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Franks caps NFR with big ride

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Clarendon’s Cole Franks riding New Scarlett in Vegas at the NFR. PRCA photo by Click Thompson

By Ted Harbin, TwisTed Rodeo

LAS VEGAS – Cole Franks has spent the last two ProRodeo seasons traveling with three-time world champion bareback rider Tim O’Connell and Jess Pope, who clinched his first gold buckle this season.

“I’ve just got to complete the trifecta and have all of us in the rig wearing gold buckles,” said Franks, 21, of Clarendon, Texas.

He concluded a fantastic sophomore season with a solid run through the 2022 National Finals Rodeo. He placed in eight of 10 rounds and finished second to Pope in the average race; that, alone, is worth $60,159. He earned just shy of $147,000 in 10 December nights in the Nevada desert.

“It was slow compared to what it was last year, but it was a lot more fun this year,” Franks said. “I drew a lot nicer horses. They were just on the weaker ends of the pens every time. I feel like I did what I could with what I had. Today I made a little bobble at the end that cost me a little bit, but I’m pretty happy with how it ended.

He rode Pickett Pro Rodeo’s New Scarlet for 88 points, which would have won half the rounds this year. During Sunday’s 10th round, Franks finished in a tie for fifth place and added $6,063. He finished the year with $263,378

“I’ve dreamed of getting on that horse for a long time,” he said. “I watched Tim get on him at San Angelo (Texas) this year. That horse is so much fun, so much fun. He just floats right underneath himself. That’s probably one of the funnest horses I’ve been on.

“That’s a lot of those Pickett horses. They are all really good to get on. That’s the first Pickett horse I’ve been on (at the NFR). I was pretty excited about it when I saw the draw last night.”

Finishing so high in the aggregate race is also a blessing that came with riding well for 10 nights. He finished the NFR with 852 cumulative points, just eight behind Pope, who has won the average title for three straight years. That is a standard that proves the consistency of the top guys during the championship event.

“It is awesome to be able to do that,” Franks said. “Last year I was third in the average, so moving up one spot in the average is awesome. I’m going to be plugging for next year. I’m going to have to bump Jess out of that, but that’s going to be work.”

Franks isn’t afraid to work, and it’s why he’s been among the top five in the world standings each of his first two years in the PRCA.

Franks earns his 7th NFR check

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Cole Franks rides Girl Crush at the NFR Thursday. PRCA ProRodeo photo by Phil Doyle

By Ted Harbin, TwisTed Rodeo

LAS VEGAS – Through 18 rounds of the National Finals Rodeo, Cole Franks has been chomping at the bit in hopes of earning his first go-round victory.

He was within a whisker of it Thursday night, riding Bridwell Rodeo’s Girl Crush for 87 points to finish in a three-way tie for second place. Instead, Texan Leighton Berry took the round with an 88-point ride, but Franks came away with $17,410 for doing his part.

“I was getting pretty antsy toward the end,” Franks said as he watched the action; Berry was the third-to-last bareback rider to compete. “He rode good and had a really good horse. That’s part of the game. You can’t win everything. There are always better horses, better rides somewhere.”

Winning NFR go-rounds is tough business. Only the top 15 contestants in each event at the conclusion of the regular season advance to Las Vegas, and it’s difficult to beat all of them on a given night. For his part, Franks has ridden all of his horses and placed seven out of eight nights. He has pushed his NFR earnings to more than $80,000 and stands sixth in the world standings with just shy of $200,000.

“You just have to take them one at a time,” he said. “You keep nodding your head, keep getting on what you’re getting on that day and don’t worry about anything else.”

It’s working. He has scored 679 cumulative points on his eight rides and is in a tie with Californian R.C. Landingham for second in the aggregate race. They are 14 points behind the leader, Jess Pope, who travels the rodeo trail with Franks and Tim O’Connell. In fact, Pope and Landingham also scored 87 points to join Franks in the No. 2 position in the go-round.

