ProRodeo Sports News - November 16, 2018

IN HIS OWNWORDS: ROGER MOONEY ANNOUNCER CHERISHING RETURN TRIP

I t’s 14 years since I’ve been on the stage out there. Pressure is a privilege. I truly believe that this rodeo is the greatest rodeo on the planet, and there’s a reason for that. It’s the best cowboys, it’s in the city of entertainment, it’s the greatest fans in the world, and the most beautiful people in rodeo come to Las Vegs. It means a whole lot to me. At 52, I know I’ve got more yesterdays than I do tomorrows. I started a family late in life. My wife, Ashley, and I have a 7-year-old son, Cash, and a 6-year-old daughter, Morgan. When I told them I’d gotten a job in Las Vegas, I asked if they wanted to go. The little girl said, ‘You mean the Las Vegas we see on TV?’ And the little boy said, ‘Daddy, you’ve got a rodeo every week. But if we get to go to Las Vegas, it’s special.’ With Boyd Polhamus stepping down from announcing at the Finals to take over for Shawn Davis, that opened a third spot for announcers. They had to come up with somebody with Boyd taking Shawn’s job. In my opinion, nobody can take Boyd’s place. Boyd is the tip of the sword. He’s the best in this business – voice, talent, mind, his cognitive skills are second to none. Roger Mooney will be announcing for the third time at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo this year. In Mooney’s prior travels to the Finals, it was as an alternate when the arrangement for announcers at the Finals worked differently. In 2000, the alternate announcer worked one perf with each of the other two announcers. By 2004, it had been changed to working two perfs with each announcer. Now, all three announcers rotate over the 10 nights. Being from Georgia, it’s no surprise he’s a huge Georgia Bulldogs fan. How he became an announcer from Georgia is a bit more surprising.

If you asked me how much preparation time goes into the NFR for me I’d say hundreds of hours. It’s just amazing. Last time I was in Las Vegas, I think I was going 20-21 hours a day. You get a little nap and then you’re back out. And if things don’t go well, it could be 24 hours a day. It’s quite different from the first rodeo I ever announced. I was in college at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Ga., in 1984. ABAC had a college rodeo team. The announcer had a heart attack en route to the rodeo. The college coach said, ‘Who’s the biggest ham we’ve got?’ Well, nobody said a word, they just turned around and looked at me. The coolest thing happened. While I announced that first rodeo, a guy comes upstairs and asks me what I was doing next week? I said, if you’ll come back when this rodeo is over, I’ll check my book and I’ll let you know. Heck, I didn’t have a book. He came back up and told me he had a rodeo next week in Alabama. He paid me $150 for the perf, paid for my meals and drinks, and put me up in the Holiday Inn. The next year I did 40 gigs. I was off and flying. So, my career as a rodeo announcer started by accident. On April 14, I buried my father, N.R. Mooney Jr. He was a business partner, my dad and my best friend. This was a tough year, maybe the toughest year of my life. I didn’t have a lot of good news. So, the NFR phone call was good news. Being from the eastside of the Mississippi River, not traditionally cowboy country, and being fromGeorgia, I had a lot of hills to climb. I was geographically challenged. People still can’t believe where I’m from and tell me I’ll never be a rodeo announcer. I answer the question with, well, 35 years later, you might be right, but I haven’t stopped trying.

ProRodeo Sports News 11/16/2018

ProRodeo.com

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