¶ Wiley Jack Coyote
Wiley Keras . How are you ? I'm good sir . Is it Wiley Jack Keras ? It's Wiley , but I go by Wiley Jack a lot . I kind of prefer that a little bit . Wiley Jack Coyote On Instagram and social media .
So why ?
Coyote . Is it because Wiley Coyote ?
Little bit just nickname growing up they're good kids football , kind of Wiley Coyote out in the field and never changed it , always had it .
I like it . I like it because I was telling Elaine shout out to Elaine . I always have to shout her out because she's the biggest supporter . I'm the biggest supporter for her and I was like , yeah , I'm having Wiley Coyote on and she's like I never heard of him and so I , you know , shared . I think she added to you today .
So yeah , I'm putting her on blast .
She finally followed you . She's like oh , he has a nice smile , so she's going to hate this hey it's all right , she's going to turn around .
I appreciate that .
She's a nice lady man . So you're quite the accomplished cowboy man .
I wouldn't go that far Dude , all right .
man , Did you not get Central Washington Ropers and Riders Association all around cowboy ? Yes sir , what about 2021 ? Champion steer wrestler , washington State High School .
Yes , sir Rodeos , I see Association .
Yes , sir , that speaks for itself .
I mean I just go out and compete . Man , make me happy , I'm proud .
High school or not , man , I mean , if association says you're all around , it has to be one hell of an athlete . You got to do a lot of events . Yeah , you don't mind me saying the H word . Do you oh go ?
ahead , say what you want man .
This is your podcast , oh , I know , but you also have listeners that will be listening and hopefully you share this one , because I think it's going to be a good one . Man , I follow a lot of cowboys and not too many get all around . It's a tough deal , man .
Now , all around cowboy it's not like one of those things that are just given to everybody who does bull riding , Bear rack . It's guys that are doing steer wrestling , roping , team roping or roping calfs .
Yeah , calf rope .
Yeah , ranch bronc , I mean , that's what they mean , all around right .
Yeah , you got to do more than one event and you have to have depending on the association or whatever it is , you have to have a certain amount of points or money , one towards that and it goes towards the all around .
How many people do all around ?
I mean there's a lot . Are we talking like just ?
in the area .
In the area .
Washington state . Let's say that .
There's quite a few . It's typically kind of ropers . You know like it's different right now from pro rodeo , just because Stetson rides riding bulls doing saddle bronc . That's a totally different ball game . That guy's a stud right there .
He's a stud but , yeah , I mean , and don't sell yourself short too , you're quite the stud . I mean , you're , you're , you're , you're , you're , no , like rookie , some low guy on the total poll , you know ? I mean , you don't have the name , but you're making the name for yourself . That's right , yeah , so all right . How many people do you know ?
There's quite a few of them that I mean I don't know too many guys is off the top of my head . My main bread and butter is steer wrestling , but there's a lot of guys that are , you know , always calf roping , like Jason Minor , for example . He's always like wild cow milk and calf roping , team roping . There's a lot of guys .
That's an all around , okay , kayla McMillan .
Well , it depends what association Like . If you're all right , that's where it's at , but like a cowboy , like Kayla McMillan , I need to stud because he's he's picking up and he comes back like , takes the shafts off and he's bull logging a steer and he's roping a calf and he's riding the bull at the end of the night .
That's a lot on your body , man , oh man . And like you got to stay healthy and you got to be an athlete and he's , he's up there , okay . And Jacob Stacey that's another one Same deal . I think they're like very , very good . They're like brothers . They grew up in the same household together . Jacob Stacey same thing . Pickup man steer wrestler .
I don't know if he does any other events , though , but still same category .
Well all around .
When did you start pickup ? So it was kind of funny . I started picking up like towards the end of my freshman year of high school . I ever , ever since that was little , I was always watching Saddle Bronx and Bearback , watching the guys .
Ever since I was little , watching the Saddle Bronx , I was watching the Bearback riders , but I was always watching them , the guys and the starch jeans , the press shirts , you know chaps on , always riding their horse around . They're always oh yeah always in the arena looking good , right .
So then , towards my freshman year for Washington state , washington state junior rodeo , they pick a certain amount of kids to like be student directors , and nobody wants to get picked for barrels or poles because you're out there for 70 , 80 girls running barrels , running poles .
I was like what can I do to get to get out of like having to volunteer , you know , help out a little bit , show myself , for I I I paid my due going out and helping a couple of years . But I was like , okay , I'm tired of doing this . So someone asked me one day like , hey , like are you going to be one of the student directors for that ?
I was like , oh , dude , I'm , I'm picking up after all . I think , oh , really you are . I was like , yeah , like I can't do it . And I was like , shoot , I gotta , I gotta find a way to do this . And I asked one guy if I could get going and he was kind of like you know , hey , I don't really know who you are . It's you gotta ask somebody else .
Then I asked Kelly Boko , goldbuckle rodeo company . And they're like , yeah , can you be a Bickleton rodeo ? I was like , yeah , when is it ?
It's in two days .
So I had to go there and borrowed a horse from a buddy , had no idea what I was doing and , bo see , your men and tape withers took me under their wing , and that's where I got started .
And love that first sight oh yeah , love first sight , absolutely . When did you figure out steer wrestling was your gig , your sport , your event , your performance .
So just it'll all add up to the main reasons . Like I didn't rodeo at all like since I was little , probably until I was like 11 years old . So back to you talking about a little bit ago , about like divorce is big .
So my parents divorced when I was five and I junior rodeoed a lot Like when I was little , like every other kid , just a little series and just like every other time , yeah , yeah , every other kid Right , right , exactly . And so my parents divorced and it was tough on both parents and we didn't rodeo anymore .
Man I was I was anti social for the longest time played video games , did not touch horses . And then we had a very good family friend , ryan Williams . He took me . We started cowboying a lot . You know , had to be a horseman before I could be a cowboy , right . So that was the blessing there and I had some .
