ProRodeo Sports News February 16, 2024

PRORODEO CAREER

NFR pickup man Josh Edwards calls it a career after 25 years Mission Accomplished James Phifer photo ABOVE: Josh Edwards acknowledges the crowd at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo earlier this month. Edwards, who worked 25 years as a pickup man, worked his final PRCA rodeo in Fort Worth. AT RIGHT: Edwards displays the PRCA Pickup Man of the Year buckle he was awarded at the 2023 PRCA Awards Banquet in Las Vegas.

BY BRADY RENCK Special to ProRodeo Sports News A s far back as Josh Edwards can remember, his favorite thing about rodeo was calf roping. The skill required, the timing involved, it intoxicated him. He dreamed of making the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, dreamed of becoming a world

champion. He earned his ProRodeo card. Then, one day in 1999 his entire life changed. Edwards realized his favorite thing about rodeo was everything. Competing at an event where his future wife Kristi worked, Edwards was asked to step in as a pickup man at the Mesquite (Texas) Rodeo. What the heck, why not try it he figured. “When I started picking up it was like, ‘Wow, this is incredible!’ I loved it. I loved every aspect of it,” Edwards said. “I still got to rope. I was

ProRodeo Sports News 2/16/2024

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