story by Ruth Nicolaus
If it wasn’t for rodeo and the influence of some good people, Drew Pearson wouldn’t be where he is today.
The Idaho Cowboys Association man loves the sport and has built a life around it.
He rode bulls in junior and high school, but after a badly broken leg caused by a hang-up, he switched to bull fighting. He attended a bullfighting school put on by Joe Baumgartner and Lloyd Ketchum in 1994, and a month later, was fighting an eighty-head bull riding.
After graduating high school in 1996, he fought bulls at regional rodeos, then he worked with Deward Gill. Deward, a cowboy, stock contractor and pickup man, shared his knowledge with Drew, who soaked it in.
Drew worked as a welder then for a mine company when another rodeo opportunity came along. Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario, Idaho hired him as a rodeo coach. It’s doing something he loves: helping young people hone their rodeo skills as they gain an education.
“I enjoy being able to help (college) kids get an education but be able to continue in a sport they love,” he said. He knows that rodeo athletes need a career to fall back on, when rodeo ends or in case it doesn’t work out.
“These kids come to college, and I can help them pay for it (through scholarships). They can get their degrees and rodeo for the next fifteen or twenty years. They’ll always have the degree to fall back on to keep food on the table and build their families, too.”
He loves coaching the college kids, and when it’s collegiate rodeo season, his family knows where to find him. “There are times I’m at the rodeo arena till 9:30 at night, helping kids.”
Drew fought bulls till he was about forty years old, and has had his ICA membership since 1994, when he was fifteen years old. He served four years as ICA president (2012-2016), and is now the stock contractor director.
In addition to Deward, Drew lists Thom Reeves as influential in his coaching career; the world champion saddle bronc rider has helped him by hosting clinics in Oregon. “He’s done a lot for my program,” Drew said. “And it’s making a difference, you can see it.”
Drew judges ICA rodeos and serves as the faculty director for the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association’s Northwest Region.
He married his wife Kyla in 2006; they have two children. Daughter Paisley competes in junior high rodeo and often ropes with Drew’s college kids. Son Pacey is ten years old. Kyla times college, ICA and PRCA rodeos.
He enjoys the ICA and his involvement in it.
“It keeps me involved in rodeo. I don’t know what to say about this industry, but I got it in my blood at 12 and I’ve never been able to get rid of it. People ask me, why are you still playing this game? I say, it’s because I love it. It’s me. It’s how I’m built.”