I had some friends that were doing that series out on top of this were like hey , you know , come out and ride some deer or something . I was like mom , like I want to do this , like yeah . She's like all right , you know , go and give it a try , and I was not going to be a bull rider , that's for sure . Or steer ride . I was not , so I did .
I did the second rodeo and she's like hey , it's like you're either all in steer riding or like you're done because I didn't ride one steer , I got booked off both of them . She's like if you're going to do it , you need to do something .
Then steer ride wasn't cutting it , but I was tired of going to the rodeo not doing anything , Cause it was all kids my age and who wants to go watch kids having fun ? Right , and we're not doing it with them . So then they're like hey , you should try shootdogging . What's shootdogging ?
Like , well , you like you , you know you come out of the steer , you come out with the steer and then like you pass this line and then you throw them down , just like steer us , but you don't have a horse . I was like okay , I'll give it a try .
Luckily I drew a steer that wasn't very strong , but I didn't know what I was doing Right , so I was kind of just trying to wrestling the ground , not have any technique , didn't even know how to hold the horns or go to the nose , and so I I didn't lay down , but I was like hooked , like I can do this , I can do this , and that's where it started .
And the guy who owns that arena puts on that association , jill Knapp , started taking me kind of under his wing to start practicing a little bit more , and that's when I was hooked and he was actually came with me , helped me buy my first year as on horse , told me what to look for , and that's where it started , right there .
So that was all , eighth grade year .
Eighth grade ? Okay , so I'm 14 . That was one of the the main questions I had , and you already did it . So would you consider yourself a stud ? Oh , all right . So in cowboy world , what would they call you ? What would the girls , the , the , the gentlemen , what would they call you ? Man ? I'll just , I'll let them make that decision .
And the real world .
They call you a stud man , but just just go with it , I'll go with it . So your college cowboy . Yes , sir Rodeo , Five benefit guys in the rodeo world . How does that benefit ? Because I've had a couple guys . You know they steer away from college rodeo .
But then there are people like you , athletes like you , that are benefiting from it Because you're in the college but you're also PRCA . You started your first , first pro in Topinish , Almost your hometown . Yeah , pretty much your hometown , right ?
Yeah , pretty much just recently .
And normally in college sports you can't go pro Right , but rodeo you can . So how , how has college rodeo helped you out ?
You're competing against the best in the Northwest and it's also like I was very blessed to get a good scholarship through Treasure Valley . Sure Pearson approached me . It was um , you're competing against guys that are in their prime but like just fast forwarding , like I qualified for the college finals right .
You're competing against guys there that are making the NFR and they're still in there , like it's everybody's in their prime . And it's it's crazy , right , like you'll be talking to one guy . And it's like , hey , like I've seen you somewhere where I know you . It's like , oh , it's Cole Franks , like he made the NFR last year bareback .
It's like , oh , shit , that's a stud . You know what I mean ? Yeah .
And it's everybody's in their prime and it's um , you're just exposed to a lot more and I think that being down there at the college finals like I don't care for it very good , I didn't make it there to that , but that's like the toughest event there because there's guys that'll .
That'll make the college finals there , but it's it's anybody's game , because down in Texas those guys are always battling against each other and it's always somewhat different when it down there and making it there .
Yeah .
And they're there there could be to get some of the best in the world . So it's it's a big exposure towards seeing a lot more . Just like I said , it's the main thing is like guys that are in their prime and it's
¶ College Rodeo and Pursuing Pro Performance
exposed to a lot more .
Yeah , I had a Wesley Casanon on and he he was talking about it . He said you know COVID tour , you know tour up his , his stent and college that kind of thing . And it was just like turned off . And he said that you know a lot of the . The rodeo athletes have their masters . They have other things to go on .
And besides that though , performance wise , rodeo wise , do you find it helpful ?
Oh , absolutely , I mean going there . I mean we got to practice every single day . We had the equipment to do it . You know I had budget good buddies to practice with it . It was very beneficial it was . It was awesome to get to go and do it . Now I'm coming back for a third year , so I'm looking forward to doing it so in the long run , yeah .
That and obviously you're going to college . Main goal should be school first , rodeo second . So I finished up my business degree , then I'm coming back to get some welding degrees .
Yeah , why do the rodeo athletes majority steer away from college rodeo ? Because the money is the money .
It's . It's that a little bit man and it's just the truthfully , it's the school part and like that's coming from a guy that hated school . Dude . I hated high school . Like I'll be honest with you right now . There's parts I loved about it . I love , you know , playing school sports and football and stuff , but it was tough .
Like you know , going to school and Friday night football games and then going to high school rodeo is like it was tough and dude . I'll be honest , I hate school . Like I hated school and then I was . I was honestly not even wanting to go to college , but then it .
Then I didn't even know that much like that about schools up here having college rodeo and then Drew Pearson approached me and I was like all right , you know , I'll give it a shot , but it's just dude , like you got to wake , you have to grind , you have to work at it . It's just like anything else .
Like it sucked getting up some days studying for classes but you passed them . Dude it was , it was worth everything Because then you're getting , you're going to go rodeo afterwards , like it's like it's like everything else , yeah . Yeah , like it's . It's a pain in the ass , it's life . You know what I mean .
But it's biggest thing was is nobody wants to go to school . But you know , I , I did it for two years it's if it's coming from me , man , saying you can do it , it's possible . Just just go to school , get your grades taken care of , because college rodeo does not mess around when it comes to grades .
Like if you , if you fail one class dude , like you're on academic probation , then you have to go through them to get out of it , to get out of it , and then when you're out of it , you're still kind of on a list a little bit , but it's it's worth it , I think .
Besides your school , and and I've , no , I've paid attention to some of the college rodeo scenes here . Uh , who has the best one in the region ? The Northwest Treasure Valley ? Yeah , no , Treasure Valley , How's uh ?
Missoula I don't know too much about Missoula , really Okay .
So so you being recruited ? Yeah , that , that was the high . That that's a highlight , man .