“That horse is kind of a sleeper in that pen,” said Franks of Clarendon, Texas. “I was a little nervous going into this. Leighton Berry was helping me and said, ‘You know, this thing feels a lot better than people think.

“That horse feels really good. He is strong. He is all there, but he feels really good and is a lot of fun to get on.”

With two nights of the NFR left, his place in the aggregate race is valuable. If he were to finish alone in second place, it would be worth a bonus of $60,159 when Saturday’s 10th round comes to an end. Third place pays nearly $48,000.

“I’m still going for the round wins,” Franks said. “If that takes me out of the average, if I make a bobble, if I do get bucked off something, at least I know I was going for it.”

Franks finds the fun at NFR

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Cole Franks riding Powder River at the NFR in Vegas. PRCA ProRodeo photo by Phil Doyle

By Ted Harbin,  TwisTed Rodeo

LAS VEGAS – He’s a bit soft-spoken, but Cole Franks has no problem hiding the joy he is experiencing during his second trip to the National Finals Rodeo.

He’s a bareback rider, and he makes a living riding bucking horses. This is the best chance he has to really cash in on his season, so he’s making the most of every opportunity. On Wednesday night, he rode Powder River Rodeo’s All Eyes on A & K for 84.5 points to finish fifth in the seventh round.

It marked the sixth time in seven nights that he’s earned a paycheck in the Nevada desert.

“It’s always fun,” said Franks, 21, of Clarendon, Texas. “If it wasn’t fun, I don’t think I’d be able to do it. I like having fun. I like challenges. It has been challenging, for sure, but it has been a blast being here. I love it.”

The NFR is 10 rounds of the best rodeo has to offer. Only the top 15 contestants in each event qualify, and the bareback riders select the top 100 horses to be part of the sport’s richest rodeo. All Eyes on A & K fits into that category.

“That’s just a really nice horse and has been nice all year,” Franks said. “I was pretty excited to have her.”

He should have been. By finishing fifth, he added $7,462 to his bankroll and pushed his NFR earnings to $63,319. He is eighth in the world with nearly $180,000 collected this season. He’s also in line to add more to his pocketbook. Franks is tied for third in the average race with 592 points on seven rides. If he stays in that position when Saturday’s final round ends, he will add more than $41,000.

All this happened after he got off to a rocky start. Bareback riders use a rigging that is supposed to be strapped tightly to the bronc’s chest. They wear specially made gloves that have binds in them, then put their hands into the handhold of the rigging to lock themselves onto the horse. If the equipment is set up right, then the rest is muscle memory.

“I didn’t really pull my rigging very good,” Franks said, indicating that it was a bit looser on his horse than it should have been. “We started pulling (the cinches) a little early. (Arena director) Tom (Neuens) started us a little early, and I didn’t think about finishing it off.

“I chased my rigging most of the time.”

It served as a lesson learned for the young bronc buster. He’s gained a lot of those over his first two years in ProRodeo. He’s earned a lot of money in a short time, but much of that came toward the bottom end of the round payouts. He’d love to win a round and earn almost $29,000, but he’ll wait it out and see what the future holds over the next three nights.

“It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” he said. “Everything is moving up, and that’s the only way it’s going to hopefully go.”

Franks keeps adding NFR cash

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Cole Franks riding Yum Bugs Tuesday at the NFR. PRCA ProRodeo photo by Phil Doyle

By Ted Harbin, TwisTed Rodeo

LAS VEGAS – When nickels are mixed with dimes, they eventually add up to dollars.

That seems to be how Cole Franks is playing his game in Sin City this week during his second appearance at the National Finals Rodeo. He’s placed five out of six nights, so that’s good. He even finished in a tie for second in Round 4. That was his biggest paycheck of the week at $20,000.

Beyond that, he’s added just he’s earned just shy of $26,000, which is a significant payday for four days’ work. Alas, go-round winners earn more than that every night, so it’s sub-par in the eyes of the men who are competing at the biggest rodeo all year.

