ProRodeo Sports News - November 17, 1999

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BY STBVE TRTVETT

had backed into the box in Spanish Fork, Utah, for a quick one-round run. They had drawn a white-faced steer they had never seen, and in a one- round event, the pair had dready decided it was going to be all or noth- lng. "(The steer) didn't run, and I was right therer" Woolman recalled. *I got him quick, and Bobby was right with him, too. "The whole thing was

PRCA photo by David Jennings

Dffi#ffiqfi;*'* considered by many the greatest all- around competitor to have entered a rodeo arena. Fred Whitfield cer- tainly could be the finest athlete in the history of professional rodeo. On the other hand, maybe those are statements that can never be substantiated or proven false. For starters, the livestock is dif- ferent. Whether you believe the roughstock used to be stronger and wilder "back when they used to buckr'or you feel breeding pro- grams have produced a never- before-seen style of animals, you have to agree that the livestock has changed. So have the cowboys. Often, it's not so much of a bucking contest as it is a spurring competition on the bareback and saddle broncs, and the bull riders nowadays try to col- lect extra points for style. And could the bulls of dre olden days have been this tough! Certainly the timed events have changed. )ust look at the style * and the times - produced by today's band of calf ropers. Dean Oliver is regarded by fans and cowboys as one ofthe best ever. But how would he stack up against Whitfield and Cody Ohll Where would a young Roy Cooper fit into the mix! The truth is, unless someone cre- ates a time machine, these questions can never be answered. Ilowever, it's ftrn to think about, and the Prorodeo Sports Naps has put together a series ofstories to celebrate the history of the American rodeo cowboy as the cen- tury comes to a close. Appearing below is the first; one will appear in each of the following seven issues. We're not saying these are the best, but they reflect some of the most highly regarded runs and rides of all time. ZT\ee Woolman remembers the day I liff,g;;kest run in team rop- He doesn't, however, remember much about the 1986 run itself. "It all just happened so fast," said the three-time world champion. "The rvhole thing was a blur." Woolman and partner Bobby Harris

Tee Woolman (heading) and Bobby Harris make a blazing run during the 1991 National Finals Rodeo. The pair established the world record in 1986 in Spanish Fork, Utah.

lose. If they are out of the average , they can let things just roll." And all of his world tides aside, Barnes' best run may have happened earlier this month at the Cow Palace. Barnes had broken the barrier on his first run with teammate Cody Cowden. *That was a weird fbeling," Barnes said. "I was already qualified fbr the NF\ but Cody was on the bubble . 'I had never felt that kind ofpres- sure before going into the second run. Normally when you mess up, the whole team messes up. But I had made a mistake, and while it wasn't going to hurt me, it could have hurt Cody. That wasn't a very good feel- iag-" But things turned out OK on the next run. "We made it," Barnes said. *But it's something I don't want to have to do again. "When you make a good run on a good steer, you can sit back and tell yourself that you could do that again. But when you make a good run on a steer that isn't that good, you sit back and say you don't want to have to do that again.t' And, according to Barnes, you can't go into a rodeo thinking about records. Skelton, who knows all about records, agrees. *Breaking a record is something that just happens," he said. "The only difference between 3.8 and 3.7 is the blink of an eye. "You are going as fast as you can anyway, and there isn't much you can do to make yourself go faster. "Everything has to come together tight. It depends on the steer, it depends on your horses - it depends on everything. If it happens, it hap- pens. If it doesn't, it doesn't." And there is nothing a cowboy can do to make it any different. "If you're at home playing and practicing, you might try something diffbrent," Skelton said. "But when you're at the NFR and you're roping for $15,000 a night, you have to use some common sense, too." So, until a team makes that perfect run,3.7 is still the magic number. "It could be broken at any time," Woolman said. "But then again, it may never be broken."

l3 years, Woolman will be the first to tell you that it's not etched in stone. "Records are made to be brokenr" said Woolman, who is fifth in the heading standings and well on his way to his lTth NFR. "Heck, I might even break it." Two teams have come close. Doyle Gellerman and Britt Bockius clocked a 3.8-second run at the 1995 National Finals Rodeo at t}re Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas on their way to a second-place finish in the world standings. ha,stocome rr on, {DIl, lrorrr orn Speed Williams and Rich Skelton clocked a 3.8 at last year's NF\ top- ping a four-round run that saw the world champions go 4.2,4.6,3.9 and finally 3.8. According to Woolman, Williams and Skelton have a great shot at this year's NFR "If it's going to be broken, it will be broken at the Finals," Woolman said. '"The conditions at Thomas and Mack are perfect, and the steers are the best in professional rodeo. The whole atmosphere at the Finals makes fbr record runs. "Doyle and Britt came close in 1995 and Speed and Rich had a shot Iast year." llarris echoes his former teammate . "Speedy and Rich came close trvice last year," Harris said. "And when you look at it, there really isn't any differ- ence between 3.7 and 3.8. It has as much to do with who is running the stopwatch as it does with who is doing the roping." |ak- Barnes, who won seven world championships with Clay O'Brien Cooper, said record runs are out of the ropers'hands. "There are just so many things you cantt control,t' said Barnes, who set a then-NFR record with Cooper on a 4.3-second run in 199I. "A lot of times, the teams making the fastest runs are the teams with nothing to RICH SKEI,TON

a blur - it iust happened so fast, you didn't have time to think about what was happening." When the judge's flag fell, the stop- watch froze at 3.7 seconds, the fastest team-roping run in the history of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, breaking the old record of 3.8 seconds set by Dee Pickett and Mike Beers at Abilene, Texas, in 1983. "We didn't realize at the time that it was a record," lVoolman said. "But afterwards, when we were all sitting around and started talking about it,

somebody looked it up." *It was just one of those deals. A million things have to happen right to set a record and all ofthem happened that day. If I remember right, we won about $1,200 - not much firr the fastest time in history." Harris remembers it the same way. *It was one of those rodeos where everybody was fast," Harris said. "We were just trying to be faster than the next guy, and the whole situation led to us running 3.7. "You never go into a rodeo think- ing that you might do something like that, it just happens. The header really sets the tone and it just happens. We were just tr)'lng to win and it turned into a record. I' m still awfully proud that it's still on the books," And while the mark has stood for PRCA photo by Mike Copeman

Speed Williams (header) and Rich Skelton fire off a 3.8-second run at the 1998 NFR. Williams has said that the 3.7-second record is on his mind.