COWBOY ARTIST DRAWN TO THE RODEO

This drawing, by Wade Cannon of Chaffee, was chosen over those by young cowboy artists from across the United States for the cover of the National High School Rodeo Championship program.

CHAFFEE -- Calf roper Wade Cannon didn't qualify to compete in the National High School Rodeo Championship last month in Gillette, Wyo., but the thousands who attended saw another of his abilities.

The recent Chaffee High School graduate's drawing was chosen over those by young cowboy artists from across the United States for the cover of the program. He won a $500 scholarship to any college in the country and reinforcement for his decision to pursue art and not rodeo as a career.

Cannon just started his freshman year at Southeast Missouri State University, where he plans to major in fine arts. "I do that a little bit better than calf roping," he says.

Two years ago, Cannon had never roped a calf and didn't even own a horse. But he took to rodeo easily and finished high in the Missouri High School Rodeo Association competition his junior year.

When Cannon wants to learn a thing, he goes to the right people. Jackson's Cimarron Boardman, the 1999 Missouri high school calf roping champion, taught him how to rope. "I got a lot of help from Cimarron. We went every day and practiced," he said. "He was more like a brother than a friend."

And Cannon himself was one of 15 young artists chosen to attend the Disney Art Academy in Orlando, Fla. -- two different years -- and has studied with noted Oran artist Cleda Curtis.

He likes to draw horses and cartoon characters and hopes to become an animator, possibly for Disney.

Cannon finished eighth in the state high school competition in calf roping his junior year and sixth in team roping. He eventually quit team roping to focus on the individual sport. "You're your own man. It's just you against the clock, and you don't have to depend on anyone else," he said.

His mother, Donna, says he started doodling at 6 or 7. In school, he said, "I probably had more doodles on my paper than notes."

At Chaffee High School, he was asked to design banners for classrooms and football T-shirts. "I was pretty much the only person in the whole school who could draw," he said. The school had only two art classes: beginning and intermediate.

His drawing for the rodeo program started out as a doodle he made two days before the deadline. At the suggestion of one of the fans of his art, Cimarron's mother Donna, he got serious about it and had to rush to Cape Girardeau to send the package off overnight.

Cannon used Cimarron's older brother, Kadin, as the model of the cowboy in his winning drawing. Kadin is a Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association cowboy, the major leagues of rodeo.

Cimarron placed in the top 20 at the National High School Rodeo Championships. Earlier this month, he and his horse, Bubba Jack, won the Reserve World Champion Calf Roping Championship at the American Quarter Horse Youth Association World Championship Show in Fort Worth, Texas.

He and another horse, Amazan, finished in the top 10 in the Dally Team Roping-Heeling Championships at the same rodeo.

Cannon plans to compete in some International Professional Rodeo Association and Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association events while going to college. He'll be there when the IPRA rodeo returns to the Show Me Center in February.

Given the choice between rodeo and art, he said he'd choose art "and do calf roping when I get a chance."