Oh yeah . So basically they're saying you're a stud , sure . You get what I'm trying to say , dude . Yeah , I get what you say .
So still in college pro performance , first one this year . How did it feel , man ?
Oh , it was awesome . Yeah , my heart was racing on my chest and it was pretty cool getting to pick up too and not just Stier-Essel Um shout out to Daniel Beard rodeo company for allowing me to be there . But that was . That was pretty cool . It was .
It was having everybody there , seeing all my friends and family , but like I was always in the arena , you know , I mean picking up , and it was . it was fun running around chasing a buck and horse and I hear some people yell my name , then another people over there and somebody else like all right , this is too .
This is kind of overwhelming , but I'm loving it .
Normally the guys that do pick up are old , older .
Yeah , yeah , a lot older .
Is it strange to be the young , the young guy .
I like it it's . It's not typically too strange . I mean , there's some guys that are younger but , like you , you have to earn your wings doing it . You gotta it's . I've been very blessed having some bigger guys , you know , say like hey , this kid can do it . You know , give him a chance or something .
So I've been blessed there and allowing them to have me come there . But it was , it was pretty cool , it's pretty good .
That's . That's pretty good man . You got the bigger names you know pulling for you .
Yes .
Absolutely . See , they see it , you see it . That's the , that's the theme , man , that's the theme of this , this interview man . Just get you to know , dude , you're , you're all around cowboy or in the real world , you know ? No , I won't say it . I won't say it again . Promise so , pro performance , and then you've , you've done other performances .
Yeah .
Is it a keeper ? Are you going to keep going at it this year ?
Oh , absolutely . I still got five rodeos left this year in the circuit , yeah .
Okay , which one are you looking forward to the most ? Panel 10 . Talk .
All right , well , yeah .
I'm looking forward to that one , so you're automatic .
Oh yeah , I'm entered , I got in , so I'll be up Tuesday morning and then a Wednesday morning . Yeah , yeah .
I would be excited . That's , that's the the Super Bowl , especially for the Pacific Northwest . Yeah , it's , it's , it's a big one . Jeez , All right , you surprised me on that one man . How do you feel being able to college rodeo and perform with the bigs ?
man , it's pretty cool , it's . I mean , it's how you start you . I honestly like didn't want to pro rodeo this year at all , but I had one buddy who was like , dude , like you need to . He's like it's almost the same competition and you're running for more money and you're getting your name out . There is like you need to do it .
I was like yeah , I don't know , like I'm just going to hit these few . He was like no , I was like hit them all . He's like amateur's always be there , but he's like you need to go the next level a little bit and I've had a lot of friends , of family . Uh tell me to keep going too . So we're going to keep going and uh get into it .
But so you feel you made the right move . Oh yeah , for sure , for sure .
¶ Steer Wrestling and Pro Rodeo Chat
What's the most intimidating thing about this move , though ?
Um well , like Lyndon rodeo , for example , like I did good the first day , I was sitting first and I was hoping it was going to be smooth sailing . Then Jesse Brown , like top 10 in the world , with there and I was like shoot , like hey , I think they were going to make it easy on me and Jesse and Kyler when won that rodeo .
But it's just seeing the big guys . But you got to think , like you know . So I ended up placing at that rodeo last whole , but still , I mean it was . It was pretty cool seeing my name up against the big boys , but I mean that's that if you're going to do it , you got to roll with those guys . You know what I mean . What was what place ?
I got sixth place . Sixth place with the big boys , though yeah With Jesse Brown , yeah With Jesse Brown .
Kyle Lewin , Dakota Eldridge yeah .
Jesse Brown is sitting at number two or fighting with Dalton Massey . One and two for what ? Past three years now , Something like that ?
Yeah , that's , he's up there , man .
Yeah .
It's a stud .
So you get six , okay , nope , all right . Hey , man , I'm proud of you . Man , Even going , you know , being as new as you are pro standings dude to go compete with those guys . Those guys , man , that's pretty cool . You're one of those guys in my book , man , I'm just saying . I'm just saying , dude , I appreciate it . How's the rest of the season look ?
It's looking . It's looking good . I'm just . I'm enjoying it every weekend , just taking each rodeo at a time . I'm just I'm really looking forward to Pendleton because so like , obviously when you turn 18 , you can buy your permit and stuff , but I didn't buy it for the longest time just because I was busy doing other stuff .
I was not even rodeoing for almost a month last year , but just taking each rodeo at a time , I'm just . I'm really looking forward to Pendleton because I got a lot of family down there too , but , like we talked about , pendleton's the one you know what .
I mean so .
I'm looking forward to these last few . There's still a lot more pros I'm hitting . I'm going to go to Waterville and Ritzville , cashmere , Colfax , then Pendleton .
You Ritzville ? Yeah , when is Ritzville ?
Labor Day . Labor Day yeah , same weekend as the Ellensburg . We're going to get into Ellensburg , so I'm going there .
Ellensburg is a turnoff for me , though man . Just too many people from Seattle go there . So you know what I'm not going anywhere . I might go to Ritzville .
So I might check it out there and I might check it out , all right , no-transcript .
How does your offseason look right now ? Looking in , I know school starts soon .
Right . When does school start ? 25th September .
Okay , so yeah , school starts . For me , high school starts next week . There you go . So would you consider that offseason ? No , because are you still training at the college level ?
Yeah , I'll be in the weight room and then we'll . I'd like to practice a lot more Um , like just groundwork , fundamentals , like sliding a stick , jumping the fake dummy . I'm still doing a lot of that again in the weight room . Running a lot too . That's something I've actually grown a love for this past year is running . No , that's saying a lot .
I am not , I was not a runner until this year and I actually like it .
You need to hit those hills where you live . Man , I'll do that .
I should Right If you do , hey hit me up all I'll go out there with you .
Are you going to any of the clinics that you know ? Brown and uh .
Massey , not some of those . Um , nothing against them and stuff . I honestly should , I need to honestly get a hold of Jesse and start practicing with them , just because he's number two in the world and he's local .
