Fields of Glory
Last year at this time, the rodeo world knew very little about Ronnie Fields.
He qualified for his first National Finals Rodeo in 2004, where he promptly won the NFR title by recording a cumulative time of 43.2 seconds – that’s an average of 4.3 seconds during the 10-round ProRodeo championship event. The $73,372 he won last December in Las Vegas propelled him to No. 3 in the world standings in just his second full season in the premier rodeo association.
This wasn’t Fields’ first rodeo by far, but he hasn’t had as long a career as most 31-year-olds. He didn’t run at his first steer until 1997, so this is just his eighth season trying to make a living on the rodeo trail. In fact, he didn’t even contemplate it until prompted as an adult.
It was about a decade ago that Fields was hanging around the practice pen with his brother, Cornell. As he watched, Ronnie Fields spoke up, telling those wrestling steers just what they were doing wrong even though he’d never jumped off a speeding horse onto a running steer to try to grapple the animal to the ground.
Next thing you know, he was bulldogging with the best of ’em. Always one of the smarter guys in the rig, Fields quickly learned who was who in the steer-wrestling world. He knew the Duvalls in Checotah and the … well, those associated with the Duvalls near Checotah. That’s pretty much where you go to bulldog for a living.
But also in the mix was a terrific cowboy, Dale Yerigan, an 11-time International Professional Rodeo Association bulldogging champion from Pryor, Okla. Traveling with Yerigan, who had won nine straight titles to wrap up the 1990s, proved valuable training, and the Okies could stay closer to home while competing for championships.
While Yerigan closed out one century on roll, Fields began the next similarly. He won three straight IPRA titles, 2000-02, and made a big name for himself in the Midwest. He also won the prestigious Roy Duvall Jackpot during that stretch, beating the very best bulldoggers in the game.
As a PRCA rookie in 2003, Fields won the Prairie Circuit year-end title. With that, he qualified for the National Circuit Finals Rodeo in 2004 and parlayed that into a terrific season and his first trip to the bright lights of Las Vegas in December.
This season has been even better. While he finished the ’04 season with nearly $146,000, and half coming from at the NFR, he’s heading to this year’s championship with $90,751. He’s about $32,000 behind standings leader Jason Lahr, but that deficit can be made up rather quickly at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Round winners in each event will earn $15,738. Should he win the aggregate title again, Fields will pocket an additional $40,360 at the end of the 10-day event.
Ronnie Fields is the youngest of 15 children, and their mother died just a few years ago. We share that in common – being the babies of our families and losing our mothers at a relatively young age. I know Ronnie misses his mother every day, but he carries her love, her strength and her faith with him wherever he goes.
And when you tune in to ESPN for its broadcasts of the NFR beginning Friday, be assured that his 14 siblings will be riding with him every step of the way – whether actually at the NFR or paying careful attention to it wherever they are.
That is, I think, what family’s all about.
He qualified for his first National Finals Rodeo in 2004, where he promptly won the NFR title by recording a cumulative time of 43.2 seconds – that’s an average of 4.3 seconds during the 10-round ProRodeo championship event. The $73,372 he won last December in Las Vegas propelled him to No. 3 in the world standings in just his second full season in the premier rodeo association.
This wasn’t Fields’ first rodeo by far, but he hasn’t had as long a career as most 31-year-olds. He didn’t run at his first steer until 1997, so this is just his eighth season trying to make a living on the rodeo trail. In fact, he didn’t even contemplate it until prompted as an adult.
It was about a decade ago that Fields was hanging around the practice pen with his brother, Cornell. As he watched, Ronnie Fields spoke up, telling those wrestling steers just what they were doing wrong even though he’d never jumped off a speeding horse onto a running steer to try to grapple the animal to the ground.
Next thing you know, he was bulldogging with the best of ’em. Always one of the smarter guys in the rig, Fields quickly learned who was who in the steer-wrestling world. He knew the Duvalls in Checotah and the … well, those associated with the Duvalls near Checotah. That’s pretty much where you go to bulldog for a living.
But also in the mix was a terrific cowboy, Dale Yerigan, an 11-time International Professional Rodeo Association bulldogging champion from Pryor, Okla. Traveling with Yerigan, who had won nine straight titles to wrap up the 1990s, proved valuable training, and the Okies could stay closer to home while competing for championships.
While Yerigan closed out one century on roll, Fields began the next similarly. He won three straight IPRA titles, 2000-02, and made a big name for himself in the Midwest. He also won the prestigious Roy Duvall Jackpot during that stretch, beating the very best bulldoggers in the game.
As a PRCA rookie in 2003, Fields won the Prairie Circuit year-end title. With that, he qualified for the National Circuit Finals Rodeo in 2004 and parlayed that into a terrific season and his first trip to the bright lights of Las Vegas in December.
This season has been even better. While he finished the ’04 season with nearly $146,000, and half coming from at the NFR, he’s heading to this year’s championship with $90,751. He’s about $32,000 behind standings leader Jason Lahr, but that deficit can be made up rather quickly at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Round winners in each event will earn $15,738. Should he win the aggregate title again, Fields will pocket an additional $40,360 at the end of the 10-day event.
Ronnie Fields is the youngest of 15 children, and their mother died just a few years ago. We share that in common – being the babies of our families and losing our mothers at a relatively young age. I know Ronnie misses his mother every day, but he carries her love, her strength and her faith with him wherever he goes.
And when you tune in to ESPN for its broadcasts of the NFR beginning Friday, be assured that his 14 siblings will be riding with him every step of the way – whether actually at the NFR or paying careful attention to it wherever they are.
That is, I think, what family’s all about.
posted by Teditor at 7:53 PM
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