins

of Gardendale is the new an-nouncer for the rodeo, taking overfor Charlie Throckmorton whochose not to return after 24 years.

Its some very big shoes tofill with Charlie Throckmorton,and Im very glad and privilegedto have the opportunity, Hugginssaid. I want Cleburne to knowthat I am honored to come to Cle-burne. My whole family and I areexcited to come.

Huggins started announcing just for fun when he was a teen-ager. When he was 17 and practic-ing team roping, he first sat downat the microphone.

It got cold, and I decided tolet my horse rest so I go into theannouncer stand to warm up, hesaid. When I got up there, therewas a microphone and just for funI started announcing the peoplepracticing.

A man who overheard Hugins announcing approached hand asked him to announce thcounty rodeo.

After that it went from throdeo to another down the road

two others to Lubbock and it juspurred off from there, he saiA lot of my rodeos have beearound the Texas, OklahomNew Mexico area. Nothing realbig. In 2008, I got voted by thUPRA to announce their finaThat was voted on by contestanand committees. Ive announcPBRs, open rodeos all over thU.S.

Huggins gave up rodeoing antook over the microphone futime.

I think part of it has been bing a fan of the rodeo to keep ging, he said.

A unique trait about Huggiis that he has a road crew. Hwife, Keri, and five-year-otwins, Walker and Trevor, travwith him to all the rodeos.

Thats my little road crethat travels with me, he sai[The twins] compete every onin a while with the mutton busing. My boys usually dont wa

huggi s amedew a ou cer

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to ride sheep. They already won a

buckle and theyre done. Usuallythey see another kid riding andthats when their competitivenesscomes out.

The twins have a unique wayof riding the sheep.

They try to ride it back-wards, Huggins said with achuckle.

Will they follow in their dad-dys shoes? Perhaps. One thing isfor sure, theyre bound to be in-volved in the rodeo in one way oranother.

They want to be a pick-upman and a barrelman, Hugginssaid. They are more excitedabout coming to Cleburne be-cause they met the committee atthe amateur rodeo, and they justwant to see their friends.

Dad is also excited about com-ing to Cleburne, as it will be hisfirst time at the PRCA rodeo.

Ive always been at other ro-deos. The Cleburne rodeo hasbeen one of the headlines to me,

he said. One of those rodeos

youre excited to go to. Ive beenthere once before with the UPRArodeo that came through in Sep-tember. The town, the committee,I enjoyed all of it.

Its going to be one of thehigh points of my career to cometo Cleburne. The main reason Isay that is, when weve been toCleburne the whole town hasbeen hospitable. Thanks to theLord, he has blessed me with thisopportunity, and Im ready toshow everybody what weve got.

Huggins said he hopes he canmake the rodeo fun for all ages.

[The Cleburne] rodeo is agreat tradition, he said. Thereare people who will come whohave been to every rodeo sinceits started. My goal is to make thesenior rodeo fans and new rodeofans and combine together with anew, traditional twist. I always tellfolks Youll have a wild west at-titude by the end of this rodeo, be-cause were going to have fun.

B y d iAne H Alleditor @ trcle .com

Thursday nights PRCA perfor-mance has been dedicated as Godand Country Night, with the assis-tance of Pastor Russ Weaver andShepherds Valley Cowboy Churchin Egan.

In the past God and CountryNight was held on Wednesdays,according to Johnson County Sher-iffs Posse rodeo committee co-chair David Welty, but this year ithas been changed so it does notconflict with area churchsWednesday night worship pro-grams.

We realized that most of thechurches in the area have services

on Wednesday night, Welty said.Which caused a conflict for somethat wanted to attend the God andCountry Night at the rodeo. So thatis why we made the switch on theevents. We are encouraging every-one, no matter what their belief is,to fill the arena for Jesus Christ onThursday night.

God and Country Night at therodeo is an inter-denominational

celebration, according to Weaver.I think that Johnson County

has more churches per capita thenanywhere else in Texas, Weaversaid. For a long time there wereentities and still are that tryto avoid God in their celebrationsor programs so they dont hurtanyones feelings. I am very grate-ful to the Sheriffs Posse for beingresponsive enough to offer this. Fora lot of people in this county, theywalk with God every day. And thatwalk includes an evening at the ro-deo.

