Dowdy captures first place to move up in Ozark Region standings
Northwest Mississippi Community College freshman rodeo team member Brian Dowdy of Pontotoc returned from a three-day event at Troy University with a first place in the bull riding competition. The rodeo was sanctioned by the Intercollegiate Rodeo Association, and the college competes in the Ozark Region of that association.
“Brian rode a bull that had previously been unridden in its last 20 attempts in PBR and PRCA competition,” said Coach Bruce Lee. Dowdy is listed in fourth place in bull riding in the current Ozark Region standings.
Also in the money was Zack Kiestler of Middleton, Tenn., who placed second in the bareback riding. Kiestler is holding the seventh place slot in regional standings in that category.
Others making the long haul to Troy, Ala., were Cody Skelton of Byhalia, who made it to the short go in team roping with his partner Laci Rucker from Southern Arkansas University. Barrel racer Shelby Anglin of Hernando was three slots from making it back to the final round.
Next competition for Northwest comes Oct. 22-24 when they travel to the
University of West Alabama in Livingston, Ala., followed by the Murray State
University event in Murray, Ky., Oct. 29-31.
Bulls reign at Ross Motor Bull-A-Rama
If anyone was keeping score, the bulls outscored the cowboys at the Ross Motor Bull-A-Rama, a championship bull riding competition held Sept. 12 at the Northwest Farm to benefit Northwest Mississippi Community College’s rodeo team.
It was well into the competition before anyone claimed a qualified ride, according to newly-named Rodeo Coach Bruce Lee.
When the dust settled, and after 19 riders got on board the big bulls, five returned to the short round. Willis Trosclair of Thibodaux, La., claimed first place with a score of 80 points.
Others in the money were C.J. Holt of Batesville, 77; Bradley Wiggins, Huntington, Tenn., 75; Cody Rhoda, Rossville, Tenn., 74; and Northwest student athlete Brian Dowdy of Pontotoc, 70.
Dowdy was fresh off a win at an NABA bull riding in Greenwood, Ark.
Coach Lee had high expectations for him.
Lee has plans to make the event even better next year. “We’re going to tighten things up and make it something people will really get excited about.”
For more information on the
college’s intercollegiate rodeo program, contact Lee at (662) 562-3430.
Lee rides into town to take over reins of Northwest rodeo team
When Bruce Lee was hired to fill the vacancy left by longtime Northwest Mississippi Community College rodeo coach and Agricultural Business and Management Technology instructor Lawrence “Bud” Young, he knew he had big shoes to fill….boots, that is.
Lee brings with him
experience as an educator, rodeo coach, and a colorful slate of hobbies
including managing his trained purebred Brahman bull—A-1, saddle making and
riding problem horses.
Most recently, Lee was a vocational agriculture instructor at Two Rivers School District, Fourche Valley/Plainview campus in Bluffton, Ark. Prior to that he was a graduate teaching assistant and rodeo coach at Murray State University in Murray, Ky., while working on his Master of Science in Agriculture Education. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in General Agriculture from Murray State.
During his summers he worked as Assistant Rodeo Director and Saddle and Harness Maker at Frontier Town Theme Park in North Hudson, NY.
Other agricultural experience came at Tyson Foods Inc., in Springdale, Ark., where he worked as a field service technician and also as farrowing manager in the swine division.
At Northwest, Lee’s teaching slate will include all classes in the Agricultural Business and Management Technology curriculum in addition to Soils and Animal Science classes.
“We are excited to have someone with Bruce’s experience, both in the classroom and in the rodeo arena,” said Jerry Nichols, dean, Career and Technical Education and Workforce Development.
Originally from Indiana, Lee says he grew up on a farm where he had access to 22 horses and plenty of opportunities for mischief. “I held my on improvisational rodeos.”
Now, he is on the road going to real rodeos. “Next weekend I will take A-I (the trained bull) to Fort Smith, Ark., for a PBR (Professional Bull Riders) event.”
Exactly what does A-I do? “Well,” says Lee, “I can saddle and ride him, I announce at rodeos on him, we put him in grand entries and flag ceremonies, and he can bow.”
Lee says after trying his hand at training buffalo, he switched to cattle, and chose A-1 from a herd of purebred Brahman in Waldren, Ark.
“He’s 10 now. He’s literally a ton of fun.”
Besides hauling A-1 across the country, he rides what he calls “problem” horses. “We usually take horses people have had a little trouble with or start colts and ride them for 60 to 90 days and then turn them back over.”
While Lee’s saddle making business consists of the typical all-around working saddle, he says some of his most unusual projects have included a trick saddle made from white garment leather and head gear for a circus elephant.
Lee has hit the ground running in his new job at Northwest. Besides getting ready for his teaching assignments, he is meeting with new and returning members of his men’s and women’s intercollegiate rodeo team, which competes in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association’s Ozark Region.
On the calendar is the college’s annual Bull-A-Rama, a championship bull riding competition, set for Sept. 12 at the Multipurpose Livestock Arena at the Northwest Farm.
Lee and his wife, Marti, have moved to the Senatobia area with their 11-year-old daughter, Sarah, a sixth-grader at Senatobia Jr. High.
They are also the parents of a son, Jeff, who works in the rodeo industry as a clown. He lives in Gentry, Ark.
For more information
about the Northwest rodeo team or the Agricultural Business and Management
Technology program, contact Lee at (662) 562-3430 or e-mail him at
blee@northwestms.edu.