above: NSPRA member Jeff Frizzell at the 2015 SNFR – Pounding Hooves Productions
story by Terry Rhodes
NSPRA member Jeff Frizzell picked up two World titles at the 2015 SNFR in Las Vegas. He claimed the 50’s Steer Wrestling Championship and the All Around 50’s Championship. “I was pretty tickled about winning those titles. I had a really good Finals. I messed up one calf in the calf roping or would have gotten something done there, too. I did place in three rounds of the calf roping.”
Besides world titles Jeff made some noise in the Finals Average rankings. “I placed second in the average in the steer wrestling. In the ribbon roping, I rope for Clarita Jim and we won the average at the Finals last year. I really like the ribbon roping; that’s a lot of fun.”
Jeff says that if you like to rodeo, the NSPRA is a good association to be part of. “I like the NSPRA rodeos because they’re fun to go to and they’re scheduled so you don’t have to drive too far to the next one. I like the people there and everything is pretty relaxed.” He started in the NSPRA about 10 years ago and besides the NSPRA, he holds a Gold Card in the PRCA and is also a member in the Grand Canyon Rodeo Association.
It was his father, Herald Frizzell that helped Jeff to begin in rodeo as a young boy. “My dad rodeoed and he roped calves. I started going to junior rodeos here in Arizona. Dad hauled me to a lot of rodeos back then. I rodeoed in high school and college. I went to a junior college and then on to the University of Arizona on a rodeo scholarship.”
Without hesitation, Jeff says that his father was the one that helped him the most in developing his roping and horsemanship abilities. “He taught me everything I needed to know in rodeo. He taught me how to make horses and he always had an eye to pick out the good ones. I still call him now and again to get his advice. Dad would buy horses out of a sale barn and they usually had a hole in them somewhere. If they didn’t make calf horse, we’d make a team roping horse out of them. It was kind of whatever fit that horse is where they’d end up.”
Jeff makes his home in Marana, Ariz. with his daughters, McKenzie and Caitlin. Both girls are about to graduate; MckKenzie from high school and Caitlin from college. “McKenzie is in high school rodeo and competes in breakaway, barrels and hazes for me. Caitlin will be an ag teacher after she graduates and I’m sure will get back into rodeo. She’s really focused on school right now.”
Jeff has an arena at his place and is in the process of putting an RV park and becoming a winter time destination for ropers coming down from the north during the cold winter months. “I’ve been running the arena for 20-some years putting on barrel races and ropings. And we have a lot of kids that come and I’ll coach them on their roping.”
The major goal for this year is to get the RV park up and running for the 2016 winter and get some bookings.
“I’d like to be following my youngest daughters to the Finals one day; she has some big goals. My oldest daughter has one semester left and she’s fixing to crack back out.”