I would say one and two Right . You know what I mean . Um , but One and two Right . Massey's local , he's closer . Yeah , he is , he's closer .
Yeah , I should hit up Dolan too , but uh , no , I go down to Louis , like when it gets colder . I go down to Louisiana to Tom Carney's street , wrestling one on one . That's where , like Waggis pack , tyler , waggis pack fourth time world champion .
That's kind of like one of his instructors , yeah , and like I've grown a relationship with those guys so that's where I go .
And how , how many years have you gone ?
So I went down there my sophomore year , so that was 18 , 19 . It's about 2019 . I went there . I went back down again this past year . I like to keep going down there , but I stay pretty in touch with the instructor , sending videos like , hey , what do we need to work on ? And he , he showed me like some stuff .
Like he gave me a stick with a bungee , coordinates it's working on like training your core down your legs . It's that's kind of like their style and stuff and you know . So that's what . Like I said , I stay in contact with them . You know , hey , what do I need to do here , what do I do there ?
Then I still go back down there and get tuned up and just repetition a little bit .
It's a lot of money and time . Man Dude , it is you guys . You guys train like full till , almost , like you know , year round major league baseball . Nfl hockey star , I mean same stuff . Yeah , yeah , never have thought , man , especially being an outsider , you know you're like dude , you guys take it to that level .
Yeah , speaking of that level , pacific Northwest Steer Wrestling yeah , I mean , you got one and two , you got you . Who else Trav ?
Johnson , he's . He's a stud up there . That's the guy you should have on here . He's an athlete I don't know . Greg Sheafield , cord Gomes there's a lot of big guys up here , yeah .
Why doesn't Steer Wrestling get as popular as bull riding or other sports ? Nobody wants to jump off a horse going 35 miles an hour . You guys are one of the best athletes out there . Yeah , it's just , it's dude . You'll see some guys that are bigger than all of us , more athletic , but they've had a couple of great athletes out there .
You'll see some guys that are bigger than all of us , more athletic , but they've had a couple of recs . They're like I ain't doing it , no more . It's , you got to be committed and work at it . It's . It's not for the weak hearted , that's for sure .
But but then that you know you guys are the top dogs in the sport . Yeah and nothing , yeah . And and you know I asked you guys to be on the podcast . Here you are , brown was on earlier Massy will hopefully you know be , on next soon . It's just amazing how all the spotlight is bull riding . Yeah , that's everybody's favorite deal .
Man , I just don't understand that dude . Just , you guys are crazy amazing athletes , some big dudes too . I mean , you ain't small yourself , and and man to take down a how many pound calf .
I got to be average about five
¶ Steer Wrestling and Rodeo Offseason
to 600 pounds . Yeah , just flip it out in the back .
It's not like you brought it to us . You know the the , the knees they're . You know you got to flip them around .
Yeah , you got to draw , good , and even then you have to make that cow work and you're riding a fast horse and and then some yeah , yeah , and then some I mean you miss .
And then some calves just go out there and shoot and they're shooting yeah . Like 50 miles an hour yeah .
Yeah , I drew one of those at Moses Lake . I mean , he ran hard .
Then to win , it's four seconds or less . Four seconds or less Nowadays , yeah , I mean , you got Brown doing a 3.45 seconds . 3.9 seconds man .
Yeah , 3.9 Hermit's in it .
Dude , that's what I heard of . What the heck .
I've had . I've had so many runs . It was like I had to have been three . I had been three . I look up the scoreboard it's like 5.5 .
It's like do what I mean here's a sport that you win . It just like a sport . You know the breakaway .
Yeah , yeah .
You guys are as fast as the breakaway . Yeah , and they're throwing something . You guys are throwing your body off a horse , right , it's yeah , it's so something ain't right man Politics ain't right in this sport dude . And I'm telling you because steer wrestling is one of a kind Breakaway . You know , they do it with the rope . Man , it's quick draw .
Yeah , you guys are quick draw . Basically your body on a calf , flip it over and then four seconds you're like the win it , man what . Something ain't right , Something needs to look in , Somebody needs to look into that man and just know like hey , bull riding is great , but steer wrestling is greater , just more athletic .
Oh , and it's different in so many .
Oh , I know In different ways ?
Well , just because , like the guy hazing for you , he's not competing , like he's trying to help you win , and then they'll got those guys have come right back up and they'll swap horses and same thing , like it's buddies helping each other out . It's not .
It's different from team roping and everything else , because , yeah , it's a team going out to be a competing against everybody else , but you can have your buddy go out and haze you steer to win , or you can go out and haze him a steer to win . Yeah everybody's coming back , like me and my buddy trap Johnson .
I Pardon my friends like we talk so much shit each other because we know each other and we played against each other in football , but like we'll sit there and flip each other crap and then when we're in the arena we're brothers like hey .
Come on , let's go , let's go , and I want him to win just as much as I want myself you know , right , yeah , now everybody has that everybody . Oh , absolutely .
What is it Cassin on said Perryman was his , you know right . So offseason , how long is your offseason ? What wins your wins ?
the season start in college so it starts this fall towards like the first , towards the first October . It might change a little bit then . I mean we have like two fall rodeos , both in October . Then it stops from kind of there towards the holidays , you know thanksgiving , christmas obviously , and we get back rolling Towards the end of July , going into February .
But even then I'm still like I'll be going down south and keep going and then All the way back so basically I asked offseason because it gets slower . But we I stayed busy trying to find something to do . You know what I mean . But towards towards the holidays is one of kind of the offseason is .
I asked offseason because To a lot of the rodeo athletes , because you guys don't really have an offseason , oh we don't .
It's just like ranching man . It's like you know . It's it's 24-7 . It's it's not an easy , not an easy deal . You're all in or you're all out .
PRCA starts up again in March as well . Yep , yeah , and you're going full tilt .
Yeah , I'm still gonna stay local , kind of run the circuit a little bit , but I'm gonna find someplace to keep going .
