ProRodeo Sports News - May 15, 2020

seemed like everybody was having a hard time keeping a job or getting a job, and I was able to call a guy like Shane.” Petska introduced Rogers toWilcox about eight years ago. “I met Shane through (team roping header) Brock Hanson,” Petska said. “Erich needed a diesel tank put in his truck, and I gave him Shane’s number and told him he does a good job. He (Rogers) went down there to get work done on his truck and they ended up becoming buddies, and we all became friends. “Erich is a hard worker there’s no doubt about it. He’s also just a lot of fun to be around.” Wilcox struck up a friendship with Rogers the first time they met. Wilcox has ventured on the rodeo trail with Rogers. “I’ve been to Cheyenne (Wyo.) with him, and I have driven his truck all over God’s green Earth,” Wilcox said. “I flew to Reno (Nev.) and fixed the wheel on his trailer. We’re just buddies. I help him, and he helps me.” Rogers is more than a great friend toWilcox – he’s a model employee. “He’s the best,” Wilcox said. “It doesn’t matter what it is, you put him in there and he will get the job done. We had a truck that fell into a little pond headed into a golf course, and I called him and said, this is what we have, and he said, OK. He assessed the situation when he got there, and he went swimming in the pond and hooked things up and got the truck out. He’s always there to lend a hand, even when it’s his day off. I wish I had about three more of him.” Being a tow-truck driver is something Rogers enjoys, and he takes pride in doing it well. “Shane and I are good friends, but whenever I go to work, he’s my boss,” Rogers said. “I do what he tells me to do. There are some times when things get a little hairy around him. He’s real precise and particular about his stuff, and when you fumble up a little bit, he dang sure makes you know it. It’s a different feel than rodeoing and working for yourself. You get a different view or outlook when you work for somebody.” This season, Rogers is roping again with Payden Bray, who was the 2019 PRCA | Resistol Rookie of the Year as a team roping heeler. “I’m just playing it day-by-day,” Rogers said about the uncertainty of the PRCA rodeo schedule. And, he has no plans of giving up his side job. “Whenever I’m home in the wintertime I know I’m going to go to (Shane’s) shop and hang out with him,” Rogers said. “Usually he might need a driver, and I will help him out. If he needs anything, I’m a phone call away for him.”

Photo courtesy Erich Rogers Erich Rogers poses with one of the trucks he drives for Elite Towing in Casa Grande, Ariz.

PRCA ProRodeo file photo Team roping heeler Cory Petska, left, and header Erich Rogers compete during the 2017 Wrangler NFR. Petska and Rogers won the respective team roping heeler and header world championships that season.

ProRodeo Sports News 5/15/2020

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