By Lily Weinacht
Bret Pope, father of three rodeo competitors and the first generation of his family to be hooked by the sport, has been serving on the KJHSRA board of directors for the last five years. The dad from Garnett, Kan., is also the adult roughstock director for both the KJHSRA and KHSRA, and though he has never nodded his head in the chutes himself, going to rodeo schools and learning alongside his sons has equipped him with all he needs to help the contestants.”Growing up, a lot of my friends rodeoed and I travelled with them, but I never competed,” says Bret. “My wife, Jennifer, has been around it too, and we got our boys into it after the oldest two rode sheep at the fair. They got hooked and we went with it!”
Jess, a junior in high school, competes in the KHSRA in team roping, saddle bronc riding, and bareback riding, winning his first world title this summer in the senior boys bareback riding during the 2015 NLBFR in Pueblo, Colo. He was also the Bull Riding Reserve National Champion in the NJHFR during his sixth grade year and has qualified twice for the NHSFR. An eighth grader, Ty is on the Junior High Cinch Team in bareback steers, and additionally competes in saddle bronc steers and junior bulls in the KJHSRA. Their brother, Judd, is a fourth grader, competing in steer riding in the KJRA. “Jennifer is the video person, and she keeps everything going. It seems like we’re always going two directions!” says Bret. “Roughstock is what the boys love doing. They’ve been to enough schools that they know how to handle it.”
Bret has taken the boys to Homestead Rodeo School in Richmond, Kan., as well as Monster Bull riding clinics in Oklahoma, while Jess recently went to Camp of Champions in Spanish Fork, Utah. “I think the most challenging part of getting started was learning the equipment and what kind the boys would need to be successful – and figuring out how to get down the road with them,” says Bret. “That’s something I try to help all the rodeo kids with. If they need help or need to borrow equipment from us, we help them out. I know what it’s like to not have those things.”
The Pope family makes their home several miles outside of Garnett, with plenty of room to run Jess’s roping horses, while the family also raises beef cattle and keeps mules for coon hunting. “Jess ropes on his horses at home, but he borrows Troy Brunson’s horse during the rodeos,” Bret explains. “That way, we can pull a camper to the rodeos. The beauty of roughstock is that you throw the gear bags in and go!” Jess practices with the team at Fort Scott Community College, and all of the boys have spur boards and other equipment to practice on in their basement. “We also have bucking chutes at the house that we’ll buck our steers in,” says Bret. When he’s not traversing Kansas for the next rodeo, Bret teaches automotive at Flint Hills Technical College. “We teach everything mechanical – this will be my sixteenth year teaching.”
Rodeoing year round, the Pope family spends the winter months practicing at indoor arenas in Oklahoma. “We go wherever there’s rodeos,” says Bret. “What we love about rodeo is the family time and all the friends we’ve made. We’ve got a long road to go yet, but my biggest goal for the boys is for them to enjoy rodeo and do the best they can do!”