Yeah , we're at what's furthest for this hour this Not child .
Sure , I need to kind of look the schedule . I might hit some more down south , a little bit like I'd like to hit some American qualifiers because I'd obviously be Something pretty big to win , just trying to be like Jesse , trying to win the American .
¶ Steer Wrestling and Personal Experiences
Dude , that guy man .
He's humble man , he's when I had him on there .
I was like , dude , you were a football player , yeah right like dude .
Yeah , cowboy , and he just makes it look that easy like it's .
It's crazy yeah yeah , and he most humble answers . I'm like , come on , man , just like you , just like you . So how's your diet , man ?
My diet's better than it used to be .
Yeah .
Call me honest to do . I used to be , if the huge sugar addict . Like I don't drink at all , not even around family and stuff , but like I used to be huge so to like candy for the longest time , but it's , it's better now . A lot of water . I like to drink more water these past couple years than I ever have .
You know , I wish it was a little bit better . Steak and potatoes . Just try to keep myself physically in shape .
I'm clean stuff , just clean . Yeah , all right . And Now is there a regiment , especially a diet , strict diet for bulldoggers , steer wrestlers , or is it just something that you're comfortable with ? That's working , something comfortable with ?
my opinion . Don't fix it . Yeah , it's just yeah , my opinion .
All right . So my question to you I ask everybody this is Do you eat peanut butter jelly sandwiches occasionally ? Okay , how do you make a peanut butter jelly sandwich ? I ?
Just buy the little packing ones , those uncrossable .
Fine , uncrossable is . It's good we got a few of them . I don't need it . My , my five-year-old does . Now I got you . What gets you pumped before performance , man ? Or are you at Zen or at peace and you're like ready to go .
I used to kind of be like listening to . You know , just like , like the Rocky movies , I , the tiger , you know , listen to rock and roll , or just you know we will rock you , stuff like that used to . But man , a couple of rodeos . I just got so bummed like not doing good . It's like what , what did I do wrong ? And I'm superstitious . Right , all right .
Was I wearing my lucky underwear to have my lucky shirt ?
even in me . You're super , super small , dude major .
It's like what did I do wrong ? Like this this ? This was my moment like I was supposed to do good , and then I was listening to a roguin podcast actually , and it was the one guy . From here comes the boom . The dude like the trainer , oh yeah , yeah . Yeah , yeah .
So he was on there and he was talking about how he got interviewed and Somebody was like you know , who are you doing this for ? Who you doing this for ? Is it come do it for myself ? Like , well , not , your family goes obviously for my family , but I'm doing it for myself because when I'm in the ring that's all I want to think about .
And so at rodeos I tried to just think about me . Of course my family's there and I . I get so mad and so pissed , dude , when I like all four years of High school rodeo , when I made it to all four years of well , I didn't go my fourth year , like my first year , to the high school finals .
I gave my spot to somebody else but I Caught every steer at the high school finals but I didn't do good . I never made the short round . I caught every single steering , laid him down but I never made the short round . That's something I always haunted me because I always got so pissy .
In my family they're like I let him down , so I try to just not let that get to my head . But the biggest thing going into the arena is I love listening to the announcer Like say my name . Of course , like the accomplishments , but then hearing the crowd , that's my biggest thing and that gets me pumped up Right there .
No , do you hear the crowd while you perform ?
or do you hear the yeah , yeah , I had to ask like there's a lot of people don't a little bit like I'll you know , here I just hear my name , but like when I back in that box , dude , then it's either tiger , like I'm zoned in when they pronounce your name incorrectly .
Do you still get pumped or ?
The only time it hit me was at Topinish , like the first pro rodeo , my hometown . Oh dude , they called me like Willie Jack Ross and everybody there was laughing . They're like carrots right . Yeah , so many people was like literally any other place . This would have been fine , but like hometown rodeo had to get my name wrong , oh man all right .
So I found out you don't do pre-workout before because a lot of boys do no .
Favorite steer wrestler . Favorite steer wrestler man I . I like the local guys . I was always . Luke Brinqueen was the guy you know five world championships . He was the booty shake at the end , a little celebratory , like he was the guy and he still is for me .
I my opinion , the guy that I think is the best technical and he's proved winning the world from Technicality and then being consistency is stylish . Wax bag , I mean dude , he's dude , he's a stud and his style is . He's proved that you can throw a steer like any type .
You know , one that's got a lot of action and not very weak , but then one that's very strong that not a lot of guys can throw and yeah . You know he's won the world from being far down the world standings but winning money in the go-around and then winning the average . And then he's proved it just being consistent in the average . But I think wax is .
I think he's gonna pass Branko for world titles . That's my opinion . Okay , you know he's at four right now , so he's got one more than he's matched , but I think he'll pass him .
Favorite athlete , male or female , to watch in the ring dirt Like , just of all time , any sports . It let's say you're a horse heaven right now . Right , horse heaven right now . A lot of people have been passing by JB Mooney was there the other day that everybody would want to stop and see him .
Right , who's that one person around here that you have to stop and you watch ? Stop everything you do like . I know he's not from here .
Derek be gay . Who ? Derek be gay , be gay . Yeah , okay , from the From the Navajo reservation , like come from nothing , yeah , dirt pour nothing .
And he'd like show to a rodeo with single cab , pick A bar , pull trailer and then he'd go kick everybody's ass like now this guy , you know me , and then he's qualified for the NFR eight or seven times but he's never changed anything . Like you will not see him , maybe I don't know .
I'm not gonna say Assume anything , but like yeah , he's never rolls up in a hundred eighty five thousand dollar horse trailer . Gotcha and then , like I , I've seen him at Toppish rodeo . He pulled up in a stock trader with him and his partner and they're sitting out under their pickup like taking an outfit Horses around Grayson round .
It's like I like this guy in if you ever watched his Yeti video like it talks about his story , like it's pretty cool . He's always been every . I've met him Four or five times , but he doesn't remember who I am . Obviously I'd hope he does , but he's always been the same person , never like he was happy once and then he was pissed off the next .
