story by Lily Weinacht
Connor Stephens from Rexford, Kansas, found team roping in high school, switching from football and wrestling to roping after having surgery on both his knees. “Some of my friends rodeoed and I decided to change sports a bit and start rodeoing,” says Connor, 24. “I rope both ends, but I mostly heel. I mainly did jackpots, and then I started college rodeoing with a neighbor, Lucas Phillips. We went two years to Colby Community College, and then I went two years to Oklahoma Panhandle State.”
Connor grew up helping with his family’s feedyard and farm, but he’s the first of his family to rodeo and was quickly adopted by the sport. “A bunch of the local guys have been great to me. Starting out in high school and not having a clue, I had a lot of guys help me out along the way, and Lucas Phillips and his family have an arena that I practice at.” Connor is roping with Kaleb Hinkle in the NSRA this season, while Connor and Lucas competed together at The Patriot roping in Forth Worth, Texas, last year.
“I also do the KPRA, and I compete in some USTRC and World Series ropings,” says Connor. “My main drive is that rodeo is just a bunch of fun, getting together with buddies and roping all over and seeing different places. It doesn’t matter where you go – it’s the people around you that make it fun. Team roping is a pretty cool event when you have the USTRC and World Series and all those rodeos. Anybody can rope anytime no matter how good they are, and everybody has a chance to win money. That’s what drew me. I started as a three and worked my way up, and I want to win money and get to better ropings all the time.”
The other half of Connor’s team is his 8-year-old heel horse, Blackie. “I’ve been on him since I started roping. I bought him as a two-year-old and started hauling him a few years later. I have a mare I bought from a good friend on the rodeo team at Goodwell, and she tore her stifle two year ago, but she’s ready to go again. My fiancée bought a mare to breakaway on that’s really nice, so I’ll probably rope on that mare too.”
Connor and his fiancée, Samantha Foos, met while rodeoing on both the CCC and OPSU rodeo teams. She has her master’s degree in animal science and breakaway ropes in the KPRA. Their wedding is set for early September, in between Connor taking care of silage and corn harvest. “My dad and uncle have a feedyard and some farm ground, so I work there and take care of irrigation and sprinklers,” says Connor. “I do a lot of golfing when I can, but if I have extra time, I go rope. There’s a lot of team ropers right around here, and I was super fortunate to run into the right guys when I was starting out, so I do all I can to help give back. It’s a good community.”
While Connor has qualified for both the NSRA and KPRA finals, his latest goal is to win the year-end in one or both of the associations. “If I can stay consistent and catch my steers and make that big payday, that would be a pretty good thing. I want to quit being on the edge and make it on top, and find that pay window more often.”
