ProRodeo Sports News - August 19, 2022

PRORODEO COWBOYS

Derrick Begay, left, and partner T.J. Brown competed at the inaugural NFR Open powered by RAM. The duo finished fourth and earned $11,516 in Colorado Springs, Colo. Click Thompson photo

Derrick Begay’s legacy on the reservation A Way of Life

BY TANNER BARTH D errick Begay grew up in a small community on the Navajo reservation in Northeast Arizona, where rodeo was not just a sport, but a way of life. A simple Google search will tell you the most recent population of Seba Dalkai, Ariz., is 72 people. So, with nine trips to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo under his belt you’d imagine Begay is a popular figure in the community. “Rodeoing and the western cultural is just a way of life out here for us,” said Begay, 38. “When I began my rodeo career I never really did it for the money or the fame, it’s just something I really like doing.” The veteran team roper said even though the sport of rodeo was

“So, it’s really important for me to try to be the guy I am and try to show them like hey there is a chance. “Not just in rodeo, in anything else you want to do in life. I tell them and want to show them if I can do it, they also have a great chance of being who they want to be.” He was quick to credit his rodeo roots for his success inside and outside of the arena. “That’s where I got started and I owe a lot to Indian rodeo,” he said. “That’s where I learned how to win, learned how to rodeo and it’s something that I still go and rope at every day.” From a dream, to reality. He hopes this is just the beginning of sharing his love for a sport that’s given so much to him. “It was something that I always just dreamed of doing, but to live it out and think back, it’s pretty neat,” Begay said.

engrained in their lives at a young age, there was always a choice with what they wanted to do in life. Rodeo just won out in the long run. “My whole family did it and that was the case for a lot of guys. We all had a choice with what we wanted to do, but we just grew into it,” he said. “It’s something that I just really enjoyed doing. It’s a story you hear a lot, but when it comes to rodeo and it’s in your blood, it’s just something that you have to do.” Now, at 38 years old he’s accomplished more in the sport than he ever could’ve imagined. He’s won rodeos all across the country and earned nearly $1.5 million in his 19-year ProRodeo career. Showing kids that with a rope and a dream anything is possible. “I mean I was once one of them, one of those kids with a dream on the reservation,” Begay said.

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