Always been the same happy , positive guy , you know that's .
That's good to know .
Yeah , that's that's my ultimate . I'm just like I relate to that guy a lot .
No , no females out there , though , man .
Not too much .
If you weren't a steerer wrestler , what ? What would you be doing there ?
Me team roping or picking up . I really like picking up , Um , but yeah , one of those two .
I don't really talk about that too much . Yeah , what ? What don't you talk about too much ?
Like what would I be besides a steer-wrestling ? I I mean , if I wasn't steer-wrestling , I may , would try to give a football scholarship a shot , but besides that , we're talking rodeo wise , picking up a team rope and I'd say stick bill those picking up pay as well .
It's a guaranteed check every week and it's probably not as much as you're winning , but you're getting your . You're working that rodeo every weekend .
You know , make sense . Yeah , all right , you're not , you're not Losing .
You know , a thousand dollars or whatever you had in the fuel tank and then hundred some dollars worth entry fees and you're onto the next one . I mean , and it hit me hard this past weekend like we were talking about what I think about when I go into the box . So I got a no time at Moses Lake .
Steer kind of clipped my horse and my horse almost went down . So I pulled up and there was a hundred fifty dollar entry fees right there and I went to Heppner , my mom's hometown rodeo , like I just want to lay a steer down , right , yeah , didn't care about winning , I just want to lay a steer down .
Steer sets up as I go to get him and back in the pickup Heading towards Goldendale and I was like man , like this , you got to keep this shit mentally a little bit . Yeah , then I get it Goldendale .
And then , dude , I just zoned out like I didn't even think about first guy went out , he was four-some and then usually , granted , I've been like I kind of hope I can beat that . I completely zoned out . I didn't even think about his time . I just like I got this and then I was blessed to be a four five , but yeah , yeah that's , it's something man .
And then then after that , let's say you know you do the four or five , and then you're like man , I have to pay the gas bill .
Yeah , like I want to jump this past week to get back out of the hole , but I mean , it's still you got a beautiful rig too .
I can only imagine , and prices right now . I appreciate you coming out here , man from . Zilla .
Absolutely .
That last person that came out here that far , j Dub Marriott , and his brother and man they're their episode killed it , dude . So , I guess it pays to be in the teacup studio , man . Sure , you know that's . That's what it's called , all right .
Well , you said something about it in there , but yeah , I could see it .
Yeah , I only have this area , this zone . This is all I get and I have three girls and that's why it's called teacup studio because , it's all girl stuff and so , but no , last last time somebody came in here , man their episode killed it and man it blew up and opened doors for them and yeah yeah , yeah .
So I appreciate you coming from Zilla . Happy shoes crazy .
I don't know how you guys do it , man , but so what's next ? On just Five to twelve months from now , what's next , man ? What do you do you want to take over the world ? Do you do you want to start , you know , thinking NFR ? I mean , everybody thinks of that . Do you think of that ?
Oh yeah , it's always
¶ Personal Goals and Travel Interests
in the back of my mind . I'm I'm a family guy man . I like staying close to home a little bit . It's why I chose treasure Valley , kind of wanted the , you know , another one of the reasons why I stayed up here . But I'm just , I'm taking it all in . I'm very blessed to war , I'm out all my accomplishments , but I'm still seeing the world a little bit .
Like last year , yeah , I went to Africa for like three weeks . That was I'd love seeing the world and stuff . So I like going . Like I was just at Cambridge rodeo and me and my dad went to fish for an hour and we just sat down by the river and I don't want to leave .
I was honestly kind of like hey screw rodeo .
I want to keep fishing a little bit . I just want to keep seeing the world man . Yeah , I'd like to keep hammering down rodeo , like I know I'm gonna go hard one of these years , but I'm gonna make sure all the cards are right , you know do I have enough sponsorship , you know , just people to back me up and everything just just for that .
But yeah , it's , it's in the back of my mind to make it there , but it's gonna just gonna keep doing little things , live my life not .
Not so many people have answered like that , there's only . I think I can count on one hand that how many people say family , family , family first . So a lot of people like in a bar man Just in a bar top of the world . So I like that . I like that answer . I think a lot of people will figure out who you are in this .
You know with that answer in this interview . So ultimate goal personal personal Ultimate goal . I'd like to win penalty round , that's the one up there .
It's just there's nothing like it , man it's . Everybody thinks , oh , cheyenne's the daddy of mall , cheyenne's the daddy of mall . It's like . But when you're at Pendleton I mean , especially these past couple years , it's gotten , I think , bigger , but it's , it's just a different setup .
It's out on the grass and I mean it's they and they've kind of changed Cheyenne around a little bit more because of Like the way they they do like a sets and then they do like day money . I can't remember exactly how it works , but they changed the shoe . It's not the kind of the old school and even some of the bigger cowboys .
I've asked them like what's the biggest one ? They all say penalty . And well , trevor Brazil went to penalty last year and he was like done . You know what I mean ? Yeah , so like it's , it's , it's the one to win , and I've had , I've had a lot of close family friends Win it . My good buddy , calgary Smith won it .
It's like I think this is the one to do some and I Think it's winning the world . That's obviously the ultimate goal . But then , like , if you win Pendleton , I think your name's up there . That's , that's my opinion , that's what I want .
All right , but rodeo ultimate goal and rodeo man .
I want to . I would like to make the NFR that's that's kind of the goal win Pendleton , or I think it'd be cool to be a pick-up in it the NFR .
Right and you know what's that ? Do you still get a jacket ? Oh yeah .
It's , you know , trying to think of the comedian . I think it was Tom Siggur . He's like you know , set your goals up for how you want them . You know , whatever your life goals are , whatever thing be like , but don't be upset if they don't go . You know quite the way you wanted them to be like .
You know , I believe everything happens for a reason and Just , I've had a lot of things change in my life . Where it's , you know , it's yeah , my goals to make the NFR steer wrestling .