So I am glad that they [Posse]recognize in fact promote this special night. Churches are thebackbone of Johnson County andThursday night is a chance to

gather together in his name and en- joy the rodeo.I am humble at heart and ex-

cited to be a part of this nightsmessage.. It is a great tribute to thepeople of Johnson County, to Godand our country.

Christian singer Susie McEntireEaton will appear in concert begin-ning at 7 p.m. before the start of theevenings rodeo performance at 8.

God and Country Night

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from staff reports

The 54th annual JohnsonCounty Sheriffs PossePRCA Rodeo is quicklyapproaching and will boasttons of entertainment longbefore the nightly rodeo com-petitions begin.

The official rodeo paradewill start at 5:30 p.m. Wednes-day to usher in a full week of rodeo events. Anyone whowould like to participate in theparade may sign up and line upat the Sheriffs Posse groundsstarting at 4:30 p.m.

New faces are joining therodeo crowd, including WestHuggins of Gardendale, whowill serve as the rodeo an-nouncer.

Huggins began small withAJRA rodeos, Open BullRides, and some amateurshows. He announced theAJRA National Finals for fouryears.

He then landed 75 percentof the Southwest Region NIRACollege Rodeos which in-cluded, Odessa College, West

Texas A&M, Vernon College,Howard College, Eastern NewMexico University and TexasTech University.

In 2006, Huggins became amember of the Pro RodeoCowboys Association. He wasvoted the 2008 United Profes-sional Rodeo Association Ro-deo Announcer of the Year andannounced the UPRA NationalFinals in Sulphur Springs.

The God and Country Nighthas been moved from its orig-inal Wednesday spot to June16. Susie McEntire Eaton, sis-ter of country superstar RebaMcEntire, will perform. Aftergraduating from OklahomaState University in 1980, Ea-ton began touring the countrysinging with her sister.

Since making the switchfrom country to Christian-in-spired music, Eaton has hadfour No. 1 singles on the Posi-tive Country radio charts and

has won awards from the TNNtelevision channel, the GospelMusic Association and theChristian Country Music Asso-ciation. She has also been

named Artist of the Year nu-merous times.Two bands will perform

during dances following theFriday and Saturday rodeos.

Cleburnes Steve HelmsBand performs Friday night.The band recently recordedtheir first self-titled CD. Theyreleased their first single onApril 1, 2008, called LyinHere, which gets radio airplayall over the world. The secondsingle released on Aug. 1 iscalled Whats It Gonna Take.

The band includes SteveHelms on guitar and lead vo-cals; Ronnie Crecelius on leadguitar and vocals; Mike Kingon drums; and Dave Hutchin-son on bass guitar.

Landon Dodd and theDancehall Drifters performTexas dancehall classics onSaturday.

The band has entered andwon the 92.1 KTFWs battle of

the bands contest. They per-formed at Legends Fest inSundance Square with acts likeTommy Alverson, JohnnyBush, Johnny Rodriguez, DougStone and Earl Thomas Con-ley. The band has opened forGene Watson, Johnny Rodri-guez and Moe Bandy. LandonDodd and the Dancehall Drift-ers were the Academy of West-ern Artist pure country band of the year.

The Dancehall Drifters havebeen gaining a large followingfor those who love the trueshuffles with an emphasis onfiddle and steel guitar. Theyhave played dancehalls allover Texas including, the Fin-ish Line club and PearlsDancehall and Saloon in FortWorth; London Hall in Lon-don, Texas; the Western Clubin Navasota; the Coachman inSan Angelo; and many morealong the way.

new faces to e tertai crowd

Courtesy photola do Dodd a d Da c a D f s.

Courtesy photoS v h ms of S v h ms ba d.

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Wednesday, June 159 a.m. Rodeo slack5:30 p.m. Rodeo parade (line up at 4:30 p.m.)8 p.m. PRCA Rodeo (Military Night, free admission for those with mili-tary identification)

thu sday, June 169 a.m. Steer roping slack

7 p.m. God and Country Night; Susie McEntire Eaton performs8 p.m. PRCA Rodeo

F iday, June 178 p.m. PRCA Rodeo Tough Enough To Wear Pink Night: For eachticketed person through the gates wearing pink the Johnson CountySheriffs Posse will donate $1 to local breast cancer research.10 p.m. Rodeo dance at the White Building featuring Steve HelmsBand.

