ProRodeo Sports News 2023 Year-End Edition

2023 YEAR IN REVIEW

MARCH 25 – Bareback rider Keenan Hayes kept what would be a record-breaking regular season going, by winning Rodeo Austin. He earned $14,316 at the rodeo and won in the finals with an 86.5-point ride on Beutler & Son Rodeo’s Black Kat.

APRIL 9 – Seven time PRCA World Champion Bull

APRIL

Rider Sage Kimzey, right, who had his 2022 season cut short because of left shoulder surgery, was in top form, winning the San Angelo (Texas) Xtreme Bulls. It represented Kimzey’s PRCA record 11th career PRCA Division 1 Xtreme Bulls win. He earned $12,921. APRIL 12 – The PRCA and Rural Media Group announced an expanded schedule of PRCA rodeos on The Cowboy Channel, RFD-TV, The PRCA on Cowboy Channel Plus, and The Cowgirl Channel. Thee

PRCA ProRodeo photo by Click Thompson

DEC. 10 – Stetson Wright, above, capped his Wrangler National Finals Rodeo for the ages, setting the single-season PRCA

DEC. 2022

Ric Andersen photo

earnings record ($927,940), all-around single-season record ($758,829), bull riding single-season at $592,144 and bull riding earnings at the NFR at $271,545, counting ground money. He upped his world championship total to seven. JAN. 7 – The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association announced that 505 Southwestern was a new National Partner of the PRCA. As part of the agreement, 505 Southwestern is the Official Green Chile and Salsa of the PRCA’s Xtreme Bulls. During the 2023 season, 505 Southwestern activated the World’s Largest Green Chile Roaster in Reno, Nev., Salinas, Calif., and Pendleton, Ore. JAN. 22 – Tie-down roper Riley Webb got his single-season record campaign rolling by winning the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver. He earned $6,937 in the Mile High City. JANUARY FEB. 23 – The PRCA announced that winning the 2023 Permit Finals provides a bonus for contestants. Each event winner of the Permit Finals, Oct. 7-9 in Waco, Texas, would secure entry into RodeoHouston in 2024. FEB. 25 – Bareback rider Leighton Berry wins the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, with a 93-point score, announced before a sellout crowd at the AT&T Center. It was good enough to not only win the rodeo but tie the arena record that was set by Clayton Biglow in 2021. Bull riding winner Jeff Askey was the top money earner in San Antonio with a $26,833 payday. FEBRUARY FEB. 2 – Rocker Steiner, who turned 19 in December, won the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo at Dickies Arena.

expanded schedule totaled more than 900 PRCA performances annually over the three Rural Media Group television networks and the subscription based PRCA on Cowboy Channel Plus App. Of the 900-plus PRCA rodeo performances televised and livestreamed, 150 PRCA performances were exclusively televised on The Cowgirl Channel, which launched on March 1. The mutually agreed upon schedule of PRCA rodeos on the RMG Networks will run through 2028. APRIL 19 – Saddle bronc rider Dawson Hay won the San Angelo (Texas) Rodeo with 178.5 points on two head. Hay solidified the win with his 88-point ride on Championship Pro Rodeo’s Secret Agent in the finals. He departed San Angelo with $15,858.

MAY 1 – Scott Snedecor picked a good day to have a good day in Torrington, Wyo. The four-time

MAY

PRCA Steer Roping World Champion added the National Circuit Finals Steer Roping title to his resume. The Fredericksburg, Texas, cowboy clocked a 10.8-second run in the four-man, sudden death finals to capture the win by a tenth of a second over Cody Lee at the Goshen County Pavilion. Snedecor left Torrington after earning $11,112, an event record.

Snedecor

MAY 7 – ProRodeo Hall of Famer Larry Mahan, arguably the biggest superstar in rodeo history, passed away. He was 79. Mahan was the all-around world champion in 1966-70 and 1973. He also was the bull riding champ in 1965 and 1967. He qualified for the NFR a combined 26 times from 1964-75 in bareback riding, saddle bronc riding and bull riding. MAY 27 – Following that blueprint, Sage Newman produced a big win in a career spangled with them. The 25-year-old ranked fifth in the world last season after finishing 11th at the NFR, and showed why in a special event in Palmer, Alaska. Newman posted an 89-point ride on Calgary Stampede’s Borderline Untimely at the 49th State PRCA Xtreme Broncs, securing the crown and the $6,289 top prize.

MARCH 19 – Bull rider Ky Hamilton is the top money earner at RodeoHouston, claiming $67,750. All the winners at RodeoHouston,

MARCH

bareback rider Leighton Berry; steer wrestler Dalton Massey; team ropers Rhen Richard/Jeremy Buhler; saddle bronc rider Sage Newman; tie-down roper Riley Webb and Hamilton, went on to qualify for the 2023 Wrangler NFR in December.

ProRodeo Sports News 12/22/2023

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