RODEO ATHLETE Q&A Bareback Bronc Rider JAYCO ROPER

What it takes to be an up and coming professional bareback rider with Jayco Roper.

BY HANNAH CRANDALL

From Oktaha, Oklahoma, 21-year-old Jayco Roper was almost destined to be a professional rodeo cowboy with a family full of exceptional competitors in the sport. Since joining the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) in 2020, the young bareback rider has been traveling the country making a name for himself.

Roper not only shares his wins and successes with fans and the rest of the world on social media, but he’s begun sharing the ‘real lives’ of many of the young cowboys competing professionally, particularly on Tik Tok. From playing hacky sack to bathing in the river, these athletes are living their dream and making a living on the road going to the highest-paying rodeos across the nation: all in pursuit of qualifying for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

YOUR FAMILY IS FULL OF BIG NAMES IN RODEO. WAS THERE EVER A TIME THAT YOU WANTED TO DO ANYTHING ELSE, AND HOW HAS YOUR CAREER PROGRESSED TO WHERE YOU’RE AT NOW?

There was a point where I tried to ride bulls, but then I hit the ground pretty hard one time, and that’s when I decided I didn’t want to do that anymore. I went to junior rodeos growing up, and my dad took me everywhere. I started doing Indian rodeos when I was about 16 or 17. When I was 17, I won the Indian National Finals Rodeo, and that gave me a bunch of confidence going into Pro Rodeo. TELL ME ABOUT YOUR TRAVELING PARTNERS, EACH OF THEIR PERSONALITIES AND GETTING TO TRAVEL THE COUNTRY WITH THEM.

Are you sitting down? You’ll want to be for this one. But in all honesty, I couldn’t ask for better travel partners than Jake (Jacob Lees) and Dean (Thompson). Even though they might be the slowest human beings in the entire world, I love them to death. They keep me in line, always have to babysit me and keep me healthy. I’m very thankful for them.

WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE TO HAVE TRAVELED TO ALL THE PLACES YOU HAVE AND TO HAVE ACCOMPLISHED ALL YOU HAVE AT SUCH A YOUNG AGE?

I’m so lucky. I mean, it’s kind of a normal thing to me now just because I do it all the time, but I’ll always look back and remember how lucky I am to get to do all this stuff. Most kids my age are in college or going to school somewhere, and I’m very thankful to get to live the life I do.

QUALIFYING FOR THE NFR IS EVERYONE’S GOAL EACH YEAR, BUT WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE RODEOS OR OTHER THINGS YOU WANT TO DO IN YOUR CAREER?

Well, my brand new favorite rodeo is Reno but Houston is definitely in the top five. I haven’t been to Calgary yet, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say Calgary will also be a favorite. I would love to win Calgary, and I’d like to rodeo as long as Will Lowe has. Then, hopefully, I can retire and get a house on the hill with a couple of cows. I’d be a perfectly happy man, even if I’m lonely.

AT SOME POINT WHEN YOU STOP RODEOING, HOPEFULLY A LONG WAY DOWN THE LINE, WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?

I have my welding certificate and card, all that good stuff, so I’ll probably weld around. I might open a little welding shop or something like that. Hopefully, I don’t have to do that, but if all else fails, I will.

WHAT DO YOU AND THIS SUPER TIGHT-KNIT GROUP OF BAREBACK RIDERS DO WHEN YOU HAVE FREE TIME ON THE ROAD TOGETHER?

Well, not many other people do this, but it’s mine, Jake and Dean’s thing. We play hacky sack like no other people on the planet. We were going to show up to Greeley at 6:30 with the rodeo starting at 7:00, and this man pulled over on the side of the road so we could play hacky sack and get stretched out. That’s how dedicated we are to this game. Rodeo and hacky sack, that’s really all we live for.

WHAT IS ONE OF YOUR FAVORITE MEMORIES OF BEING ON THE ROAD SO FAR?

I don’t know if you’d call this a favorite memory, but it’s one we’ll remember forever. We blew a tire on the biggest highway in America in Los Angeles, and we broke down right in the middle of the road. We had to shut all ten lanes down, and we were just playing hacky sack on the side of the road while somebody fixed our tire. Everyone was mad and honking at us, but it was one of those funny memories we won’t soon forget.

WHEN YOU’RE NOT ON THE ROAD AND YOU GO HOME FOR A WHILE, WHAT DO YOU DO?

Well, let’s see. My van is my home, so I’m kind of always at home, but when I go to my mom and dad’s house, I just visit with family, and they ask lots of questions about my time on the road. I like to go fishing and hang out with my grandpa. He’ll teach me how to do leather work and stuff like that.

My dad, is a team roper and rodeoed all his life. My grandma on my dad’s side was a barrel racer. She was the IPRA World Champion Barrel Racer and went to the NFR in the 80s. My grandpa was a bulldogger, a really good bulldogger and my little sister is a barrel racer. She rides every day, and she’s about as wild as I am, so there’s no telling where she’ll go later on in life. WHO ARE SOME OF THE GUYS THAT YOU REALLY LOOK UP TO AND HAVE INSPIRED YOU TO DO WHAT YOU’RE DOING?

Hands down, Justin McDaniel. He won the world in bareback in 2008, and he’s been to the NFR a bunch. He’s helped me since I was 7 or 8 years old and taught me everything I know, so I have to give all the credit to that guy and my dad. My dad took me everywhere, and Justin taught me everything.

BEING A PROFESSIONAL RODEO ATHLETE IS A LOT OF FUN, BUT HOW DO YOU HANDLE THE NOT-SO-FUN ASPECTS LIKE NOT WINNING ALL THE TIME OR BEING HURT?

When you get jerked down on one, you can’t beat yourself up too bad because there’s probably a rodeo the next day you’re going to do good at, so you can’t hang your head too low. I try not to get too mad when I do terrible because there’s always another one.

I also really hate driving, so my traveling partners do most of the driving. I only drive when I absolutely have to. If they’re dead asleep or something, I’ll drive for a minute. IF YOU COULD GIVE SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO BE WHERE YOU ARE SOMEDAY ADVICE ABOUT WHAT IT’S LIKE TO LIVE THIS LIFESTYLE, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

First thing, you have to find someone that knows how to enter. I don’t know how to enter, but that’s why I have Dean who does all the entering for us.

And you better not have much to do outside of rodeo because when summer comes, you’re not going to be home for a couple of months. You have to be willing to put off what you have going on at home and concentrate on rodeo if you want to make it to the finals.

But, it is so much fun. Most of the time, we live a very rockstar lifestyle, I guess you could say. We go ride, go out at night, wake up, jump in a cold river and do it all over again.