Breaking down the six coaches for Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo
The rodeo legends who will be leading the teams in Arlington, Texas, on May 17 have 56 World Championships among them.
12/13/2023
We can’t wait for a day of rank action and killer music by Kid Rock himself, so don’t forget to get your tickets now!
While we eagerly await teams to form their rosters, let’s dig into the coaches and learn about the men and women who will attempt to lead them to victory.
RELATED: PBR, Kid Rock team up to honor classic rock
Trevor Brazile
Team: Low Riders
World Championships: 26 (All-Around: 2002-04, 2006-15, 2018; Steer Roping: 2006-07, 2011, 2013-15, 2019-20; Tie-Down Roping: 2007, 2009-10; Team Roping: 2010)
Other accomplishments: Trevor Brazile is widely considered the greatest all-around cowboy ever. He competed in tie-down roping, team roping (as both header and heeler), and steer roping, and he’s the only PRCA athlete to have won more than $7 million. He’s one of just two cowboys to qualify for the National Finals Rodeo in four events and won a PRCA record 74 rounds at the NFR.
While he retired from full-time rodeo competition in 2018, Brazile has continued to compete sparingly. He was inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2022 and is also a member of the National Rodeo Hall of Fame, Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame, Texas Sports Hall of Fame, and Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame, among others. He received the PBR’s Ty Murray Top Hand Award in 2018.
“My heroes never changed,” Brazile said at the time. “This guy standing right beside me (Murray). That’s why this honor means so much to me. ‘Cause it wasn’t about how many he had and how many I had. It was the manner in which he did it and the style and class that he had every time he entered and exited the arena.”
Charmayne James
Team: Misty Mountain Hop
World Championships: 11 WPRA barrel racing world titles (1984-93, 2002)
Other accomplishments: No cowgirl has won more WPRA world championships in barrel racing than Charmayne James. Of her 11 WPRA barrel racing world titles, ten came in consecutive years, the first when she was just 14 years old. Qualifying for the National Finals Rodeo 19 times, she won seven NFR barrel racing average titles and was the first barrel racer to eclipse $1 million in career earnings.
One of the sport’s most heralded competitors, James’ career is due large in part to her horse Scamper. First competing together in 1984, the duo quickly became the most dominant in barrel racing before Scamper’s retirement in 1993. In 1987, James made further history when she became the first WPRA member to wear the No. 1 back number at NFR. James was inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2017, and Scamper made history as the first barrel horse inducted in 1996. James is also a member of the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame.
Bobby Mote
Team: Free Riders
World Championships: Four PRCA bareback riding world championships (2002, 2007, 2009, 2010)
Other accomplishments: Bobby Mote is hailed by some as the greatest bareback rider in history. Embarking on his full-time rodeo career in 2000, he qualified for the National Finals Rodeo for 15 consecutive years beginning in 2001. In his mid-20s, Mote took up team roping and, in 2012, finished as runner-up to Trevor Brazile in the All-Around Championship. Also in 2012, he became the first bareback rider to surpass $2 million in earnings.
Since his retirement in 2017, Mote has been passionate about giving back to the next generation, hosting schools with bronc rider Steve Peebles and raising money for high school rodeo contestants in his native Oregon. Mote, who was inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2022, is currently the president of the WCRA (World Champions Rodeo Alliance) and spearheaded the creation of the Women’s Rodeo World Championship.
“Our goal and our mission, really at the ground floor, was to grow rodeo and raise the visibility and awareness of these tremendous women athletes we have in rodeo,” Mote said at the WRWC kickoff ceremony in 2022. “Women in rodeo have been underserved, in our opinion, with seven disciplines in a standard rodeo, one of them only being barrel racing. Half of rodeo’s demographic is made up of women, and so it only made sense to us to help to create more opportunities for them.”
Cody Ohl
Team: Convoy
World Championships: Six (All-Around: 2001; Tie-Down Roping: 1997-98, 2001, 2003, 2006)
Other accomplishments: Cody Ohl delivered one of the most memorable rookie seasons in PRCA history in 1994 when he was crowned Rookie of the Year and qualified for his first National Finals Rodeo as a tie-down roper. In 2001, he added steer roping and team roping to his repertoire in order to compete for the all-around title. Despite a significant knee injury in the ninth round of the NFR that year, he still won both the all-around and tie-down roping titles.
Ohl, who only missed one National Finals Rodeo qualification from 1994-2014, entered an elite group of competitors in 2012 when he crossed $3 million in earnings. He retired in 2019 and was inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2020.
Sid Steiner
Team: Jokers
World Championships: 2002 PRCA steer wrestling world champion
Other accomplishments: Sid Steiner was a trailblazing showman from a family with a rich rodeo history. Fourth generation of the legendary rodeo producers Buck and Tommy of Steiner Rodeo Company, Steiner is the son of 2005 PBR Ring of Honor inductee and 1973 RCA World Champion bull rider Bobby Steiner. Continuing the legacy, Steiner’s daughter, Steely, competes in barrel racing, and son, Rocker, competes in bareback riding.
Sporting a variety of tattoos and piercings, Steiner was nicknamed Sid Rock for his charisma and showmanship. He was crowned World Champion Steer Wrestler in 2002, winning that year’s NFR aggregate. He retired following his world title win and has since been inducted into the National Rodeo Hall of Fame and Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame.
Fred Whitfield
Team: Sledge Hammers
World Championships: Eight (All-Around: 1999; Tie-Down Roping: 1991, 1995-96, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2005)
Other accomplishments: Fred Whitfield is one of the most decorated Black cowboys in rodeo history. In addition to eight world titles, he won the NFR average in tie-down roping four times. When Whitfield won the 1991 tie-down roping title, he became the second Black cowboy in PRCA history to win a world title and then became the first Black Western sports athlete to win an all-around title in 1999.
A 20-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier, his 10-head total of 84.0 seconds en route to the aggregate title in 1997 is regarded as one of the greatest performances in the history of the National Finals Rodeo. During his storied career, Whitfield became just the third cowboy to surpass $2 million in career earnings. In 2019, at the age of 51, and after a career of nearly three decades, Whitfield retired at HOUSTON Rodeo. In addition to being inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame, Whitfield is also a member of the National Rodeo Hall of Fame, Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame, and others.
“I was friends with a lot of people until I backed in the box, and I don’t want to use the word ‘hate’ because that would not be the right word, but we were not friends when it comes to competition,” Whitfield said in the book “Black Cowboys of Rodeo: Unsung Heroes from Harlem to Hollywood and the American West” by Keith Ryan Cartwright. “We were friends afterward, but as long as I was competing against you, you were my enemy. And that’s just the way I approached it. There was no doubt that I could win anytime I wanted to. And I could beat anybody at any given moment, no matter who it was.”
Photos courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
