ProRodeo Sports News - Sept. 4, 2020

COWBOYS & BUSINESS

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Arthur (Texas) for Hurricane Rita. The sights and smells don’t go away from you after a hurricane. Right now, I’m going through Hurricane Laura. We have a Plan A, Plan B and Plan C. You need to be able to change your plan immediately. Sometimes it is too late to change your plan and you have to ride that bronc all the way through. “I’ve been in 75 to 80 mph winds with no place to stop, and I have to keep going,” Bell said. “I have been in fog so thick you could cut it with a knife, and all I could do was run by radar. I was stuck in fog for 24 hours one time and had to keep going.” Since Bell began this career there have been plenty of changes, some as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001. “The pressure to make sure you’re right 100% of the time has increased,” Bell said. “You constantly have to be vigilant out here. We have planned protocols for security now. You always have to be aware of what’s going on around you. 9/11 was a game changer in my industry. It woke people up to what can happen out here.” Bell’s objective is to toil in obscurity. “My goal is to make sure nobody knows who I am,” he said. “If people know who I am, something bad has happened. We want people to see us and wave to us on the bank as we go by and honk the horn. We don’t want them to see us on the news. There’s so much product moved by water you don’t even realize it, and we are the safest mode of transportation there is. “The rodeo mindset is what has made me successful at this. The can-do attitude and wanting to be the best at what I do.” Like most cowboys, Bell grew up rodeoing. “My father was a schoolteacher, and during the summers we would take off and go rodeoing,” Bell said. “I got the love of rodeoing from him and my mom (Linda), who had a card in the GRA (Girls Rodeo Association).” Bell’s job as a tow boat captain consumes most of his time. But, when he does come home to Floresville, Texas, 30 minutes from San Antonio, he ventures out to rope. “One of my favorite things I tell people is I get to play BELL KEEPS ROPING

Photo courtesy Jason Bell Jason Bell and his wife, Nicole, pose for a photo. Nicole is Bell’s supporter when he goes out on the rodeo trail. The couple lives in Floresville, Texas.

said. Tyson Durfey, the 2016 PRCAWorld Champion Tie-down Roper, agreed with Beaver. “Jason is a very unique individual,” Durfey said. “He’s one of those guys where the sky’s the limit and opportunity is on every corner. He’s very happy-go-lucky. I talk to him a lot about his tow boat captain stuff. It’s a high-pressured job, and I think the attitude he has serves him well in his job. He told me a saying a couple of years ago, ‘Anything is possible if you’re just a little bit delusional.’ “That saying has always stuck with me because to do what we do and do what he does, you have to be a little bit delusional in the fact that you achieve what you want to achieve and get done what you want to get done.” Bell enjoys being around ropers like Durfey, Westyn Hughes, Ty Harris, Tuf Cooper, Clint Cooper, Cooper Mathews, Charlie Gibson and Scott Kormos. “These guys bend over backwards to make sure I know the start, know the calf and have a push,” Bell said. “When I get to the rodeo, I’m fresh off the boat and most likely haven’t gotten to ride my horse, much less practice. That’s what makes rodeo so special, no matter what era you are from, cowboys (are) helping cowboys. These guys to me are what rodeo is all about. It’s the same as being in my boat, everyone looking out for each other.”

cowboy two weeks every other month,” Bell said. “I will win a little bit here and there,” Bell said. “I’m 52 years old. Roping against guys like Tuf Cooper makes it difficult. My era was Joe Beaver, Roy Cooper and Mike Arnold. I still love to rope, and I’m going to back in the corner and keep running at them as long as I can.” Bell’s wife, Nicole, is supportive of his rodeo endeavors. “My wife and I were high school sweethearts,” Jason said. “We both took different paths and found each other 10 years ago. We’ve been peas in a pod ever since.” Beaver, a ProRodeo Hall of Famer, is one of Bell’s friends. “I’ve known Jason since he was probably 12 years old,” Beaver said. “He’s the biggest-hearted good guy, a crazy guy who speaks his mind and does his own thing. He’s as good of a guy who you would want to meet, and he’s a highly intelligent guy. A lot of people in rodeo know Bell because he’s a unique individual. As a roper, he’s slow and he doesn’t win much, but he has a good time doing it. That’s what life is about. You live it how you want to, and he likes to rope.” Bell recently started arriving at rodeos in style, driving a 1976 Cadillac Eldorado pulling a 1973 Grunwald 1-horse in-line trailer that he bought from ProRodeo Hall of Famer Olin Young. “That’s just Bell, that’s what you expect when you see him,” Beaver

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