Besides Round 4, his biggest payday came in Tuesday’s sixth go-round, when he rode J Bar J Rodeo’s Yum Bugs for 87 points to finish fourth, worth $12,125.

“I’m happy with it,” said Franks, 21, of Clarendon, Texas. “I got on that horse in this round last year. That horse is awesome and so much fun to get on. I feel like I made a couple bobbles there at the end. It could have been better, but it could have been a lot worse. It was still fun either way.”

He sits ninth in the world standings with $172,284. He is also tied for fourth in the average race with 507.5 cumulative points on six rides. By placing in the aggregate at the end of the NFR, he would be able to add a significant bonus to his earnings.

Of course, having the right horses makes a big difference in how things go.

“The horses we had tonight were the kind that everybody wants to get on,” he said. “Anywhere you’d go, you’d want these by your name. There were a lot of thee horses that were out tonight that could be in the TV pen; they are just a step down from the TV pen.”

The animals are separated into five pens, and the bareback riders are the ones making the selections (in order of Round 1-5, the Rounds 6-10): souped-up hoppers, semi-eliminators, eliminators, hoppers and TV pen. That means the toughest-to-ride horses are featured in Rounds 3 and 8, and the flashiest horses are in Round 5 and 10, designated TV pen in a look back to when the NFR was only broadcast during the final round of the 10-round championship.

“These horses that were out tonight were versatile,” Franks said. “If you put them in anybody’s pen, you’d be able to win most of the time.

“Things started out slow for what I was hoping for, but it is still good. I’m ready for it to pick up more. I’m trying to set the bar higher and keeping going for the round every time. If it don’t happen, then it don’t happen, but I’m going to be swinging for it.”

Lady Broncos win fourth Miami Tournament

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Lady Broncos named Miami Tournament Champions last weekend. Courtesy Photo /Al Elam

The Lady Broncos converted 21 three-point shots in four games to win the Miami Basketball Tournament for the fourth year in a row.

Senior outside player Finley Cunningham hit 13 of those 21 shots to lead the way to the win. The Lady Broncos defeated West Texas High by 40 points to bring home the trophy.

The McLean Lady Tigers stayed with 10 points of the Lady Broncos, which was the closest of all four teams. Clarendon played them on Thursday and won 43-33. The first half of play ended with the Lady Broncos holding only a one-point advantage. However; the ladies picked up the pace in the second half of the game. Cunningham hit five three-pointers and one two-point shot to finish with 27. Fellow senior Baylee Gabel finished with seven.

“We played excellent defense and Fin (Cunningham) was on fire was on fire several games giving us an edge over all the competition,” head coach Korey Conkin said.

The Sanford-Fritch and Wildorado games were lopsided in the Lady Broncos’ favor as they won big at 50-22 and 60-19. Freshman Kenidee Hayes led the way with 10 and Courtlyn Conkin added nine in the SF game. They went only six of thirteen from the bonus line and was the only game that no three-pointers were posted. Cunningham was the lead scorer in the Wildorado game with five more three-pointers and 19 total points and Conkin added 11 to the point total.

The championship game with WT was just another day in the gym for the Lady Broncos as they earned the 53-15 win. The ladies were able to execute their offense while staying solid on defense to go up 23-2 at the half time break. WT could do little to stop the Lady Broncos as they 10 different players put points on the board. Cunningham led the way with 11, Gracie Smith had nine, Hayes put in seven, and Berkley Moore had six. Conkin had five, Hayden Elam and Kennedie Cummins put in four each, Gabel finished with three, and Tandie Cummins and Madi Benson had two each.

Earlier in the week the ladies traveled to Groom and won 49-31. The Lady Broncos jumped out to the early advantage and was able to contain the Lady Tigers with solid defense.

Cunningham ended with 12 and Gabel had 10. Elam put in nine and Makenna Shadle had eight. Smith the game with six and Hayes had two.

