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World Champ Jess Pope Knows How Humbling Rodeo Is


DENVER – The sport of rodeo if anything is humbling.

Bareback rider Jess Pope, the reigning PRCA World Champion Bareback Rider, was served a piece of humble pie when he failed to advance to the semifinals of the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo on Friday.

Pope had a 76-point ride on Cervi Championship Rodeo’s Freshman 15 and his two-ride total of 156.5 points failed to finish in the top three in his bracket to move him to the semis on Dec. 21 at the Denver Coliseum. Pope had an 80.5-point ride on Cervi Championship Rodeo’s Grin & Bare It on Thursday at the Playoff Series rodeo.

“Winning the gold buckle was really awesome (on Dec. 10) and the next day it starts over again for the next year,” said Pope, 24. “Rodeo is the luck of the draw. Sometimes you draw really good ones and sometimes you draw the middle of the pen. I thought I rode good, but the other guys showed up and did their jobs and I can’t be mad about it.”

At the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo presented by Teton Ridge in Las Vegas last month, Pope finished the season with $390,620 to win his first career gold buckle. He also won the NFR average for the third year in a row. He earned $231,361 in Vegas alone.

“You still have to wake up and be the same person,” Pope said. “I just wear a different buckle on my belt now. I wake up and still day work, run cows every day, check them and feed them and be a good family man and enjoy the time I get on Earth while I can, and I get to rodeo and that’s the best thing I could ever dream of.”

Not surprising, capturing a coveted gold buckle was a mission he started years ago, and it is far from accomplished.

“Everybody who is rodeoing, their goal is to win a gold buckle,” Pope said. “From the time I was a little bitty kid I wanted one and I didn’t want just one I wanted multiple. I have worked a long time for it and the feeling of hard work paying off is incredible. It is no different than a player winning a Super Bowl in the NFL or a player winning a World Series in baseball. You have worked so long to reach goals like that and until you get it, it is hard to explain the feeling.

“The next most prestigious buckle behind a gold buckle is the average buckle. You have shown up against 14 other guys for 10 days in a row and I have won it three times so far. It makes you feel really good. The way I look at it going into it is that it is one horse at a time and things have the gone the way I have dreamed.”

This season will be special for Pope as he will get to travel down the PRCA trail and compete against his brother Ty. Ty, 20, is competing as a rookie bareback rider in 2023.

“We are entered up right now and I think it will be good and I’m really excited,” Jess said about having Ty in the rig with him. “Anytime I have ever talked to anybody who got to rodeo with their brother they have always said it was the best years of their life, so I’m looking forward to it. We have a really tight bond, and we love each. I want to see him win and he wants to see me win. We get along and I think it is going to be really exciting to feed off each other all summer long.”

Courtesy of PRCA

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