ProRodeo Sports News - April 20, 2018

OAKDALE SADDLE CLUB RODEO

All In BY MATT NABER T ie-down roper Kyle Dickens always believed he had the skills to rodeo full time. He just didn’t have the money. his ProRodeo dreams. It paid off for the Colorado roper when he won the Oakdale (Calif.) Saddle Club Rodeo on April 15. “I didn’t want to wonder, ‘What if,’ when I’m 40,” Dickens said. “I liked my job but wasn’t gung-ho to get out of bed and go do it every day. I have a good degree and work history, so I can find work if I need to, but the chance to do this is more limited. “It’s tough to walk away from a good job with benefits, so on paper it made no sense to walk away from that and go make zero guaranteed dollars, but they (his parents) supported it. The majority of my friends all thought it was pretty cool to try it.” So he saved for several years before quitting his job to pursue

Kyle Dickens, 26, collected his first big win of the 2018 season at Oakdale by going for 17.9 seconds on two head.

Dickens quits job to rodeo full time, wins Oakdale

Kyle’s not flying solo. His older brother and fellow tie-down roper, Joey, is by his side. The Dickens brothers quit their jobs at Colorado State University at Fort Collins, in January to pursue ProRodeo

Fernando Sam-Sin photo

full time. Kyle, 26, was a controls technician for HVAC systems and did computer programming and project engineering. Joey, 28, did a similar job at CSU, but his position had more electrical and field work with some programming. “We’re idiots,” Joey Dickens laughed. Gathering up the finances to rodeo full time meant seven-and-a-half years of working at CSU, part of which was while enrolled as a student. Kyle

TOPS AT OAKDALE — April 14-15

ALL-AROUND COWBOY Chant DeForest $3,060

BAREBACK RIDING 1. David Peebles ........................... 88 pts. 2. Richmond Champion .................... 83.5 3. Jamie Howlett .................................. 81 4. Wyatt Bloom ................................. 80.5

STEER WRESTLING 1. Blake Knowles ............. 9.6 sec. on two 2. Billy Boldon .................................. 10.3 3. Matt Reeves .................................. 10.6 4. J.D. Struxness .............................. 10.7

TEAM ROPING 1. Mitchell/O’Brien Cooper 13.9 sec. on two 2. K. Driggers/J. Nogueira ................ 14.3 3. R. Minor/B. Minor ......................... 14.4 4. J. Torres/J. Torres ........................ 15.9

Tie-down roping and team roping

ProRodeo Sports News 4/20/18

ProRodeo.com

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