The Hash family refers to themselves as weekend warriors on the rodeo trail. But Jim Boy, his wife Jessica, and their teenage sons Jaylyn and Jaytyn, are one of the driving forces behind the rodeo world in the Midwest. Through coaching, competing, training horses, raising goats and WNFR-bound broncs, and driving hundreds of miles a year, they give back to the sport that has given them a lifestyle they love.
Kendall, Kansas, is home base for the Hash family, but they are equally at home at NIRA, KPRA, and NLBRA rodeos. Jessica’s grandparents, Otis and Shirley Jennings, started J&J Rodeo Company in 1978, and Jessica and her three younger brothers grew up helping fill any need at the KPRA, Little Britches, high school, and ranch rodeos their family produced. “My mom was in charge of cooking the meals and taking care of the kiddos,” says Jessica. “My brothers and I did a lot of the preparing the cattle beforehand. When Granddad got a new set of cattle, we’d track them through and rope them.” Jessica competed in the NLBRA in all the girl’s events and though she jokes she was primarily added money for the other goat tyers, she excelled in trail course and breakaway roping on a horse her grandpa purchased as a bucking horse. She and Jim Boy met through Little Britches and saw more of each other at KPRA, amateur, and college rodeos, where they started dating. “I went to Colby for my first two years of college and then followed my boyfriend to Panhandle State. Our joke is that Jim Boy was from Texas, so I thought he had money.”
Jim Boy grew up in Canadian, Texas, and went to the Texas High School State Finals in steer wrestling and saddle bronc riding. He competed in the NHSFR in steer wrestling in 1990, and began his college rodeo career at Murray State College in Tishomingo, Oklahoma, that fall. Afterward, he transferred to Oklahoma Panhandle State University in Goodwell, where he won the steer wrestling in the Central Plains region in 1993 and 1994, and qualified for the CNFR from 1993—1995. His team finished second in the nation in 1993 and third in the nation in 1994. Jim Boy also competed on the PRCA Prairie Circuit, and he was asked by his rodeo coach at OPSU, Dr. R. Lynn “Doc” Gardner, to stay on as the assistant coach after Jim Boy graduated in 1995. When Doc passed away in 1996, Jim Boy took the assistant coach position at Cochise College in Douglas, Arizona, where the women’s team qualified for the CNFR in 1997.
Jim Boy packed his bags again, this time bound for Garden City Community College in Garden City, Kansas, in 1998. He started as the assistant coach and has remained there since, becoming the head coach in 2003. Covid shut down most of their season in 2020 and Jim Boy took the opportunity to spend more time with his family. There are 11 students on his team this season and he’s excited about some new changes at GCCC. “This will be huge for us—we are revamping our stalls and can accommodate more horses, and increasing our scholarship budget. We have a few more kids lined up for next year and that will be a huge bonus to us.”
“He cares a lot for the kids,” adds Brock Baker, the assistant rodeo coach at GCCC since 2008. “It’s important to Jim Boy to have good kids and for them to take care of business and get through school, and to leave a better person than they came. That’s something he’s always cared about is that they get a good start in life. Rodeo is important but life is more important.” Several GCCC alumni that Jim Boy coached have gone on to the WNFR, including Emily Miller, Cort Scheer, and Casey Colletti. “From Garden City, those kids have gone on to every major university,” says Bronc Rumford, the head rodeo coach at Fort Hays State University. “Jim Boy’s touched a big part of the rodeo world during his career. He does the bucking horses as a hobby and he’s raised some NFR horses. He’s had his hand in all aspects of the rodeo world. Anybody knows that when you go to a rodeo that has his goats, there’s going to be an even pen.”
Jim Boy’s oldest son, Jaylyn (19), joined the Broncbuster nation at GCCC this rodeo season as a freshman, competing in steer wrestling, team roping, and tie-down roping. “I’m used to my dad being at practices because he was always at the house with us,” says Jaylyn. “He’s been pretty patient with me and wants me to live like a college student athlete on the rodeo team.” Jim Boy even invested in some property near the college recently, which has several barns, stalls, and runs. Jaylyn is staying there with his horses, camping in his grandma’s trailer. Rodeoing and his recent trip to the 2021 Cinch Jr. Ironman keep him on the road most weekends, however.
It was Jaylyn’s first time to be invited to the Jr. Ironman, where he ultimately finished as the reserve champion by .8 seconds. He competed with nine other contestants in three rounds of steer wrestling, tie-down roping, heading, and heeling. Jaylyn felt his runs met with varying degrees of success—he tied for first place in the third round of tie-down roping with an 11.1 after switching horses—and went into the final day aiming for second place. “I was trying to do the math in my head and saw that Briar (Teague) was five seconds ahead. After the bulldogging I was too long, but I never would’ve known I’d come so close to winning by .8 seconds.” Jaylyn’s 22-year-old steer wrestling horse, Cooper, also won the Lone Star Ropes Top Horse Award during the event. “My girlfriend’s family came down, and I hung out with my team roping partner, Jordan Lovins. That was the first time we roped together, and he was great. My dad, brother, mom, and uncle Daylin came and watched, and my other family watched it on the Cowboy Channel.”
Jaylyn went to his second college rodeo in Fort Scott, Kansas, immediately following the Jr. Ironman, and by his third rodeo in Durant, Oklahoma, accomplished one of his goals by making the short round in steer wrestling. “The very first goal I set was to at least make one short round my freshman year. Another goal was to beat my dad, who made it to his first short round in his fourth college rodeo. I made it to my first short round at my third rodeo.”
Along with college rodeo, Jaylyn is competing in his last year of Little Britches and plans to enter KPRA rodeos. He’s also pursuing a career of more guaranteed money in bullfighting, which he started working as a freshman in high school, taking after several of his uncles. Jaylyn works for his family’s J&J Rodeo Company and Medicine River Rodeo Company, working about 20 rodeos a summer. In 2020, he was awarded KPRA Bullfighter of the Year. “That’s where my heart is now. Ever since me and my brother were young, we’d go to Tractor Supply and buy bulls and horses and toy semitrucks, and we’d put marks on them and pretend we were stock contractors. We would like to do that someday; we’ll see what happens. I’m going to major in athletic training. Once I’m retired from bullfighting, if I want another job, I can go into the Justin Sports Medicine and stay around rodeo.”
“I’m very thankful my boys rodeo,” says Jessica. “I feel like kids learn so much responsibility and gain so many friendships. They learn to be patient and how to be a caregiver to their animals, or a teacher. When we first started this venture of children, Jaylyn did not want to ride horses or rodeo. We decided then as parents we need to support them in whatever they love to do. Jaytyn on the other hand had a rope in his car seat at all times—that was his binky. Rodeo was it from the beginning for him.”
Jaytyn (15) is a freshman, competing in KHSRA, Little Britches, and the Young Guns Timed Event series. He does tie-down roping and ribbon roping, while team roping is his favorite. “My brother is really pushing for me to steer wrestle,” Jaytyn adds. Like his older brother, he plays basketball, football, and baseball in high school. He took a break from basketball this year and enjoyed roping at the college with his dad’s team and helping pick up broncs. Jaytyn likes to train horses, and says he noticed horse prices were on the rise and decided to start training horses, selling them to make money for college and the jackpots he wants to enter. One of his current project horses is part Arabian. “Somebody just dropped him
