ProRodeo Sports News - November 19, 2021

History Makers Mayfield, Solomon, Douch set mark in tie-down roping DIVERSITY

BY JOLEE JORDAN, Special to ProRodeo Sports News W hen Shad Mayfield captured the 2021 PRCA Tie Down Roping World Championship last season, he went into the record books as just the third African American cowboy to earn a ProRodeo world championship, joining bull rider Charles Sampson (1982) and eight-time world champion FredWhitfield (1991, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2005 in tie-down roping and all- around in 1999). He also sealed a family legacy. Thirty-five years prior to Mayfield’s crowning achievement, his father Sylvester, also a tie-down roper, made history as the first African American to qualify for the National Finals Rodeo in a timed-event. Sylvester qualified for the NFR in tie-down roping in 1985 and 1987. This year, there will be three African American cowboys competing in Las Vegas in tie-down roping, Mayfield, Cory Solomon, and John Douch, a first for ProRodeo. “I think this is going to bring new fans to the sport at the biggest level,” said Solomon, 31. “That’s the cool thing about it. I know rappers who have bought ranches not too far fromme. With guys like us making it, it is going to bring more attention to ProRodeo, which is good.” Mayfield appreciates the camaraderie the three cowboys have shared over the years and now the chance to rope on rodeo’s biggest stage together. “It’s great,” Mayfield, 20, said. “John and Cory and I are the best of friends. We grew up roping together.” All three will point out that they are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to other talented ropers out there who are African American cowboys, particularly in South Texas where both Douch and Solomon live. “There is so much talent here around the house,” said

Reigning PRCA World Champion Tie-Down Roper Shad Mayfield is in the running again in 2021. He heads into the NFR third in the PRCA | RAM World Standings. Robert Rosales photo

Douch, 24, who will be making his Wrangler NFR debut this year. “But there aren’t many who get to do what we do and have those opportunities.” “There are a ton of guys, especially down there where John lives in south Texas, who rope good. We are the only three who go hard at the rodeos and try for the NFR,” Mayfield said. Roping for a living and leaving home to be a ProRodeo cowboy are dreams that are only starting to seem possible for many of these ropers, a change that can be attributed in part to the example set by Solomon, Mayfield and Douch. “I’m from South Texas and ProRodeo was unheard of when I first

started,” said Solomon, who made his NFR debut in 2011. “I didn’t have the money or the horsepower. All I had was talent and God put something in me that gave me the drive.” “This isn’t about me,” Solomon continued. “People seeing me make it, I hope to give other people the drive to make it.” Despite their youth, Mayfield and Douch already grasp their own place in the evolution of the sport, picking up the torch from Solomon and those who came before him.

ProRodeo Sports News 11/19/2021

WRANGLER NATIONAL FINALS RODEO

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