ProRodeo Sports News - May 28, 2021

SHORT ROUND NFR average winner Pope returns from injury Set to Return

J ess Pope had a season to remember in 2020, winning the average at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo and finishing third in the PRCA | RAM World Standings with $220,029. This season Pope has had success – he was 16th in the May 25 world standings with $16,337 – but has been sidelined with a lower back injury since April 3 at the Riggin Rally Xtreme Broncs in Weatherford, Texas. Pope was set to return May 29 at the MSU-Northern PRCA Extreme Bares & Broncs Challenge in Havre, Mont. “The injury had been ongoing for a while, it started hurting at the rodeo in Kissimmee (Fla.), in February, but at the (Riggin’ Rally) it started hurting really, really bad,” said Pope, 23. “I could hardly walk. It’s my lower back, and I haven’t been on anything since the Riggin Rally. I got on the bucking machine (May 26) for the first time, and it went really well. I felt a lot better. I’ve been doing a lot of therapy on my back. The MRIs on my back showed the L5 had been cracked or fractured for a couple of years and I had no idea.

Pope

“When I was riding, I really wasn’t focusing on riding my bucking horse. I was focusing on how bad my back hurt. I chose to do rehab and it has been about strengthening all the smaller muscles right around my spine. They (the doctors) said this isn’t a career- ending injury, but I have to take care of it and watch it.” While Pope has been sidelined with his injury, he

graduated from Missouri Valley College in Marshall May 1 with a degree in public relations with a minor in business. “It was great to graduate, and now I’m excited to get back out there on the rodeo trail and see how things go,” Pope said. “I’ve changed up my workouts and stuff and I feel 100 percent. There’s still a lot of money to be won, and I don’t see why there would be any reason why I can’t be in the mix and get back to the NFR.”

Sowing Good Deeds applications now open This season, one rodeo committee has a chance to win a Massey Ferguson® tractor for the charitable work that committee does. As a proud sponsor of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, AGCO® Corporation, through its brands Hesston® and Massey Ferguson, recognize that PRCA-sanctioned rodeos contribute significant support for local, regional, and national charities and organizations.

Deeds initiative, want to raise awareness of these many local efforts and reward one PRCA committee each year whose impact goes above and beyond. Agco will share the stories of rodeo teams across the country who are Sowing Good Deeds in their communities and will reward one of those committees with a new tractor. The deadline to apply for the Sowing Good Deeds initiative is Sept. 15. The five finalists will be announced by Oct. 31. The Sowing Good Deeds initiative is open to all PRCA- sanctioned rodeo committees, regardless of size. Rodeos can enter at http://bit.ly/SowingGoodDeeds

ProRodeo Sports News 5/14/2021 These charitable efforts by rodeo committees are making a positive impact on members of the various communities. Hesston and Massey Ferguson, through its Sowing Good

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