ProRodeo sporst News - October 15, 2021

CATCHING UP WITH ... CHAD BEDELL

It wasn’t until Bedell won the average at the Reno (Nev.) Rodeo in the summer of 1994 – his ninth professional season – did the bulldogger become a force to be reckoned with. He qualified for his first National Finals Rodeo later that year, and his experiences from that berth (eighth place in the final world standings) and another one the following season (fifth place) set the stage for a magical ride in 1996. “That season was just enjoyable,

traveled to Alaska, Africa, and New Zealand. Asia is next on the list. To be able to do that is very fulfilling.” Bedell also finds it fulfilling that, after a long time off the grid, he’s giving back to the sport again as a committee member at his local Steamboat Springs Pro Rodeo Series, held every Friday and Saturday night in July and August. “For a long time, I completely dropped off the rodeo radar,” Bedell said. “After 1998, I could count on

“Consistency in perseverance has always been my motto . . . That’s what I believed when I was rodeoing. You take your lumps, and you keep on going. You take the good times when you get them, but perseverance is the key.” – CHAD BEDELL

a lot of fun,” Bedell said. “After making the NFR twice, I thought I could make another run and do things better. 1996 was a good year for me. I won money in the winter rodeos, started building things, got into the lead and had a good lead going into the Finals and was able to maintain it.” Aboard Key’s Fat Cat, a sorrel owned by hazer and longtime traveling partner and friend Tim Parker, Bedell clinched his first world title with a clean run in Round 10. He ended the season with $120,784, a little more than $14,000 ahead of runner-up Brian Fulton. And he left Las Vegas with an extra keepsake, other than his world champion saddle. “When I saw the steer I drew for the last round, I knew he was a good one that had placed in several rounds,” Bedell said. “(Three-time world champion) JohnW. Jones, Jr., had

two fingers who I kept in touch with. But a lot of guys I rodeoed with have kids, and a lot of them are coming through Steamboat in the summers now. It’s interesting to see them growing up, the kids filling their permits and getting started, just like I did. That’s fun to see.” Even without rodeo as a full-time career for more than two decades, lessons from the sport still ring true today. “Consistency in perseverance has always been my motto,” Bedell said. “That’s what I believed when I was rodeoing. You take your lumps, and you keep on going. You take the good times when you get them, but perseverance is the key. It helped me and made a good path for me in life. Life is going to give you ups and downs, but if you know the objective and goal you want to reach, you just stick to it.”

purchased his 10th-round steer one year after he won one of his titles, and after I won, I talked to the stock contractor and ended up buying that steer, and he lived out his days near me in Vernal, Utah.” In 1997, Bedell found things tougher on the rodeo trail and couldn’t keep that momentum going, still having a respectable season but finishing “around 20th” in the world standings. He decided to bow out of the rodeo world instead of lingering, wondering when he’d have his next Reno moment. “I don’t know, but that luster wore off,” Bedell said. “After I felt like I had fulfilled some sponsor obligations after I won the world, I decided to come home and try a new path, so I did that.” It was a new path, but not a new passion, that launched Bedell into his next phase in post-rodeo life. The lifelong hunter now gets the best of both worlds, working in the outdoors as a guide for private and public outfitters on Colorado’s Western Slope. Not only that, but his hunting enthusiasm has rubbed off on his wife, Jennifer, along with his two kids: daughter, Jessica, and son, Tim. The family has parlayed vacations into wildlife expeditions. “I’m fortunate enough that my wife loves to hunt as much as I do, and our kids are starting to hunt; that’s pretty much what we do now,” Bedell said. “Our vacations are usually hunting trips, and those have worked out well. We’ve

‘Short & Sweet’

PRCA ProRodeo photo by Dan Hubbell Steer wrestler Chad Bedell completed his rise to rodeo stardom by winning the 1996 PRCA steer wrestling world championship at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. He finished that season with $120,784.

Once he reached the top, Bedell found other challenges

BY KEVIN CARMODY, Special to ProRodeo Sports News I n a three-season stretch from 1994-96, steer wrestler Chad Bedell went from just a face in the crowd to world champion. Then, he virtually disappeared, more quickly than his rise into rodeo lore. And the lifelong resident of Steamboat Springs, Colo., who rodeoed out of Jensen, Utah., would have it no other way. “I had a pretty good run at it,” said Bedell, 55. “It was short and sweet. I won my championship and moved on to other things. Steer wrestling was a lot of fun, but the romance of the travel was waning. I had reached the top of the mountain, so I looked around and decided to find another mountain.”

Photo courtesy Chad Bedell Chad Bedell, the 1996 PRCA Steer Wrestling World Champion, far right, spent time with his daughter, Jessica, and son, Tim hunting in Tennessee.

ProRodeo Sports News 10/15/2021

ProRodeo Sports News 10/15/2021

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