ProRodeo Sports News - September 17, 2021

“Immediately, you started thinking about the people you love,” Brazile said. “I was 26 hours away frommy family at the time. My first thoughts were getting back to them. Are we going to have fuel stops? Are planes going to be flying? We didn’t know the answers to any of that stuff.” Brazile acknowledged it changed his thought process on some level about what it meant to be an American.

Team roping heeler Rich Skelton was in the midst of winning his fifth of eight world championships with header SpeedWilliams, and like Brazile and Branquinho, Skelton was in Pendleton on 9/11. “Back then, it wasn’t like today where you have social media and all these things,” said Skelton, who was

“You can’t stop what you’re doing. We as cowboys and everybody in that line of work, they stand up for what’s right and knowwhat’s right and wrong. ” – SCOTT SNEDECOR

inducted in the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 2018. “We didn’t know if we were going to be able to buy diesel fuel to get home. It was an eerie feeling because we really didn’t know what was going on. You felt bad for what had happened, but we didn’t have a lot of information. You had no idea what to believe.” Scott Snedecor, a four-time PRCA Steer Roping World Champion (2005, 2008 and 2017-18) stepped off a plane into a new world. “I just got off a plane in Pasco, Wash., when I learned of the attacks,” said Snedecor, who was 26 at the time. “Nobody really knew what was going on. It was almost like it wasn’t real. How did somebody do something like that? Then, you saw all the stuff on TV and the news channels how things unraveled, and you realized it really happened.” Rodeos moved on after the tragedy and cowboys kept competing in rodeos, which didn’t surprise Snedecor. “I always appreciated the military and everything they do for everybody,” Snedecor said. “It seems like people take it for granted most of the time, but then something like that happened and it opened your eyes to how much people really do for the country. “You can’t stop what you’re doing. We as cowboys and everybody in that line of work, they stand up for what’s right and know what’s right and wrong. We wanted to stand for what is right and believe in what is right.”

“The freedom and safety our military provides us with daily that we take for granted, and you definitely didn’t take for granted right then,” Brazile said. Like Brazile, five-time PRCA world champion steer wrester Luke Branquinho vividly recalled 9/11. “I was in a hotel room in Pendleton at the Oxford Suites,” said Branquinho, who was 21 at the time. “I was with my traveling partner Trav Cadwell and his wife, and we were in the room, and she came and hollered at us to come watch TV and watch everything that was going on. It was unbelievable seeing what was going on. It’s something you thought would never happen to our country. I was heartbroken for all the people who lost their lives and their families. We were also near Umatilla (Ore., which had a weapons depot), and people were saying they were going to come over and get the depot in Umatilla. It was crazy. I don’t remember any rodeos getting canceled. We just kept moving forward in a different way and kept going to all the rodeos. “You could see it not only with the (PRCA) cowboys, but also as a nation, a greater appreciation of patriotism. People were rooting for Americans to go and take care of what happened to us. The patriotism we had after that gives me chills even now.”

PRCA ProRodeo photo by Steve Gray Competitors at the 2020 NFR in Arlington, Texas, observe a moment of silence during a tribute to 9/11. Sept. 11, 2021, marked 20 years since that day that changed the landscape of the world.

ProRodeo Sports News 9/17/2021

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