Goodman Is Surprise Champion At Buc Days Rodeo
Courtesy of the PRCA
Big band musician Benny Goodman was known as the King of Swing. For at least this one week at the Buc Days Rodeo, Ben Goodman could be called the King of Fling.
The 40-year-old Beaumont, Texas, bulldogger had one of the best performances of his lengthy PRCA career April 20-23 at the American Bank Center, winning the average title by flinging two steers to the ground in a combined time of 7.1 seconds.
Goodman won the first round in 3.5 seconds and placed third in the second round in 3.6 seconds to give him a four-tenths- of-a-second edge over Todd Suhn and Gabe Ledoux, who tied for second place in the average. “That may be the first time I’ve been that quick in back- to-back rounds,” Goodman said. “I wish it would happen like that all the time. This is definitely one of the best rodeos of my career. “I’ve been using a new horse, Comet, for the past six weeks or so, and that’s a big part of it. My brother, Darnell, owns him, and he’s been kind enough to offer me the luxury of taking Comet when I go out on the road to compete.”
Goodman’s earnings of $4,998 jumped him into the Top 50 of the world standings for the first time this year and were much welcomed by a contestant who mostly competes at the circuit level.
He enters about 50 rodeos a year, mostly in the Texas and Louisiana area, with annual pilgrimages to rodeos that are close to his heart – the World’s Oldest Rodeo in Prescott, Ariz., and the Reno (Nev.) Rodeo. “I work full time for Midtex Oil driving a truck locally in Beaumont,” Goodman said. “I competed on Wednesday in Corpus Christi and was back working Thursday morning. Rodeo is kind of a part-time thing for me. I’m kind of a weekend warrior.
“Because I was working, I didn’t know for sure I had won until I called (fellow Texas bulldogger) Brian Bauerle on Saturday night. Then I called my wife, Latrissa. She’s always the first one I call with good news.
WWW.COWBOYSPORTSNEWS.COM Cowboy Sports News Page 21 - June 2011
She’s been there for all the bad stuff, too, so it’s good when you can deliver some of the good.” Goodman played in the secondary as a safety for Cameron University back in the early 1990s, and he says rodeo delivers the same sort of competitive charge for him. “The adrenaline and the camaraderie with the guys (is great),” Goodman said. “This is just a high level of competition. It feels great to be able to go up against guys in their mid-20s and perform like that.”
The other Buc Days champions crowned April 23 were
bareback rider Kaycee Feild (89 points), team ropers Nathan McWhorter and Twister Cain (12.1 seconds on two head), saddle bronc rider Taos Muncy (87 points), tie-down roper Hunter Herrin (7.0 seconds), bull rider Cooper Kanngiesser (93 points) and barrel racer Tana Poppino 13.01 seconds).
PRCA steer wrestler Walker killed in traffic accident Reagon Walker, an up- and-coming PRCA steer wrestler and the son of 1981 World Champion Byron Walker, died April 23 of injuries suffered in a traffic accident in the Dallas area. He was 21.
Walker, a student at Blinn College in Texas, had been a member of the Professional
Rodeo Cowboys Association since just after his graduation from Ennis (Texas) High School in May 2008 and had climbed up the world rankings in each succeeding year.
In 2010, Walker won the Henderson County PRCA Stampede in Athens, Texas, in 3.5 seconds and the Crockett (Texas) Lions Club PRCA Rodeo. He qualified for the All American ProRodeo Finals in Waco, Texas, finished in a tie for second place in the Dodge Texas Circuit Finals Rodeo in Waco and finished 82nd in the world.
Services were April 26 in Ennis, Texas.
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