Sa u day, June 188 p.m. PRCA Rodeo10 p.m. Grand finale rodeo dance at White Building featuring LandonDodd and the Dancehall Drifters.

rodeo admission$10 Adults; $6 Children 4-12Tickets are available from rodeo queen contestants and at the gate.

All events are held at the Sheriffs Posse Grounds on South Main Street in Cleburne unless otherwise noted.

PrCA rod o sc d

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B y P ete K endAllreporter @ trcle .com

Whitesboro cowboy Cameron Keeton canhelp you simulate what its like to crawl intoa barrel and be rammed by a bull.

If youre a little crazy and really want toknow.Have a pickup truck hit the barrel going

about 30 mph, he said, laughing.Keeton lives the life willingly and vigor-

ously as a barrelman on the professionalrodeo circuit. Hell be in the barrel this monthat the annual Johnson County Sheriffs PossePRCA Rodeo at the posse grounds on SouthMain Street.

A barrelman be careful about callinghim a clown has three primary job de-scriptions.

He protects the cowboy on the bull. Heprotects the bull fighter, in this case LyndelRunyan and Cody Webster, whose jobs it willbe to protect the bull rider.

I give the bull fighter an island of safety,Keeton said.

He also helps entertain the crowd.If you want to add a fourth job descrip-

tion, he defends himself at all times.Bulls dont follow a script. Clowns and

cowboys are all prey.Ive had bulls stick their feet in the bar-

rel, he said. Theyll stick their heads in andtheir horns in. Ive been knocked out in thebarrel before. I got knocked out at MineralWells. Theres no telling how many concus-sions Ive had. The older I get, the more Ithink about that. After a rodeo, I might haveto spend a week at the chiropractor just tostraighten my back out.

Needless to say, the bull isnt remotelyconcerned with the comfort of the barrelman.Bulls are born to do two things breed andinflict pain on man.

The only way to truly conquer a bull isconvert him to hamburger. Otherwise, watchout.

Theyre very smart, Keeton said.

Theyre a whole lot smarter than most peo-ple give them credit for. Bulls act on move-ment. A lot of people think they act on thecolor red. When they see something moving,thats what they go with.

Hes seen every end of the bull there is ...from every vantage point.

I started riding bulls when I was about13, Keeton said. I rode them until I was 33.At about age 19, I began fighting bulls. Ifought bulls until I was about 33. I got hurtreal bad and wiped out my knees and had toget them reconstructed.

About the time I was recovering, a friendsaid, Since youre hurt, you can get in thebarrel and do a little comedy. I told him,Hell, Im not funny. He said, Sure you are.Just act normal. Well, I fell into it. It seemedto work for me. Now, I go all over the coun-try. I do several pro bull riding events. I dothe world champion bullfights in Ada [Okla.].That involves 15 bullfighters. Ive been do-ing this about 12 years.

Runyan says you can expect the unex-pected from Keeton.

Sometimes, hell be in the barrel andcome out as Spiderman. Hell get in the bar-

rel and change costumes. Hes easy goingand funny.I like him as a barrelman. Hes always in

the right spots, because hes been a bullfighter before.

Runyan, 28 and a resident of Sulphur,Okla., is in the ring for one primary reason.

Our main job is to protect the cowboy,he said, but we like to give the crowd some-thing to see, too. We want to keep them onthe edge of their seats. We do know whatwere doing. Its not an accident.

The only accident about Runyan is that

he wound up fighting bulls.Ive been a bullfighter for nine years,

said. That started kind of by accident. Mcousin had a bunch of bulls, and I startpracticing in a pen. My family all rodeod, bI never had much desire to. It was an accidfor me to even start.

Runyan works 50 rodeos and as manyfive pro bull riding events ever year. LiKeeton, hes worked the Cleburne amaterodeo.

It was good, he said. I expect a lmore from the pro rodeo.

Webster, making his first trip to a Cl

burne rodeo at the age of 19, has worked wKeeton and Runyan before.Lyndel is a really good bullfighter, an

Cameron is a class act, he said. Camerlikes to get involved with the crowd. Hesreally funny guy with a lot of comedy acNow and then when theres some dead timemight get caught up watching him.

Webster is happy working outside the brel.

