ProRodeo Sports News - June 25, 2021

Both father and son knew that the guy roping the calves in the branding pen had it a bit easier than those working the fire and irons on the ground. “So, he got me a sawhorse and told me to figure out how to catch, lay a trap under them, so I didn’t have to be on the ground.” Beck enjoyed working alongside his father and cowboying but didn’t begin to compete until his teens and wasn’t in ProRodeo. But he used the college rodeo route to get his education and made a couple of College National Finals Rodeos to boot. He also bought his PRCA permit and made the 2006 Prairie Circuit Finals Rodeo. After finishing college, getting married and leaving his home state of Oklahoma for Moville, Iowa, Robin’s hometown, Beck said it was his wife who urged the couple to take the leap to ProRodeo. “She had a good horse and wanted to go. I said, ‘Nope, I’d just as soon stay home,’” he laughed. “But I went with her that year she was on her permit and started thinking maybe I should be entered too. “And I didn’t want to sit home by myself.” Robin went on to qualify for the RAMNational Circuit Finals Rodeo. In 2013, Beck teamed up with Ryan Von Ahn, a partnership that produced four consecutive circuit championships.

rodeos allow me to do that. “I love that I can be home all week working and roping, then go on the weekend to the rodeos and come home and work on things with the young horses again.” “He loves helping others and puts on some roping schools, too,” Robin said. “It’s fun to watch him teaching not only roping but horsemanship, too.” Both Becks appreciate the opportunity for family time that rodeo has afforded them over the years. “We’re so busy with everything at home so when you’re trapped in a vehicle going to the rodeo, you’re forced – but in a good way – to be together without being distracted by work,” Robin said. Beck concurs. “I told Robin, it’s not near as much fun when you don’t go,” he said. “But my little boy always asks, ‘What day do we leave this week?’ He’s all about it.” Robin notes that Beck works hard and plays hard. “He gives 100% to everything he does, work or play, and I appreciate that he’s teaching our kids that quality, too,” she said. “It’s what makes him successful.”

While the rodeo bug had hit, Beck still wasn’t interested in going full time. He started a feedlot, which keeps him busy fromOctober through

May, conveniently leaving the summer months – the hotbed of the Great Lakes rodeo season – open and free to rope. Robin retired her good horse to the broodmare band and is now riding her offspring and not rodeoing as much. “We’ve switched gears with him going now and me not entering,” she said. The couple have two children, son, Tyan, 10, and daughter, Tayla, 6. “We kind of divide and conquer now ... my little boy loves to come to the rodeos with me, and

“The most fun for me is starting the young horses and getting them going. I really like it up here because I can take a different horse to each rodeo.”

– J.W. BECK

Tayla, she’s just eaten up with barrel racing, so she wants to go with Robin because they have peewees at the barrel races for her,” Beck said. In 2017, Beck began roping with Adam Rose and the duo won the circuit title. They’ve roped together off- and-on ever since and are making a run at another circuit championship in 2021 as the current standings leaders after winning a couple of rodeos and placing third or better at seven events in the early going of the circuit year. “It’s a goal for sure, plus, you can win enough at our summer rodeos to qualify for the winter rodeos, and I will go to those,” Beck said, adding that doesn’t mean he wants to head out full time. “The weird part is that I won $12,000 at San Antonio one year and had like $15,000 won for the season at that point and I still came home.” An educator at heart, Beck enjoys training young horses as well as teaching young people how to rope. Rodeoing part time allows him the freedom to do those things. “The most fun for me is starting the young horses and getting them going,” he said. “I really like it up here because I can take a different horse to each rodeo … I’ve always got a bunch of young ones that need to be seasoned, and our circuit

Photo courtesy J.W. Beck Tyan Beck, 8, sits next to his father, J.W., at a rodeo in Moville, Iowa. J.W., a standout roper in the PRCA circuit system, loves the circuit system because it allows him to spend more time with his family.

ProRodeo Sports News 6/25/2021

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