Bubba Paschal was raised in LaPorte, Texas – Southeast of Houston. “My family was involved in rodeo – they always enjoyed horses and my dad (Chuck) rodeoed in high school and bulldogged when I was growing up. He taught us how to bulldog and hazed for me and my brother for the first several years we prorodeoed. My Mom (Cecile) ran barrels and supported us through everything. Shane, my brother, bulldogged and team ropes. We travelled together a lot starting off, he won San Antonio one year but never really went hard enough to make the finals.”
Bubba started off calf roping, adding steer wrestling when he got into high school. “I played around team roping and never did it a lot until recently. I won the PRCA Rookie of the Year in the bulldogging and the All Around in 1995 and made the Finals in calf roping in 1998.” He realized that in order to rope and be competitive, he had to travel and keep up with his horses. “I made the Finals after I started the business (P & P Trailer Sales), but it wasn’t in my heart to stay out there and pound the pavement.” He went just enough to make Houston and go to the big rodeos. “2010 was the last year I roped calves and just went to some local jackpots. Since then I have changed my focus to team roping. They have become the place of old calf roper reunions.”
“I’ve always been somewhat of an entrepreneur. I was always looking how to make and save money. I always knew I wanted to be in business for myself. I started with a load of utility trailers and I was pulling a trailer when I won Rookie, trying to promote and sell them for a new dealer in the Houston area. I was still finishing up college. I refinanced my truck to get the money to buy the first load of trailers. We had a hay pasture with a portable building, and we set that up and I still rodeoed to pay the bills.”
From that hay pasture 18 years ago, P & P Trailer Sales now has five locations in Texas and Oklahoma to serve the needs of their customers. The latest one is in Hockley Texas, northwest of Houston “Every dealership we’ve added has been because of a person, not a place. If the right opportunity comes up, we’ll take advantage of it.” He believes the key to any business is good people. “I’m fortunate to have really good people at every location that are willing to show up and work hard and believe in what we’re selling. When they become part of something they enjoy, they stay. I’ve got several employees that have been with me more than 15 years.” The masthead of his business model is to treat people the way you want to be treated. “That’s how we treat anybody that comes to any of our stores. That’s the mindset that I portray to all our people. You encounter difficult people and all you can do is what you feel is the right thing.” He considers all of his locations and employees as one big family. “Both my grandfathers had tremendous work ethic, and believed to do things right the first time and always do the right thing. I hope I can carry this with me in everything I do.”
“I only get to practice a couple times a week right now, but that’s going to change when my arena is done.” He and his wife Sherry have two children, Cane (7) and Cade (14). Cade is involved in football, baseball, golf and other activities in school. Cane is into soccer and baseball. “I didn’t rodeo until I was in high school so there is no pressure for them to rodeo. Once I get my arena, they will be involved more, but I’ve let them do what they want to do.”
His plans for the future are to keep doing family things, work, and rope. “I’m going to keep looking for opportunities and take them as they come.”
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