Ive always fought bulls, Webster saThats something Ive watched since I walitte kid. Ive worked with Lyndel since

Barrelman and bull fighters love to play

Courtesy photoCam o K o as a o ood m wo k as a ma a od os.

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2011 PRCA Rodeo 9

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started six years ago, and hesbeen there to help me along.

Keeton is familiar with Cle-burne and its enthusiastic rodeocrowds.

Ive done rodeos before forthe guy who puts this one on[Will Cook], Keeton said. I didthe Cleburne amateur rodeo. Ilove the fans there. Theyre thebest in the country. The rodeo Idid, the crowd was a little smallerbecause it rained, but the peoplewho were there were very enthu-siastic,

Good barrelmen and bullfighters can provide their ownenergy during a performance.

But it always helps when theycan feed off the crowd.

Thats like pouring gas onfire, Keeton said.

Keeton said he admires vet-eran rodeo clowns such as LecileHarris, but he models his act af-ter no one.

They call me the politicallyincorrect rodeo clown, he said,because I do a lot of differentthings. Its ridiculous that I getpaid for what I do. Its a blast.

ly d r ya , a ov ,a d Cody W s , f ,a f s fo

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Me n t io n T h i s A d Fo r A S pec ia l D i sco u n t !

Welcome Rodeo Fans!

have four of the top 10 teamroping teams here this year. Itshould be a lot of fun. It shouldbe a really new look.

A rodeo dance will be held

in the White Building after theFriday and Saturday night per-formances featuring live bands.

For the past 57 years, themembers of the Johnson CountySheriffs Posse have broughtone of the finest outdoor pro-fessional rodeos in the UnitedStates to the residents of John-son and surrounding counties.

The full-service concessionstand will be serving the leg-endary Posse Burger.

Johnson said that the bullriding event is a big attractionfor many rodeo-goers.

Most people really comefor the bull riding, Johnsonsaid. We do have a new rodeoclown this year, Barrel Man,and he is excellent. Hes funny

and he has a lot of differentclown acts.

General admission tickets tothe rodeo may be purchased atthe gate for $10 for adults and$6 for children ages 4 to 12.Children 3-years and under at-tend free. Parking is free. PRCArodeo performances will start at8 p.m. each night.

The Johnson County Sher-iffs Posse offers different lev-els of sponsorship to businessesand corporations. Newspaperads, radio announcements/com-mercials and poster distributionare enlisted to assist the possein marketing this event and ad-vertising spans into all JohnsonCounty cities and surroundingcounties.

For information regardingthe rodeo, sponsorship pack-ages or tickets contact RobertJohnson at 817-517-9461 orDavid Welty at 817-907-9256,by mail at Johnson CountySheriffs Posse Headquarters,P.O. Box 743, Cleburne, TX76033, or online at www.sher-iffsposse.com.

p reviewcont. from pg. 2

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B y P ete K endAllreporter @ trcle . com

Jordan Weaver will do his calf roping inthe slack Wednesday morning at the John-son County PRCA Sheriffs Posse Rodeo.

The crowd will be mostly family andfriends, and thats not necessarily a badthing.

Believe it or not, I get more nervous forthis rodeo than I do for the Fort Worth StockShow rodeo, he said.

This is home turf. He attended highschool in Rio Vista. His dad, Russ, is pastorat Shepherds Valley Cowboy Church inEgan. Jordan himself is a home missionarywho spends considerable time on the roadvisiting cowboy-style churches.

He is equally passionate about Christian-ity and rodeoing and said hes fortunate tohave a lifestyle that draws on both.

I work on church planning with cowboychurches, Weaver said. If Im not travel-ing for that, Im traveling for rodeos. Wereleaving here in a week, and well be gonethe rest of the summer. My wife is from Or-egon, and we try to plan our northwest ac-tivities in the summer.

Missionary and rodeo go hand-in-handfor me. Rodeo gives me validity in thechurches, and you get such an inroad intothe communities by going to the rodeos.Theres such a cross-section of people that

the two are absolutely related.Shepherds Valley draws on more thanthe cowboy populace, but men and womenin jeans and boots are easy to locate.

