PRORODEO Sports News | Roy Cooper 1955-2025 | May 2, 2025

COWBOY GRILLE

By Kensie Darst-Todd HOW’D YOU GET YOUR START IN RODEO? My dad always roped when I was growing up. I wrestled and played football, but around when I turned 12 or 13, I started to rope breakaway and steers. I then began to rope calves, and then, around 15, Brad Prather let me trip some steers on his horse. WHEN DID YOU KNOW YOU COULD MAKE A CAREER OUT OF RODEO? Last year, when I won the steer open at Claremore, Okla., Thomas Smith called me afterwards and told me that I could do a pretty good job at this and that I needed to buy my card to try to make the (NFSR) in my rookie year. WHY DID YOU DECIDE STEER ROPING WOULD BE YOUR EVENT? Well, I grew up in Pawhuska, Okla., which is the steer roping capital of the world, so it kind of just happened. his 2025 season with a 9.2-second win at Cooks Rodeo Days in Lubbock, Texas, earning $1,769. In February, he followed up with a clean sweep at the Yuma (Ariz.) Silver Spur Rodeo, winning both rounds and the average for $2,106. Most recently, O’Rourke added $2,494 with a 9.3-second run in the third round at the M.M. Fisher Jr. Memorial Steer Roping in Andrews, Texas. Riley O’Rourke, 20, from Skiatook, Okla., is 12th in the PRCA | Bill Fick Ford World Standings in steer roping. He opened RILEY O’ROURKE

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO GET YOUR PRCA CARD THIS SEASON? I completed my freshman year at NEO, and Coleman Proctor told me I needed to go to Western Oklahoma State College with Jesse Tierney, so I transferred to Western. Jess and Thomas Smith talked me into buying my card, and it was easy since I didn’t do anything else except rope steers. WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO LEARN DURING YOUR RESISTOL ROOKIE SEASON? I want to learn and go to different places. I don’t really get out of north Oklahoma much, so that will be fun. WHO’S SOMEONE YOU LOOK UP TO IN THE RODEO BUSINESS RIGHT NOW? There are probably four or five guys who help me out quite a bit. I attend college at Western, and Jess

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