This time I was the one with 1,000 questions. I needed the advice of a rodeo expert, someone who knew the sport, the horses, the setup so….I called Dad. In my mind this was MY first time backing in that box at the Thomas & Mack. Rodeo Video the producer of Dad’s instructional DVD approached me and long story short right there on hallowed grounds where I watched my Dads career flourish, I did my first interview with the round winners of that night, I had about 10 minutes to prep. This year at the NFR I was down in the media room, working for Team Hesston. Why do they want to hear him talk so much about rodeo? What makes him know so much? I’d make fun of the guys (something I am known to do) for wanting to ask him 1,000 questions. They were hungry for answers to the sport he was an icon of.Īs long as I can remember Dad has had guys around the house learning from him. Soon we had a sponsor, then next thing I knew we were doing them with an audience in the summer at the Equibrand booth, home of Rattler Dad’s oldest and dearest sponsor, for the Texas Junior High Finals, and then the National High School Finals.
I would go through and pick the ones that I felt Dad would like best, and from there he would pick which ones he wanted to answer on the live show. Something was working, my “I want it all” mind set….wonder who I got that from? Saw it as a new business opportunity, something to add to his ever growing social media presence, so I decided we would take questions because at the time our inboxes were overflowing with them. In my mind though as I watched the comments come in and hear about the calls and texts Dad received it not only happened but it worked.
PICTURES OF PROFANTASY RODEO LOGO PRO
Then when I was working for KC Jones who owns Pro Fantasy Rodeo, Rodeo Vegas, and Reachoutwest we had Dad do a live for his fantasy team picks, it took a lot of begging but it happened. There was a huge need for young Calf Ropers and fans to have somewhere to go something to see, what we call “content” in the social media business. They were drawn out by our friend, well he is more like family, Homer Sanders, who I came to with my design ideas. Make Calf Roping Great Again, #TiedownTuesday, & our newest design The Real Deal, were all ideas of mine. What started as just a place I created, which was first the Facebook page which now sits with 10, 460 likes and 10,897 follows, to help Mom get Dad’s sale horses out there has turned into a go to for all of his clinic information, a merchandise line including tee’s and caps, through our amazing partners at Rodeo Monogram shop, a live Q&A show, and a day of the week #TiedownTuesday where we post Dad’s runs, pictures and followers submissions of their own runs on our Instagram that currently sits at 14.5k followers. I get so many compliments on his social media pages. Running Dad’s social media pages has only provided me with opportunity after opportunity. When I say I help the family business out I can not roll my eyes and act like it’s a terrible little day job working for Dad like some might. When I asked Dad what he wanted me to write about when we were asked to be in this magazine together he wanted me to tell you all about what I do for him. I am an Agricultural Media & Communications major in my final senior moments at West Texas A&M University. Jump forward 17 years later and I am the second one in this pair. How do I know all of this? How do I know him so well? The fans call him Brent Lewis, the cowboys of past & present call him BL, but I call him Dad. I can also tell you there was no way he was going out defeated, he walked away on top of his game, one of the best there was.
He’d never admit it out loud but I can tell you there is still a look in his eye that silently agrees as it see’s all the great horses, buckles and white lines of the road pass through his memories. In 1991 when he came in as Resistols rookie of the year though they were still calling it Calf Roping, they also were still calling it Calf Roping when he took his final bow at the Thomas & Mack in 2003, an end to a career many will say was much too soon. He has the name, the reputation and successful career to back it all up. We’re going to stick with the title of “Calf Roper” though because deep down in his core that is who he is, and who he will always be. First it takes the Calf Roper, but in todays world we are told we should call him a Tiedown Roper, the one we are talking about now is Brent Lewis 12 x NFR qualifying PRCA Cowboy, Tiedown Roper and Steer Roper.
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