RODEO DRAWS BIG CROWD ON OPENING NIGHT

SIKESTON -- A near-capacity crowd estimated at 8,500 to 9,000 people attended opening night Wednesday of the 39th annual Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo.

Organizers of the event said the combination of top-notch entertainment and the best cowboys in the world makes this year's rodeo unique.

Lew Polivick, general chairman, said Wednesday's large crowd was indicative of the quality and respectability of the rodeo.

"For a Wednesday night, this is a home run," Polivick said. "We've got the same rodeo format as before, but the biggest difference this year is the quality of cowboys we have."

Polivick said all five champions from the 1990 Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo returned for the event this year. Also, 18 of the top 20 rated bull riders in the world are competing.

"We've got all the best cowboys and the best entertainment, what else could you want?" he added.

Travis Tritt, one of country music's fastest-rising stars, provided the musical entertainment Wednesday night. Tonight's entertainment will be the country band, Restless Heart.

On Friday, the Charlie Daniels Band will perform and Doug Stone will round out the rodeo with a Saturday night concert.

But the real draw to the rodeo is the quality of cowboys that attend. Although the rodeo annually attracts the top cowboys in the world in the various rodeo events, tonight's bull-riding event will include the four top-ranked bull riders in the world when Tuff Hedeman of Bowie, Texas, Clint Branger of Rosco, Mont., Jim Sharp of Kermit, Texas and Raymond Wessel of Wichita, Kan., will compete.

Ty Murray, the 1990 World Champion All-Around Cowboy, also competed in the bull-riding event Wednesday and will compete in bareback riding and saddle bronc riding events Thursday and Friday.

Other 1990 world champions in the rodeo include Ote Berry, steer wrestler; Troy Pruitt, calf roper; Chuck Logue, bareback rider; and Robert Ettbauer, saddle-bronc rider.

The rodeo also is filled with past champions like calf-roper Roy Cooper, an eight-time world champion who also is professional rodeo's all-time top money winner.

Cooper competed Wednesday night after calf-roping in Colorado Springs, Colo., Tuesday. Today, he's back in Colorado for another rodeo. This year is Cooper's fourth Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo.

Like any of the rodeo athletes, Cooper said the secret to success is really no secret at all.

"It takes a lot of practice," he said. "You have to be willing to work at it and get out and get after it. As a calf-roper, you have to start with a good horse and you need to develop some roping skills.

"But it's really the type of thing you develop the riding, roping, all of it at the same time."

Cooper said professional rodeo isn't cheap. The cost of good horses and equipment takes its toll, along with the travel.

"The hardest thing is the miles," he said. "I'm a traveling man. But I like to go and see different places around the country. You meet a lot of good people all over the country in rodeo."

To help offset some of the expenses, Cooper, like other cowboys, has other financial interests. Roy Cooper Roping Boots are available at Wal-Mart stores across the country and he soon will be adding cowboy hats to his entrepreneurial efforts.

Cooper said the Sikeston rodeo is filled with the premier cowboys in the country, something that makes it an attractive stop for many of the "circuit cowboys" like himself.

Bruce Ford, a five-time world champion bareback rider, also said the competition and the potential earnings from the Sikeston rodeo make it one of the better ones around.

"I travel all over the country and there's tough competition here," he said. "The money's good, but the competition is, too."

The four-day event is expected to attract more than 35,000 spectators from the surrounding five-state area. Organizers said they expect sell-outs Friday and Saturday nights.

Dell Hall's Rafter H Rodeo Livestock Company of Tahlequah, Okla., provided livestock for the rodeo. Hall is one of the top stock contractors on the pro rodeo circuit and has won a number of national awards, including the top stock contractor's award from the Prairie Circuit in 1987. His stock has been chosen for the last 14 National Finals Rodeos.

The clowns at the rodeo include Poplar Bluff natives Ron and Mike Johnson, Jimmy Anderson, and Rick Young, who is making his 30th return trip to the Sikeston Rodeo.