The Lady Broncos will play in the Childress Tournament December 8-10 and play Nazareth at home on December 13.

Six Hedley Owls named first team All-District

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Six Hedley Owls have been named to the first team District 1-A All-District for football.

Senior Cody Bond made the offensive and defensive teams at tight end and cornerback, and junior Saul Carreon also made both teams at spread center and nose guard. Senior Iziak Weatherread was also on both teams at running back and defensive lineman.

Also on the offensive team were junior Braden Bond at wide receiver, junior full back Nick Clark, and senior Kyler Booth at kicker.

Owls, Lady Owls beat Chillicothe

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The Hedley Owls and Lady Owls defeated Chillicothe at home last week.

Isaiah Torres tries to dribble past an Eagle defender at home last week. HHS YEARBOOK

The boys opened a 20-3 lead in the first quarter of their game and never looked back. The Owls were up 31-11 at the half, and a strong third quarter sealed the deal.

Chillicothe did manage to outscore the owls by three points in the final quarter, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Hedley’s lead. The Owls won, 55-24.

Iziak Weatherread led Hedley with 16 points. Other Owls scoring were Braden Bond 11, Josh Booth 10, Nick Clark 8, Javier Valles and Dakota Bond with three each, and Isaiah Torres and Kyler Booth with two each.

The Lady Owls secured a 33-25 victory over the Chillicothe girls after a hard-fought game.

Chillicothe led Hedley, 16-21, at the half, but the Lady Owls came back with eight unanswered points in the third quarter and had a good fourth quarter to win the game.

Savannah Trent goes up for two against the Eagles at home. HHS YEARBOOK

Madison Moore led the Hedley ladies with 11 points. Also scoring were Ashlee Holmes 9, Megan Weatherread 5, and Madison Torres and Taylee Ehlert with 4 each.

Blazing a New Trail: Mills, Eugea area’s first female Eagle Scouts

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Evelyn Mills and Kacie Eugea were formally recognized as the first female Eagle Scouts of Clarendon Scouts BSA Troop 4433 during a Court of Honor last Saturday. Enterprise Photo / Roger Estlack

Two members of Clarendon’s Scouts BSA Troop 4433 were recognized for making history last Saturday by becoming the first local girls to become Eagle Scouts.

Evelyn Mills and Kacie Eugea formally received the BSA’s highest award during a Court of Honor Saturday, December 3, at the Bairfield Activity Center.

Mills was the first girl in the Eastern Panhandle to receive the honor after standing her board of review at Camp MK Brown near Wheeler this summer.

Girls have been active in the Boy Scouts of America since 1969 when they were first allowed to join special-interest Explorer posts. In 1971, BSA girls could become full members of Explorers (now called Venture Scouts), but those organizations do not have a path to the revered Eagle rank.

Following the desires of scouting families, BSA opened Cub Scouting to girls in 2018 followed by the renamed Scouts BSA in 2019 with the nation’s first female earning her Eagle in 2020.

During his welcoming remarks Saturday, Assistant Scoutmaster Jason Eugea said BSA finally figured out what parents and scout leaders had known all along.

Evelyn Mills poses with her Eagle Scout Project at the Primitive Baptist Church in Canyon. Courtesy Photo

“Parents always knew that girls have been there,” Eugea said. “They’ve been camping and done the other things but never received the awards. I hope you all see that what the girls are doing is worthwhile. They build the same trestles, and they learn the same knots. Now, I get to give my daughter the same award I gave my son.”

For Evelyn and Kacie, they grew up in scouting with their older brothers. They were present and sometimes participating, but they could not join the organization. Instead, they were both in Girl Scouts, starting as Daisies. But when the BSA opened up the option for them, they quickly moved their memberships.

“Count me in!” was Kacie’s reaction, she recalls.

“Boy Scouts are just more active and do more things,” she said. “They camp more, and they slept outside in tents where we were sleeping in cabins [in Girl Scouts].”

Evelyn also jumped at the chance to join Scouts BSA and go for the Eagle.

