Fred Whitfield became the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association’s third member to surpass the $3-million mark in career earnings after the tie-down roping superstar placed in a round at the Cheyenne Frontier Days in Wyoming.
Only Trevor Brazile, an eight-time world all-around champion, and Billy Etbauer, a five-time saddle bronc riding gold buckle winner, had previously achieved the milestone in the PRCA.
Whitfield, an eight-time world champion from Hockley, surpassed the mark after finishing second in the first round of the Frontier Days with a time of 11.2 seconds for $6,088.
Prior to the rodeos during the weekend of July 29-31, the ProRodeo Hall of Famer was $3,825 short of the $3 million mark, according to the PRCA.
In 1999, Whitfield made headlines by becoming the sport’s first African-American world all-around champion.
Jake Barnes, a seven-time team roping champion, was another high-profile cowboy who reached a milestone during the weekend of July 29-30. Paired with two-time world champion heeler Walt Woodard, Barnes earned checks totaling $19,754 from three rodeos to become the 17th man in the PRCA to surpass $2 million in career earnings.
Barnes’ and Woodard’s biggest check was $15,095 from winning the average at the 115th Cheyenne rodeo. Other Cheyenne champions were steer wrestler Olin Hannum, saddle bronc rider Jesse Bail, steer roper Rocky Garnett, barrel racer Kim Schulze, tie-down roper Jerrad Hofstetter, bareback rider Casey Colletti and bull rider Shane Proctor.
Proctor, who is from Grand Coulee, Wash., has accomplished the rare feat of winning the bull riding title at two of the world’s most famous summer rodeos two weeks apart. He’s finished No. 1 at the Calgary Stampede and the Cheyenne rodeo.
After winning the $100,000 bull riding title July 17 at the Calgary rodeo, which was approved by the Professional Bull Riders, Proctor has earned more than $185,000 this season, which is expected to be way more than enough to qualify for the Oct. 26-30 PBR World Finals in Las Vegas. After earning $11,871 on July 31 in Cheyenne, which was sanctioned by the PRCA, Proctor was ranked No. 1 in last week’s PRCA’s bull riding standings with $118,966. And that should be way more than enough to qualify for the Dec. 1-10 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas.
■ Lowe riding tough: Three-time world champion Will Lowe of Canyon was ranked No.1 in last week’s PRCA world bareback standings with $86,276 after finishing third at Cheyenne. In recent months, it’s been a close race among Lowe, Kaycee Feild, who was ranked No. 2 ($84,903) and Tilden Hooper, who was No. 3 ($83,130).
■ Gray on the mend: Don’t be surprised to see Ryan Gray on the card at the 2011 National Finals. Since he came from the injured list in June, Gray, who has homes in Cheney, Wash., and Petersburg, has been one hot bareback rider. During the weekend of July 28-31, Gray won the Last Chance Stampede in Helena, Mont., and the Chief Joseph Days in Joseph, Ore. After all that, Gray was ranked 20th in last week’s PRCA world bareback riding standings with $32,640 in 2011 earnings. He conceivably can move within the top 15 by the time the regular season ends in late September.
■ Cutting horse update: Many of the National Cutting Horse Association’s top aged-event competitors will visit Amarillo for the traditional West Texas Futurity. The show is scheduled for Aug. 13-21 at the Amarillo National Center.
Brett Hoffman, a Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame member, has written a rodeo column for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram during the past two decades. Email him at brett@myrodeoinsider.com
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