But shoot , dude , if I was a pick-up man at the NFR , like I said , starch Jeans , clean , you know , riding good horses being in the arena for not just four seconds running to steer , I mean , dude , that's , that's . I think that'd be cool , just as cool starch jeans .
You start your jeans . Oh yeah , hardcore I like . Well , I asked that because I had a Wyatt Riddle on you . You've heard of his name , I think so . He's a bull rider from Ohio that went to . Oklahoma .
I think I've heard , I've heard to me , yeah well , yeah , he's huge on tiktok .
Ladies Love them . I'm pretty sure ladies love you if you have a tiktok too , but he has Like a tutorial on how he starches jeans .
Oh .
Goodness , just say he soaks them . Oh yeah , and starch , and yeah , I forgot what it's called . It's not the spray , it's the liquid , it's yeah . Yeah , he does that , and man He'll . They pretty much stand up on its own , on their own , so I'll hook you up . But no , wyatt , riddle man , he's a good guy and he's injured right now . So shout out to him .
And but uh , his , his guy , his kid that he told me about , man just made the worlds and he just started riding bulls . Yeah it's , it's amazing the man , the talent that's coming up . You know , I'm like yourself . Like yourself , I mean , you just started PRCA . You know I mean , but you're , you're there , you're there .
So not , uh yeah , start your new jeans . So , what I ? I , I I starched them before . It was cool man . And then it started like okay , it started to hurt a bit .
Starts to hurt .
There is no way I can't starsh . So I just I just go , uh , non-starched and and just try to look nice . Hey , hold respect . So you went to Africa . You know that was a bucket list . That was a bucket list for sure . What's the number one since Africa ?
I mean , africa is a bucket list kind of thing like top notch , what , what , what is your top notch bucket list , man ? I think that made it right there for me .
So you already did it , kind of already did it yeah . You know , All right , it was , it was a goal for the longest .
Well , so the story is is my grandparents do a 16th birthday trip , so for each one of the grandkids , and they took my sister to Paris , they took one of my cousins to Australia , and they're big into safari too and they're like , hey , where do you want to go ?
Ever since I was little , like five or six , right , I'd watch the Lion King , I'd have like the little toys to get it at Bliles Ranch and all the stuff you know , and I was like I want to go to Africa , I want to go hunt , I want to go to Africa , like all right , you know we'll do it . So it's quite the story , man .
So 16th , 16th this is my 16th birthday Got postponed because I made the high school finals . It's like all right , we'll postpone it till the next year , and . I made the high school finals again . All right , we'll postpone it till the next year , and okay , next year is 2020 .
We all know how that year went .
So international travel was done , yeah , so then 2021 happened and , oh , dude , this was one heck of a month . So I went to silver state for team roping . If you don't make the top four In the state to qualify for nationals , you go to silver state . Go to silver state , me and my buddy , we win the first go . We got third in the first go .
We got a buckle . We placed good in the first go , place good in the second go . I missed my steer in the short round , probably for us to win it . So I was like , whatever , I'm going to Lincoln , nebraska , I'm gonna , I'm gonna steer us a little . The main event We'll go there .
You get on my first steer way too long in my second year to make it back . I was like , all right , screw this , forget rodeo , I'm going to Africa , the trip's gonna happen , dude , let me tell you about this . So I had to be vaccinated . So , admittedly , I'm vaccinated . I don't , I don't care , who knows , or whatever .
Yeah .
I get vaccinated . You have to have a negative covid test to go to Africa .
So you're positive . So Sorry , no , no , no , you're good .
So no , we had to get you had to get a negative covid test through Some pharmacy , through tsa airport to go right . So our plane leaves at like four in the morning . So we're driving around the day before we get up super early to go find a pharmacy . Driving around for like hours , dude . We finally find a pharmacy connected through tsa .
However , that stuff would work . I was I was just the monkey dude following around . Finally we all get swabbed . It's been a long day . We're heading back home like we're gonna relax , get up or eat dinner , go to bed , get up early . Trip . We're going right . As we're leaving the pharmacy , my grandpa goes . Wow , I'm glad that's over Now .
I wonder which one of us is going to test positive .
Ha , ha ha .
Yeah , so we go back to my dad's place . I was sitting on my dad's patio and there's like a clear glass window and my grandma was sitting there on the computer or like waiting to kind of see .
You know , like for all good and stuff , and truthfully it's like we're all good , you know , and remember my grandpa ran on the computer , my dad and his wife and they're all sitting there looking at the computer and they all just turn around , look at me . I just go well , that's weird .
And then all of you , just to look on my grandma's face , she just kind of , you know , did one of those just put her hands through her face . And then I just whatever was sitting on my phone , and it was long story short . My grandpa comes up to me and he's like , hey , so you've got all the results back and you test it , paul .
So yeah , lose Silver State , don't make the short round , don't , obviously win the high school finals . Then come back once in a lifetime trip canceled . And , oh dude , that was some depressing times . I literally woke up that next day . I was like this is a nightmare right . Like .
This has to be a nightmare , but it was all good , so fast forward to the next year , got down with college finals , went there and then it was the trip man . I had such an amazing time .
So that's your bucket list . Now were you able to go to a safari ? Yes , all right . Man , what was the one animal that just caught your eye and you're like , holy crap , that's like because there's no barrier , it's not like a zoo .
You're in a vehicle or on a vehicle , so we were on a ranch , but it's not a Texas 100 acres . Hey , open the gate so we can shoot him .
You know what I mean .
It's 150,000 acres and they have an estimated ratio of how many animals are there , but they're not like hey , we need to go check tag 153 , see if he's sick or something . He just knows estimate how many animals he's got there ?
He's in the region . Yeah , yeah , yeah , there's GPS . Oh yeah , right so .
I mean , yeah , you're driving around a vehicle , then we'd sit in glass we'd find something and then we'd go we'd stock it for a while . And it's not like hunting up here , dude . I mean you can kind of see Elk across the ridge , make a game plan Over there .
