World Champion Steer Roper Buster Record Jr. Passes Away
Buster Record Jr., who won the 2002 PRCA Steer Roping World Championship, passed away Oct. 21 in Oklahoma City, Okla. He was 66.
“Cowboy Heaven is a better place now that Buster got there,” said C.A. Lauer, Record’s best friend for 40 years and fellow steer roper. “I don’t know anything bad about Buster. It was all good. I rodeoed with him for 40 years or more off and on. We were great friends. Anybody who wanted to learn how to steer rope, he was there for them. All they had to do is come by and go roping. I’m talking about people over the years like Rocky Patterson, Scott Snedecor, and people like that. He was always there for you to help you out , whether you wanted to rope steers or just rodeo. He was there for anybody who needed him, and he was a great family man and loved the western way of life.
“His horsemanship was great. That was not just with roping steers, it was also with roping calves and team roping. He had a good eye for a horse, and he practiced all the time and always worked at (getting better). His work ethic was outstanding. That is what made him great.”
Record Jr. was a 16-time qualifier for the National Finals Steer Roping (1992, 1994-2008) and he finished in the top five in the world standings seven times.
Record, who lived in Buffalo, Okla., capped his 2002 world championship winning season with $56,575 and ended legendary Guy Allen’s run of 11 straight world titles.
“The big thing is, I had a great year, and he had a bad year,” Record said to the ProRodeo Sports News. “For anybody else but Guy, it would have been a great year, but not for Guy.”
J.P. Wickett, steer roping representative on PRCA’s Contestant Executive Council, also praised Record. Record was the steer roping representative on PRCA’s Contestant Executive Council prior to Wickett.
“Let me tell you about Buster, Buster was a competitor,” said Wickett, who competed against Record for years. “If there was any way to win, Buster would figure it out. He was trying to win every steer. He never took any runs off ever. He also was just a good guy who everybody liked. There’s just no other way to put it.”
Record joined the PRCA in 1980 and influenced many steer ropers, including four-time world champion Scott Snedecor. Snedecor will try and win his fifth steer roping world title Nov. 4-5 in Mulvane, Kan.
“After winning the first one, just everyone after that is just a blessing for me,” Snedecor said. “To be able to put myself in that position a lot of it is the horsemanship and knowledge I have learned from all the guys I looked up to like the Guy Allen, Trevor Brazile, Buster Record, Jim Davis all the guys who have roped before me.”
Courtesy of PRCA