A Look At The Award Winning CNFR Staff

This morning on the Brian Scott show we had an opporutnity to hear Boyd tell us a little about, not only the caliber of cowboys and cowgirls, the rough stock animals, but also some of the staff. Aside from Boyd's credentials and awards, we are lucky enough to have Dusty Tuckness, a NFR bull fighter of the year, as well as Justin Rumford, the reigning rodeo clown of the year.

Tuesday morning I had an opportunity to interview Justin. He is funny. He's not just funny in the arena, he is just plain ol' funny. As we were talking about the upcoming life changes he's facing- his wife is 12 weeks pregnant with triplets- he mentions that next year about this time, he's just going to start handin' babies out to people.

One unique thing about this guy is that he used to be a contestant. While it is a lot of fun, he quickly realized that those weekends of not bringing home a paycheck were making it harder and harder to stay on the road. Every cowboy and cowgirl goes through this at some point in their career. Family life is strained and most decide to put their dreams aside to make the responsible decision. I remember clearly when my own dad made this decision. Justin made a different one- after having the opportunity to be the barrel man and take home that check- guaranteed, he decided to make the career change. Oh, did I tell you he was a steer wrestler. Ya. He's not a small guy. And although he jokes about being fat, I wouldn't say he is fat, either. He is just not petite. Obviously he has come a long way from that contestant role, now being the Rodeo Clown of the Year. What an honor- for those that have been around the rodeo scene, there have been some greats. Casper is quite familiar with Leon Coffee and, my personal favorite funny man, Flint Rasmussen. Justin is among the greats, now.

For those of you that have not seen the barrel that Justin repeatedly climbs in and out of during the bull riding, there is not a lot of room in there. Just prior to one performance, Brent Carruth, Jim Dewey Brown, JD Vanhooser and myself were standing around the barrel. This thing is tiny. So tiny, in fact, we coerced Brent's youngest daughter, Payton to climb on in! Reluctantly she let us tip it over and roll her around a bit- I think it was more fun for us than her. She braced herself against both sides and off we went! We tried to get her to let us roll her down the stairs, but she wasn't in for that. I don't blame her. One spin for me and I probably would have puked all over the place.

Anyhoo... Justin does such an amazing job in entertaining us yet has such a small hide-out when a 1500 pound ribeye comes his way. Our thanks go out to him for keepin' it real and keepin' us- or me anyhow- laughing out loud!