story by Lily Weinacht
Cutter Parsons has been a member of the GCPRA for nearly 20 years, joining the association as a teenager. Now 35, the tie-down roper and steer wrestler from Marana, Arizona, always looks forward to competing in the Tucson Rodeo, and the Sonoita Labor Day Rodeo, which marks its 102nd rodeo this September. “The Grand Canyon has always had a good group of people that work very hard to put on great rodeos,” he says. “The membership and the president and the rodeo board always work hard to do a good job for us.”
While Cutter grew up ranching and farming with his family, he was an avid gymnast through the first half of his childhood. “I made nationals a couple of times, and from when I was 4 until I was 12, a big part of my early life was gymnastics. When I was 12, I got a little too big to do it, so I started to enjoy roping and rodeo, but it didn’t come real natural. I’m left handed and I was taught to rope right handed, which was a struggle. It was a whole year before I caught a calf, but I just had a love for it and I wanted to do good. It was a matter of conquering defeat, and I learned to love it,” Cutter explains. “My dad, Charlie Parsons, has been very important in my roping. He may love the roping more than myself. Growing up, I was very fortunate that we always had people around that would help us rope. I roped with my brothers, and Kent Shiozawa, Matt Shiozawa’s dad, was down here a lot and gave us a lot of help and advice. Joe Beaver was here and left us with some great advice as well.”
Cutter enjoys passing that advice down to his sons now. Ryder, 11, and River, 9, both ride and rope, and River is starting to compete in junior rodeos. Cutter’s wife, Sarah, runs chutes and helps with driving. “My oldest son’s love is baseball and he plays it year round, but if they don’t have a tournament or games, the family comes every chance they can.” Cutter enjoys team roping at home with his sons, and tie-down roping is still a firm favorite. He ropes calves on an 11-year-old gelding named Fuller since recently retiring his rope horse of 16 years, Scat. “We lucked out with Fuller. He’s just a great personality, and Kyle Best and Trey Best trained him from a colt. I steer wrestle on a horse we call Wonder, and depending on the rodeo, Tim Robertson usually hazes for me.”
Along with rodeo, Cutter is four years into running his business Cutter Steel & Contracting, which specializes in structural steel, and miscellaneous steel fabrication and erection. “It started out with just me, and now we have 16 employees. We mainly do commercial and industrial, and some residential work. Sometimes I’m in the office, or driving back and forth to projects,” says Cutter, who also fields phone calls from the rodeo trail. “My family and I enjoy going to the lake, and we do a lot of different things like going to baseball games or my family’s ranch. My father and brother ranch north of Tucson—we’ve had that ranch for 18 years now.”
Cutter has qualified for the GCPRA finals nearly every year since joining, but his focus is on one rodeo at a time. “I just enjoy trying to make good runs and getting a chance to practice and get away. I do my best, and however it ends up is all I can do. My family has been very important in me being able to do this, and I enjoy having them be a part of it.”