Its still church, Weaver said, but itspresented in a way that you dont have tostep outside your comfort zone. It seems ev-erybody in rodeo has a heart for God. Godand country is a big thing for rural people. Idont think those people ever felt negativelytoward church, but now theres a churchwhere they can feel just as comfortable asthey do at the rodeo.

I heard a guy say one time that the gos-pel is good for everybody. A relationshipwith God is good for everybody. Its not amatter of presenting God in a different way.I dont want to get anywhere I stick out. Ilike to be a little bit inconspicuous.

Church has changed. So have rodeo cow-boys.

I think thats evolved like everythingelse, Weaver said. As far as lifestyle, youcan find just about every walk of life in ro-deo. You can still find good old boys beerdrinking, and you can find people travelingwith their families.

The rodeo lifestyle today is more in tunewith the family unit, he said.

People are working out a lot more thanthey used to. Diet is important. People arehealthier and doing things a little more cor-rectly. Rodeo has changed a lot, but a lot of the world has changed, too.

He doesnt have a burning desire to pas-tor like his father, Weaver said.

I love dealing with pastors in my job. Idont deal with a lot of congregations. Godhas changed my life so much in the last 10years that it would be silly for me to predictwhat Im going to be doing 10 years fromnow.

Ive got a little boy who loves riding,and Id like to be at a place where I can dothis job regularly without all the traveling soI can give him all the opportunities my dadgave me. In 10 years, I want to be able to

support what my son wants to do.Weavers family was there for him wh

he was younger.I grew up on the road with my family

Weaver said. Dad was a missionary and rdeo cowboy. I started junior rodeo whenwas 10. Dad roped, and so did grandpa[Jasper Weaver], whos still around. I washigh school rodeo all four years. I won tCentral Texas Association all-around [titand made the state finals several times.

He got his PRCA card in 2005 and competed in his first PRCA rodeo the next yein Florida ... unsuccessfully.

I was all excited and roped the caaround the eyes.

His second rodeo, also in Florida, turnout better.

I got second.Hes never looked back.

Weaver combines missionary work wi

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12 2011 PRCA Rodeo

B y M Att S MitHmsmith @ trcle . com

Of the 22 years hes been inCleburne, Kit Woody said hesbeen involved in the JohnsonCounty Sheriffs Posse Profes-sional Rodeo Cowboy Associa-tion Rodeo for 21 years.

The rodeo, now in its 57thyear, runs Wednesday throughSaturday at the JohnsonCounty Sheriffs PosseGrounds.

The rodeo serves as the JC-SPs main fund raiser, allow-ing the organization to supportarea youth and charitablecauses.

Woody serves on the com-mittee that organizes and putsthe rodeo on nowadays. A bitof a change from his days of

steer wrestling and team rop-ing. Years in which he won atthe rodeo six different times.

Although he misses thethrill of competition at times,Woody said he finds planningand organizing more to his lik-ing these days.

Seven knee operations,one neck operation, Woodysaid when asked why he hunghis competition spurs up in2008.

The years of competitionwere fun, Woody said, but notwithout their share of bumpsand bruises.

Theres wear and tear, butits more than that, Woody

said. Ive had my share of horns stuck in me through theyears and, yeah, Id say prettybadly hurt when you get your

knee torn off.Injuries aside, Woody said

he wouldnt trade his rodeoyears for the world. He had atradition to live up to after all.

I grew up with it, Woodysaid. Everybody in my familysteer wrestled, my dad, twouncles, my brother.

Woody said he got intoyouth rodeo at 5 and beganwrestling steers at 16. He com-peted in the high school na-tional finals four years runningand in the PRCA Texas CircuitFinals five times since.

I traveled around some,but stayed pretty much inTexas because Im a firefighter

with the Arlington Fire Depart-ment, Woody said.That also runs in the family.Woodys father, now an El-

lis County justice of the peacworked as a firefighter in Ennis during Woodys childhood

The family tradition of rodeo competition lives othrough Woodys daughteLindley Woody, he said.

Lindley, who carries thTexas flag in the rodeo, competed from an early age anwent on to attend Hill Collegon a rodeo scholarship befomoving on to Texas A&M Unversity to earn her veterinatechnician degree, Woody sai

As always, theres a goowoman behind the man.

My wife [Martha Woodyshes the adhesive that keepeverything together and goinfor me and my daughter whiweve traveled around to rdeos, Woody said.

