ProRodeo Sports News - April 3, 2020

PSN: How was your second trip to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo different than the first one? Luke: It was more relaxing this past year. I wasn’t as nervous, and I was a little more focused and more prepared to try and win some money. I was scared to death the first time. I had never been to the Finals before, not even as a spectator. I wanted to go to the Wrangler NFR the first time as a contestant, so I didn’t know what to expect. I’d watched it on TV since I was 10 years old, but I wanted to see it in person for the first time when I rode into the arena through the alley in the grand entry, not from the stands. PSN: What was it like being a major player in the world title race all the way until the end and then finishing second? Luke: It was unbelievable; I never believed I would have a chance to be a world champion. When it came down to the last day, it was a close race, and to be there with the quality of headers I was roping with was probably the second-scariest moment of my life. The first one was the first time I went to the Wrangler NFR in 2008. PSN: You’re the second Wrangler NFR qualifier from South Carolina (the last one being steer wrestler Charles Thompson in 1977). Can you tell us how you got started roping in a southeastern state? Luke: There’s a lot of roping in South Carolina. The people down the road from us started one of the first roping clubs in the state at the Big Willow Roping Arena. My dad went down there to watch one day, and the next week he was down there roping. I started going with him, riding my pony, and before long, I was roping also. Right about that time, team roping really started getting big around there, so I got started at the right time. PSN: Tell us about your family. Luke: My dad, Luke, and my mom, Debbie, own a construction company in South Carolina, and I have two younger brothers. Jay is 32, and Cody is 25. They all work for the company. PSN: You’ve roped with some handy heelers in your PRCA career, including Martin Lucero, Jade Corkill and Allen Bach. How do you go about finding your partners? Luke: Well, I lucked into roping with Allen at the end of 2007. I was roping with York Gill, and I wasn’t doing a very good job for him, so he decided to go home and finish his last semester of college after Cheyenne (Wyo). Chad Masters had talked to Allen about it, and Allen didn’t need but a little bit more money to secure his spot in the Finals. I called and talked to him and went to practice with him, and that was my turning point right there. Roping with Jade worked out like a fairy tale. We had buddied together all year and were really good friends, so when it came time for the Finals, we were about the last two who didn’t partner up, so it worked out great. Martin and I got to practice a lot together in the winter of 2008. We got to know each other, and last winter at Austin, Texas, we got to rope together. He is the greatest partner a guy could ask for. He takes care of everything. He does our entering, our trades in PROCOM and most of the driving; you have to beat him to the gas pump or buy him dinner when he’s not paying attention because he’s always trying to pay for everything. He’s always trying to do more than he’s supposed to. He’s an awesome person to be around, and people like him are few and far between. PSN: You have said that roping with Allen Bach was one of the greatest things that ever happened to you. Can you share why? Luke: He never has a negative attitude. If I missed a few, he would always tell me, “Our time will come.” He would say that we’re practicing hard and that good things come to the guys who practice and try hard. He taught me not to get caught up in the mental game of rodeo, and when you’re missing and not drawing well, it’s easy to get down. I got to learn how to treat roping like a job. You work at it all day, and when you get to a rodeo, you’re prepared. He always says it’s just a rodeo and that there’s life outside of rodeo. He’s the happiest guy in the world. PSN: Tell us about your horses, Slim Shady and P.J. Luke: In the summer of 2007, my horse got sick and foundered, so my good friend Keven Daniel let me use Slim Shady. I liked him, so I bought him from Keven. He’s been a blessing, and getting on that horse was another pivotal moment in my career. I bought P.J. in the summer of 2009 from Justin Parish. They both are a lot alike. I can ride one in a round at San Antonio and then switch and ride the other one. It helps keep them fresh, and I don’t have to push one or the other hard. PSN: If you could offer any piece of advice to a young team roper wanting to start traveling full time in the PRCA, what would it be? Luke: Take the first $2,000 you’re going to spend going down the road and spend it on learning from the best, like Chad Masters, Allen (Bach) or Martin (Lucero), and really listen to what they have to tell you. They’ll teach you how to win, how to ride your horse and how to handle cattle right. PSN: Living with World Champion Chad Masters had to be great. Do you feed off each other in the practice pen and traveling down the road? Luke: In the fall of 2007, I was lucky enough to live with Chad Masters for about eight months. I knew everything that I was doing wasn’t good enough. I could win here or there, but I wasn’t consistent. He helped me in every way possible, from the way I rode my horse, to my roping style. I changed everything so I could handle things the way Chad, Trevor Brazile and Jake Barnes do. I went to listening and not arguing, and it helped me 100 percent. I bought a place not too far from him this past fall. PSN: What was the last movie you went to see? Luke: It’s Complicated . PSN: What’s the one thing you refuse to eat? Luke: Any kind of fish, including shellfish. PSN: If you had to put money on a PRCA header in an arm wrestling match, who would it be? Luke: Todd Arthur, he’s big and strong!

LUKE BROWN

When you think about the state of South Carolina, you wouldn’t usually associate it with team roping. But as chance would have it for South Carolina’s Luke Brown, a trip his father took to a neighbor’s house led to Brown getting his start at a small roping club. He worked to hone his craft and has now become an elite header, qualifying for the last two Wrangler National Finals Rodeos and finishing second in the world in 2009. Brown credits his success to the great mentors he’s surrounded himself with and eagerly takes their advice and experience to heart.

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ProRodeo Sports News 4/3/2020 SN 2/19/2010

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