ProRodeo Sports News - September 2, 2022

with school sports. Garrett plays football and baseball, like his dad, while Levi plays baseball and tennis. “I don’t know anything about tennis so somebody else is teaching him that,” Lowe laughed. Lowe is divorced from the boys’ mother, Tiffani, and gets time with the kids every other week. “We try to do more fun stuff, less rodeo,” he said. “Camping, shooting, stuff like that. They’re both really good in school so they’ll have projects like building an F1 model car using 3D printing for an engineering class. “It’s pretty cool.” So far, the boys haven’t shown interest in following in their dad’s footsteps into rodeo. And boy, are those footsteps are big. Throughout his 20-year professional career, Lowe has once held most of the records available in the sport, from single season earnings toWrangler NFR earnings and even a share of the highest-marked ride in ProRodeo history, a sparkling 94-point effort aboard Kesler Rodeo’s Sky Reach at the ProRodeo Tour Finale in Omaha, Neb., in 2003. Not only was that one of the best rides in the history of the sport, right up until Rocker Steiner broke the record this year, but it earned Lowe the second of three straight championships at the Tour Finales that year, another record. Those Finale wins, six total in three years, along with the world record ride come to mind for Lowe when asked for his highlights thus far. “Those Finale wins, Sky Reach,” he said. “Mosbrucker’s Magic Wars (Lowe had a 91.5-point ride to win Round 10 of the 2007 NFR, tying the all time high marked ride for the NFR at the time and carrying him to the average record as well.)

“When I go, I go to win,” he said. “It’s just only when I feel like going.” In a career that’s clearly not done, Lowe has earned $2,759,448, placing him 12th overall on the all-time list. He was the Rookie of the Year in 2002, qualifying for his first Wrangler NFR and finishing third in the world standings. In addition to the Tour Finales and the Wrangler NFR, in which he won the average in both 2006 and 2007, Lowe has laid claim to championships at all the biggest rodeos fromHouston to Calgary, from Fort Worth to Pendleton, Ore. Lowe’s sometimes traveling partners are Jayco Roper and Mark Kreder. Roper, 21, is on the bubble for his first Wrangler NFR this year; his association with Lowe is another of the positives Lowe points out about the longevity of his time in ProRodeo. “I’ve been able to ride with several different generations,” he said. “When I started, I got to ride with Clint Corey, Larry Sandvick, Hawkins, Jeter, all those guys.” “Then in my time, I hadWes (Stevenson), Royce (Ford) and Tom (McFarland),” he said of his hauling group, who called themselves the “Wolf Pack.” Lowe has been involved with Stace Smith’s annual Thanksgiving roughstock school since its inception and has enjoyed getting the first peak at the future superstars. “Tilden (Hooper) came to the first Thanksgiving school, I think he was maybe 16. I’ve had the chance to see him and Kaycee (Feilld) as they’ve risen through the ranks . . . I remember Jess Pope (current world standings leader) coming to one of our schools in Kansas when he was only like seven or eight years old and we put him on ponies,” Lowe said. “Now, he’s winning the world and is a great ambassador for our sport.” He jokes about having to “relearn everyone’s names” every few years. Despite the soreness and the constant stream of new, young talent, Lowe is nowhere near done adding to his legend in the sport. “I plan on quite a few more good rides,” he said.

“I’ve also had some good rides in Cheyenne over the years.” That includes 2022, where Lowe won a round of preliminary

competition and advanced all the way to the Finals. Most recently, he won the XIT Rodeo & Reunion in Dalhart, Texas, on Aug. 6. Lowe had an 86-point ride on Hampton Pro Rodeo’s Ruffled Feathers.

PRCA ProRodeo file photo Will Lowe competes at the 2003 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. Lowe went on to win his first PRCA Bareback Riding World Championship that year.

ProRodeo Sports News 9/2/2022

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