story by Lindsay King
JC King cut his baby teeth on a pigging string, riding and roping for the past 20 years. “I have always roped calves, I team rope a little. It is a rewarding event because of the work that goes into it, even just being physically fit enough to compete.” Learning almost everything from his dad, Doug King, who rodeoed for more than 20 years, JC credits him with shaping his rodeo career the most.
His calf roping went from the OKJHSRA straight to the ACRA, never competing in a single high school rodeo. “I was 16 when I started in the ACRA, my dad was still competing, so we decided to jump feet first.” The oldest of three, Garrett now 25 and Katelyn now 19, it made more sense for JC to go with his dad to amateur rodeos. “I got my butt kicked for about two years and then I made the finals the summer after I graduated high school in 2009.” The tight-knit King family was all over the state going to rodeos until Garrett also moved up into the ACRA. “We were crazy busy back then, but thinking about it now I just think about the number of horses we had at one time. My dad sure had his hands full just with the horseflesh around our house.”
Back then, rodeoing in the ACRA was competing with “the big boys” of rodeo. JC has been back to the finals every year since his first appearance, with his first finals win in 2016. “That was an especially proud moment for me because my dad and I talked about it a lot through my learning years. To this day, anytime I make my parents proud of me is when all the work through the years truly pays off.”
The family tradition is to attend Northeast Oklahoma A&M College in Miami, Oklahoma. “My dad was on the very first rodeo team in the 1980s there. That is where I went to college in 2009, Garrett in 2011 and Katelyn is in her freshman year.”
Married to Taryn for the past two years, JC runs 200 yearling cattle on their ranch in Stilwell. “That is what my dad did when I was growing up so when I got my own place I just kept doing the same thing.” He also works for Allied Solutions, installing various electronics and security systems in houses bigger than 3,000 square feet.
In May 2015, JC took off for the summer to try his hand in the PRCA. “I won quite a bit of money, but not enough to keep going so I went home in August, slipped into the ACRA finals to salvage the year and I have not looked back since.” Competing in Reno during a performance is easily the largest rodeo JC roped in to fulfill one of his childhood dreams. Though JC got to compete in a lot of his dream rodeos that summer, the ACRA is where he feels most at home. “It is essentially where I learned how to win. It is a comfortable atmosphere and where all of my friends are at. Being from Oklahoma, there is not anything better than the IFR because it is in our backyard.”
JC King of Stilwell, Oklahoma, once again found himself backed in the calf roping box at the Jim Norick Arena at the Oklahoma State Fair for his third appearance at the IFR. “The first year I made the IFR, 2014, I won that very first round. It was a proud moment for me, mostly because my parents, Doug and Elizabeth, were proud of me,” said the 27-year-old.