“Now I could actually earn the awards that we had been doing with the boys,” she said.

The girls said they think they did Fingerprinting at least five times before they were able to join and earn the merit badge for themselves.

Assistant Scoutmaster Linda Rowland praised how well the members of the girls Troop 4433 work together with boys Troop 433, both of which are chartered by Clarendon’s First Christian Church.

Kacie Eugea pictured with her Eagle Scout Project at the Groom Food Pantry. Courtesy Photo

“In our troops, the boys and girls work together and can be completely trusted,” Rowland said.

New Eagle Scouts often present a mentor pin to someone who has been influential to them in scouting. Usually that is presented to an adult, but Mills also presented a mentor pin to fellow Eagle Scout Jacob Murillo – an example of how the boys and girls have gotten along together.

“For me, it wasn’t difficult joining Boy Scouts,” she said. “I had been coming to meetings since my brother was in Cub Scouts, so they were used to me being there.”

For their projects, Mills repaired and refurbished a baptistry and installed an ADA ramp at Primitive Baptist Church in Canyon, and Eugea built and installed a “take some, leave some” box outside the Helping Hands Food Pantry in Groom.

“It was good to get to help my church community,” Mills said.

For Eugea, it makes her happy to be helping people.

“The food pantry serves about 100 people, but it’s only open twice a month,” she said. “Now they can get food when they need it.”

Mills and Eugea have some simple advice for other girls coming up behind them or who may be thinking about pursuing the goal of Eagle Scout.

“Just do it and don’t give up,” Mills said, and Eugea added, “You can overcome any obstacle.”

Lions to distribute toys at HISD Monday

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Members of the Clarendon Lions Club distributed toys to all 219 students in Clarendon Elementary last Friday. The club will take toys to Hedley next Monday. Enterprise Photo

The Clarendon Lions Club will distribute toys to Hedley elementary students next Monday.

The new “Toys for Joy” drive will give one toy to every elementary school aged student in Clarendon and Hedley elementary schools.

The response from the public has been amazing, and the Lions are looking foward to distributing the toys. The project has seen great support also from local businesses, which set up toy tables at their stores.

Last Friday, the Lions distributed toys to all 219 students at Clarendon Elementary.

Clarendon Lions with Toys for Joy at Clarendon Elementary. Enterprise Photo

Chamber names first winner, second drawing Dec. 9

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The first drawing is in the books, but there are still three drawings totaling $450 in Christmas Cash available for holiday shoppers to win in Clarendon.

Clarendon Chamber President Ashlee Estlack presents Michelle Dupuy with Chamber Christmas Cash certificates worth $100.

Michelle Dupuy was the first $100 winner drawn by the Clarendon Chamber of Commerce last Friday during its “Shop Small Big Christmas” promotion.

Sign-ups continue for drawings that will be held for $100 on December 9 and 16; and the big $250 giveaway will be held December 23. Participating merchants include Amanda’s Country Soaps, Country Bloomer’s Flowers & Gifts, Every Nook & Cranny, Henson’s, J&W Lumber, Mike’s Pharmacy, Rambling Ranch Boutique, Saye’s Flying A Tack, Whistle-Stop, and Wicked Fast Attire.

To enter, shoppers will fill out an entry at local participating merchants. The Chamber will gather them up each Friday morning, and hold the drawings live on the Chamber’s Facebook. Enter as many times as you shop locally, so shop often. Entries stay in the hopper each week, so those who enter will have multiple chances to win.

In addition, three downtown merchants are staying open late this Thursday night, December 8, for shoppers’ convenience. Those stores staying open until 7:30 p.m. are Henson’s, Ramblin’ Ranch, and Saye’s Flying A Tack.

According to small business advocates, every $100 spent in locally owned stores returns $68 to the local community through taxes, payrolls, and other expenditures. That same money spent in another town or online returns nothing to your local community.

Shop at home this holiday season and remember the important role your local merchants play in keeping your community strong.

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