From steer wrestling to steering com

K Woody,,

s w s- days.

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from staff reports

Spiderman, a 13-year-oldgelding, backs into the chute,keeping his eyes on the heels of the steer. His ears are raised ashe waits for the snap of the bar-rier.

He rocks back and forth ashe shifts the weight of the riderto the center of his back. Hewaits in anticipation of thespurs that will gently nudge hisflanks. The reins in his mouthease up as the moment drawscloser. He stays focused as hehears the all familiar snap of thebarrier.

He bolts out of the chute ashe stays one step ahead of the

steer in front of him and therider on his back. In less thanfive seconds, his job is done.He hears the roar of the crowdand feels the gentle loving patof the rider on his neck. Thebond between him and his rideris apparent.

There is love and there is re-spect. His rider is Martin Lu-cero, a team roper and 13-timeNational Finals Rodeo qualifier.

Martin Lucero was raised inVilla Nueva, N.M., where his

career started at the early age of 7.My father put me on the

bare back of a horse, put thereins in one hand and a rope inthe other, Lucero said.

This is where Luceros pas-sion for roping began.

When asked who made thebiggest influence on his life,Lucero was quick to name hisfather, Leroy Lucero.

We were a team of ropers, aheader and a heeler and com-peted side by side at jackpotroping in the state of New Mex-ico and we continue our passionto this day.

My father taught me thatyou cant win all the time, andthat you learn more from losingthan you do from winning. Alesson that I say holds a lot of truth. I am what I am today be-cause of my coach, my dad.

After Lucero graduated from

Las Vegas High School in NewMexico, he was accepted intothe New Mexico State Univer-sity on an academic scholar-ship. The first year at college heleft his horse at home and fo-cused on his education. All thewhile missing his horse and histrue passion for roping.

He did not make that mis-take the second, third or fourthyear of college. He and hishorse were inseparable.

After graduating from theuniversity, he moved to Texasin search of a job. His travelslanded him in Stephenville,roping capital of Texas. He dis-covered roping partner, KevinStewart and the team was com-pleted, they were soon qualify-ing and competing for sevenyears at the NFR.

There have been other part-ners for this heeler, and they in-clude headers Jo Jo LeMondand current partner LukeBrown. Both whom have beensuccessful in qualifying for theNFR. Luke and Martin cur-rently carry the world titleWrangler NFR average title for2010, where they won $89,255.

On average the team puts al-most 80,000 miles on a vehiclea year, according to Lucero, andneither want to guess how muchthey spend on gas, food, entryfees or hotels. But, both agreethat they make a lot of moneyroping but they also spend a lotto make that same money.

Most recently, the team of Lucero and Brown placed sec-ond in Garden City, Kan., andcompeted in San Angelo, mak-

ing a stop at home to spentime with family, take care otheir businesses and to get a ltle bit of down time they botdeserve.

Not only is Martin a worclass team roper, he is also Johnson County busineowner. The Loan Depot, a titloan, insurance and tax prepartion business, with an office Cleburne and another in Burlson. He has owned the businesince 2004.

Attending the JohnsoCounty Sheriffs Posse PRCRodeo is like coming home Lucero.

Its in my own backyarwhere I will compete again

neighbors, friends and co-worers. I am proud to be here giing support back to the commnity that supports me.

Lucero has won many titlin his roping career and wheasked which one he is moproud of, he is quick to state hwife, Jodee. He and his wihave a daughter, Gabi, and aexpecting their second daughtin July, whom they have nameMarti Lee Lucero after her fmous father.

As you sit and talk to Luceyou are quick to notice that his a humble man, gives credwhere credit is due and lovhis family. He is committed andedicated to his jobs, both oand off his horse, Spiderman.

Spiderman is like a part the family and provides the reliving for my family.

In less than five secondSpidermans job is finished anhis rider dismounts. You casee the sweat on his back anthe smell of leather from thsaddle. He shakes his head anplays with the bit in his mouth

Lucero softly praises hteammate as he reaches up stroke his mane. As the two tuto leave the arena you hear thmusic of the jingle of the spuand the clip clop from the shoon the horse. They are a teamcowboy and his horse. Botrue American heroes.

Lucero has an award-winning bond with his horse

Courtesy photoMa l c o s sc d d o comp t sdays od o.