Ulla, North Carolina is home to 17-year-old, Smarty Young Pro, Jaxson Tucker, but more often than not you’ll find him on the professional rodeo trail. Jaxson has been fortunate to have connections in the rodeo world that have developed into relationships allowing him to live his dream; traveling and roping with some of the top ropers in the world. Jaxson’s father, Jason Tucker, is the general manager for Smarty, and competed for several years as a professional team roper. Jason taught Jaxson how to rope and brought him along as he competed. “I’ve roped for as long as I can remember, always roping the dummy or the sled, and we roped a lot in Texas. I was fortunate to have my dad teaching me, and to be around great ropers like Luke Brown, Brad Culpepper, Caleb Anderson, and Cory Kidd when I started roping steers.”
At 10, Jaxson began entering Junior Southern Rodeo Association rodeos, and competed in the North Carolina and Georgia Junior High School Rodeo Associations in middle school. He was the 2014 NCHSRA All-Around Champion Cowboy, winning team roping, breakaway roping and goat tying. “In seventh-grade I went to Georgia so that I could head for Braxton Culpepper but came back to North Carolina to heel for my cousin, Cole Futrell, in eighth-grade.” While heading for Braxton at the 2015 NJHSFR, the team finished in the top 10 after winning the second round as well as the short round.
Jaxson has competed at multiple USTRC and open ropings across the country and traveled with several professional ropers following PRCA circuits. “I was traveling back and forth to Texas, so it really was impossible to keep up with a rodeo schedule myself. The past two years I traveled with Kaleb Driggers, Brandon Webb, and Kolin Von Ahn; and before that I traveled with Luke Brown.” Jaxson has acquired a multitude of titles as a header, including winning the #15 at the USTRC South Georgia Championships two consecutive years, also winning the Open roping with Ty Etheridge there last year. He has won the Biggest East of the Mississippi roping the past two years, and won at the Perry Bigbee Memorial Roping recently. “Traveling with the pros has pieced me together more as a person than anything. I learn so much just listening to them talk and enter rodeos while they’re driving, because entering right is the key to rodeoing now. Seeing how they handle winning and losing really humbles you as a person because you want to be like that. I could’ve been rodeoing more myself, but it’s been more beneficial to me having the opportunity to travel with these guys. Relationships are key, and I’ve been fortunate to meet and become friends with so many great ropers.”
Jaxson Tucker – Smarty
Jaxson is an eleventh-grader through the Abeka homeschool program which allows him to be mobile, and when he’s not on the road he values his time in North Carolina with his mom, Robin Tucker, and younger brother, Brody. “It’s hard to be away from my mom so much, I wish I could be with her 24/7, my dad too; but I appreciate them supporting me.” Jaxson also enjoys golfing with friends and loves spending time with his girlfriend, Hallee Webb. “After I graduate, I’d like to go to college and get a business degree while I college rodeo. Of course, everyone says they’d love to pro-rodeo, but it’s expensive and you need to have cash flow from somewhere first. I’ll rope and grind it out, but there’s no way around getting a degree first.”
Jaxson built his heading foundation on a Smarty and is honored to be a Smarty Young Pro. “Roping the Smarty has made me a better roper and changed a lot of things I was doing wrong before.” Besides believing in the training products, being on the team has developed Jaxson as a Christian. “I recommend it to anyone; to learn from Allen Bach, and listen to Trey Johnson, it’s just humbling, and has meant so much more to me than just becoming a better roper.”
Jaxson appreciates the support of his sponsors: Smarty, Classic Ropes, and Embrace Victory
