ProRodeo Sports News - April 28, 2023

PRORODEO TRADITION

BY JOLEE JORDAN, Special to ProRodeo Sports News S omewhere out there is a photograph of Stace and Sheila Smith taken at their first ProRodeo as PRCA stock contractors in Goliad, Texas, in which Sheila is holding their young son, Riggin, in her arms. Fast forward two decades to the final Sunday of the 2023 edition of the Goliad County Fair and Rodeo and now-20-year-old Riggin is running the show on behalf of Stace Smith Pro Rodeos. “I was nervous as could be,” Smith admitted with a laugh. “Once that gate opened on the first horse, I knew we’d be good but being back there during the opening, timing off the videos, sending the girls with the flags . . . I had so many notes on one piece of paper!” At the end of the performance, Smith took a look at the total production time and found it was right in line with the previous performances, which ran under the direction of Stace Smith Pro Rodeos’ General Manager Cody Kidd. “I looked at the time and thought, ‘heck ya!’ It was the same as Cody,” Smith said. “It was great to have the first time be in Goliad. That committee is super supportive and down to help.” Ten days later in Huntsville, Texas, Smith ran his second solo performance, giving his dad and Kidd the day off. “It was a piece of cake,” he joked. Clearly, the younger Smith is primed to continue the legacy begun by his father, which has included tying Harry Vold for the most all-time PRCA Stock Contractor of the Year awards at 11. But despite his lineage – and most appropriate rodeo name – Riggin wasn’t totally immersed in rodeo for a big chunk of his life. “When I was real little, I wanted to rodeo so bad,” Smith said. “But my dad wouldn’t let me until I got older. He said rodeo would be James Phifer photo Horses stand by the gate at one of the entrances to Stace Smith Pro Rodeos in Malakoff, Texas. The plan is for Riggin Smith to start running more of the award-winning stock contracting firm. Family Lineage there forever. “By the time I got old enough to try, I had discovered sports.” Instead of riding bucking horses or throwing steers in high school rodeo, Smith became an elite athlete, all-state in football and baseball. During his senior year, he helped his baseball team win a state title. He also got heavily involved in motocross to the point his dad built a course on their ranch outside Malakoff, Texas, alongside the rodeo arena. “Stace stepped back some (from the rodeo company) when Riggin was playing sports; he didn’t care if he (Riggin) rodeoed or not and just super backed him in whatever he wanted to do,” Kidd noted. Kidd has been with the company for about fifteen years and has watched Riggin and younger brother Rylan grow up. When Riggin graduated, he had choices to make. Stace Smith passing the torch to his son

ProRodeo Sports News 4/28/2023

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