When we spot something , we're on it Like we're going through the tall grass , whatever , getting a look on something . But I think I wouldn't say every animal was amazing to me . After I successfully got one , I just want to sit and look at it . I mean , just see every part of it , just like this is beautiful , this is awesome . What did you get ?
I got a Gemsbuck , a Kudu , an Impala , a Blaisebuck , a Springbuck , a Warthog and a Wildebeest and I got , I think , another Impala .
Yeah , Get this gracious . I thought it was just like , oh you know , just one animal , but you went multiple . Did you bring any of the meat home , can ?
you or no . So the meat goes back towards the tribes and then it goes towards the outfit . But I'm taking back all , basically just the heads . I'm getting two mounted but then the rest is European mounts just going horns . So yeah , nice , the biggest thing was the coolest thing I saw was we get there ? You know , we just landed , we go . We had lunch .
Then we shot rifles for 10 minutes Like all right , you ready , like I'm ready , let's go .
¶ Trip to Africa and Country Music
We went up over this hill , like all of this is kind of . This bush is like all right , we're going to go kind of through these bushes right here and it's going to open up into a big draw and there should be like a pond , and it was towards like 430 in the afternoon and the sun's out and over there during July and stuff .
That's kind of their winner , so like when the sun's out , everything's out . So we went there and like dude , we just walked through all these bushes and it opened up and there was like giraffes , zebras , wild beasts , like everything was right there .
Welcome to Africa . You know what I ?
mean it was like all right , the lanky , the witty .
Yeah , pretty much dude , it was like everything was right there .
I was like all right , I don't even care if we shoot anything like this , made the trip right here .
And it wasn't in the zoo , it was just real life , real life man . I can't imagine man . Or I can see why it's your bucket list .
Yeah , and I was in my element too , dude . I mean , I had my cowboy hat on . I was , I think God meant for me to be a cowboy , but when I was over there I was just at home .
Yeah , that's awesome . Just at home , big , big hunter yeah , that's what I was coming out in there . Hunting season started already .
For archery ? I'm not sure . I'm rifle . I know we don't start for a while , but I know a bunch of guys are going and like scouting for elk right now .
Yeah .
Archery we're getting close to archery .
I don't think it started yet maybe You're archer , no rifle . No , I'm not saying , I'm not gonna say Did you duck or turkey ?
No , I wish I got into waterfowl a little bit , even turkey season , but not really , I love it .
I love it . It's easy . It's not easy . It's just , man , you just take the breast off in your gut . Dude , right , I don't wanna get too dirty .
No , no , you're good .
Just pluck feathers , Right man nothing like it . I wish I could do more of that . Nothing like it . All right , man . So since you're from Zillag , I know you gotta get going . I know I have to get going because 17th year anniversary was my life Understandable . What ? You were three when I got married . You're 20 ? 20 , yes , right , you were three , man .
God , wait , see , god , I just can't think of it , man , you guys are . Life goes by , man , fun , right , right . So , zilla , what did you listen to on the way here , man ?
Price from Katy Perry hot and cold Dude . Are you kidding me ?
All right man , all right , I ask that question every now and then . And you boys ? Are you boys ? Surprise me , man . There's a bull rider that I had on from Tennessee and he said to Katy Perry man and he lives and dies , katy Perry , lady Gaga . And I called this bluffing like man , you're joking , right ?
He started singing the songs and that was that weekend he was showing . He sent me a video of him and his boys while traveling his traveling boys . Just get it going on . Some Katy Perry man . Hot and cold California girls .
Oh , yeah , so it's a thing . Yeah , I mean , I listen to her all the time . It was one of the songs I could think about I'm singing over here , but , dude , when you're traveling , you gotta I mean it doesn't get me away . But yeah , spice it up a little bit , laugh you can't spice it up with some Slipknot or something ? Happy to do cute .
Yeah , hey , I listen to Rock Roll too , Old Rock .
Roll , but you guys spice it up with Katy Perry . Katy Perry , man , that's not the first man , I mean , it's not gonna be the last . So all right , just you boys surprised me , man .
Hey , I listen to everything country , rock roll , hip hop , everything .
It's just amazing , man you guys , and you know he's just doing the moves too . I was like this guy . He knows how to party , man , he parties . So All right , number one on your playlist right now . I'm one on the playlist right now . Before performance or whatever gets you hyped for that day , man .
Probably , probably , no , probably , eminem , eminem , no , no , no , no . What song ? I don't know why . I can't think of it right now . I don't know his main one . I'm gonna sound so stupid that I can't think of that . There's a lot of things . Everybody . Listen to it like it's the Michael Phelps . Listen to it . Palms are sweaty knees weak .
Oh , yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , I can't think of that right now . You know what I mean ? Yeah , that one , it's the eight mile something . Yes , yes , yes .
I wanna make this trip worth it . Was it worth it ? Oh , absolutely , man . Yeah , great times . Yeah , can you come back when you're not so busy ? Absolutely , or I'll go visit you . Yeah , there are , man , and yeah , I appreciate your time and definitely would want you back . You don't even have to win or anything , but you're always welcome .
I appreciate you coming out here . It means a lot . It also means a lot to the people that listen to , because they trip out that I get some of you guys on . They're like what ?
How do you get ?
him on how do you do this ? How do you do that ? This is awesome , man . Hey , I appreciate it . I appreciate the kind words . Sometimes it feels like it's tough at times , you know , and with you guys believing in me and also believing in me to share your story , it means a lot . So thank you for sharing it .
And thank you for having me on man Dude .
Pendleton , killit and Pendleton , I might come see you in Redsville . Let me know what day and I'll be there .
I'll be there all weekend . Ok , I'm going to pick up too , so we'll be there all weekend .
All right , then I'll be like hey , mess up your name hey Cross , all right . Well , till next time , man .
Yes , sir , thank you so much , absolutely .
It's been a pleasure . I'm going to go pick up this doll .