PRORODEO Sports News - October 3, 2025

MANAGER'S MESSAGE

WITH PRORODEO REGULAR SEASON OVER, REAL FUN BEGINS By Tracy Renck

S eemingly in the blink of an eye the 2025 PRORODEO regular season has ended. Once the audit is complete around mid-October the Top 15 competitors in each event – bareback riding, steer wrestling, team roping headers and heelers, saddle bronc riding, tie-down roping, barrel racing, and bull riding – will be vying for coveted gold buckles at the 2025 Wran gler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. All the action will unfold from Dec. 4-13 at the Thom as & Mack Center. Lifelong dreams will be realized, and excitement will be at a fever pitch. There’s nothing like watching the grand entry at the NFR and seeing roughstock cowboys vie for glory in those famed yellow bucking chutes. There’s life in the real world, and there is the NFR. This is the 40th anniversary of the NFR taking place in Las Vegas, which will only add to the drama and prestige of the event. For those keeping score at home, 40 days from the start of the 2025 NFR is Oct. 25. As the days tick down closer to Vegas watch out for special stories and videos on proro deo.com and PRORODEO’s social media platforms talking about the NFR in Vegas. Know this: The cowboy is a relic of sorts; a living memo rial to a unique and colorful past. He still rides and he still ropes. But his actions are often a matter of pride and choice, rather than necessity. He is the rodeo cowboy, and he is an athlete like no other. One of those stellar athletes in 1985 was Lewis Feild. Feild won the PRCA Bareback World Championship and All-Around World Championship. Early in the season, Feild decided he would settle for nothing less than the coveted world titles. Field accomplished his goals. He won the all-around with $130,347 edging legendary team roper Clay O’Brien Cooper ($126,749). In bareback riding, Feild doubled his pleasure earning $103,247 to outdistance fellow future ProRodeo Hall of Famer Clint Corey ($99,271). In 1986, the PRCA media guide summed up why he was successful in the arena. “I think part of the reason I win is because I’m not hap py unless I do,” Feild said. As Adam West used to say as Batman, ‘Truer words are never spoke.’ Winning was in Field’s DNA. He added three more world championships to his resume, the 1986-87 All

Lewis Feild was one of the top cowboys ever. Now several others are chasing the same glory he found at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. (PRCA File Photo)

Around World Championships and the 1986 Bareback Riding World Championship. Feild passed away Feb. 15, 2016, at the age of 59 from pancreatic cancer. His son, Kaycee Field, followed in his father’s foot steps and set the gold standard for PRORODEO bare back riders winning six world championships in (2011 14 and 2020-21). Rodeo world champions and family are interwoven. Look no further than present day with the Wrights. Ryder will be back in Vegas looking for world championship No. 4 in saddle bronc riding and Stetson, after a year off with a hamstring injury, is back to try and win three world championships in all-around, saddle bronc riding and bull riding. Stetson’s world championship count is at eight. When the NFR moved to the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas in 1985 it became a “Whole New Ballgame.” That Ballgame is now bigger, better and more lu crative than ever and it will be a joy to see who walks out of the arena this year as the history making gold buckle winners.

TRACY RENCK , Manager of Communications and Media

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