ProRodeo Sports News - March 19, 2021

the 2020 NFR. “I don’t think we’re related since my family is all in east Texas,” saidWilliam, a resident of Charlotte, Texas. “We do have some of the same features and I used to wear my hair long, and he just seems like a lot of fun. I like people who are good at what they do, and those boys have a lot of flair. In rodeo there’s a lot of pressure on your body and your ego. You want to hold your status, and those boys do that really well. I don’t hear any complaining from them, and they win.” Rusty wasn’t sure if there was a connection. “I’m not going to say there’s no chance because we have family all over, like in Mississippi, so it’s possible,” Rusty said. “We look pretty similar, and he doesn’t look 32 years older than me.” William started roping when he was 12 and got into amateur rodeos two years later. After high school he hooked up with ProRodeo Hall of Famer Allen Bach and Dennis Tryan, a 1984 NFR team roping heeler and the father to current ProRodeo cowboys Travis, Clay and Brady. “It all just took off from there, and I wound up making the Finals and winning rookie of the year,” William said. “I had left the house with only $2,000, and it was a dream come true.” William won $195,968 during his ProRodeo career that ended nine years before Rusty’s dad was a rookie. “I left the Finals in 1989 and haven’t bought my card since,” William said, adding he was needed more at home. “I didn’t want to just go and compete, so I quit cold turkey in 1989.” Rusty narrowly missed out on learning about William when watching old NFR videos. “If I had watched the team roping, I would have found out earlier,” Rusty laughed. After retiring from ProRodeo competition, William has remained active in rodeo, making ropes for various companies in the 1990s. He has spent the last 11 years working in the Texas oil fields, meeting with property owners to request use of their land to get to drilling sites. “You get to be really nomadic, and rodeo helped me get better at talking to people,” William said. Rusty can relate. “I didn’t used to be able to talk to people very well,” Rusty said. “I think rodeoing helped me with having to do interviews, since getting out of your comfort zone gets you better at it.” NFR qualifications aside, winning the Reno (Nev.) Rodeo in 1986 is William’s proudest achievement. “The older you get, the better you were,” William laughed. William keeps busy with his grandsons Blaze (10), Ky (5) and Trace (4) from his daughter, Kaci, and her husband, Clint Johnson, a horse trainer. William was still throwing a rope at unsanctioned events until 2013 when arthritis in his hips got in the way. Rusty can relate to that too. “The arthritis thing in the hips must be in the name because I have early stages of it in my hips and I’m only 25,” Rusty said, adding that he previously broke his hip without realizing it and that set him up for the early stages of arthritis. “Anyone who loves rodeoing will do it until Father Time tells them, ‘No more.’” CROSSING PATHS Both Rustys have known a lot of the same people, just not at the same time.

Sue Rosoff photo

In 1988 William “Rusty” Wright was among the top ProRodeo team roping headers, competing at the NFR in 1984-87 and again in 1989.

Photo courtesy Rusty Wright William “Rusty” Wright, 57, credits his ProRodeo experience for helping his career in the Texas oil fields and is a fan of 25-year-old saddle bronc rider Rusty Wright.

ProRodeo Sports News 3/19/2021

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