story by Ruth Nicolaus
Bronc Marriott is a bareback rider in the Utah High School Rodeo Association
The Woods Cross, Utah cowboy has grown up with rodeo, traveling with his dad, Bobby Marriott, a former Idaho state high school saddle bronc riding champ and now a pro rodeo pickup man, his entire life. “I’ve kind of been stuck with it,” he said.
Marriott, who also team ropes, is a senior at Woods Cross High School. School is ok, but he’s ready to be done with it. His favorite class is body conditioning, which keeps him in shape for rodeo. He gets done with school at 12:20 pm each day, then he heads home to his leather carving business and practice horses. He will add saddle bronc riding to his repertoire this spring.
His dad and his buddy, world champion Kaycee Feild, have some practice horses, which they get on several times a week in the spring and summer. In the winter, he trains on the bucking machine.
Marriott also wrestles in high school, and hopes to attend college this fall on a rodeo scholarship. He’ll learn a trade or possibly major in business management.
At the Cody (Wyo.) Night rodeo last year, he broke his wrist during the first round of the finals. The doctor, who was “cool,” Bronc said, gave him the option: get it casted or not; not having a cast on it would not affect its healing. “He said I could ride again if I was tough enough, so I tried it,” Bronc said. A week later, Bronc rode. “It hurt, a lot,” but he knows being tough is part of being a cowboy.
Last year was his first year of high school rodeo. Kaycee and his dad Lewie, who passed away in February of 2016, told him he should wait to rodeo till “I could handle my stuff and not get hurt,” Bronc said. He finished fifth at state in the bareback riding and went to Silver State, where he won his event. He also team roped at Silver State.
He has two older sisters, Megan and Melia, and an older brother, Riggin. In addition to his dad, his mother is
Michelle Marriott.
