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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.

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

Franks rolls back into NFR money

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Cole Franks rides Free Shipping at the NFR last weekend. PRCA ProRodeo photo by Phil Doyle

By Ted Harbin, TwisTed Rodeo

LAS VEGAS – The bareback riders at the National Finals Rodeo went from one extreme to another in 24 hours.

It’s just part of the Las Vegas experience, for most visitors, but these men are in town on a business venture. They tried their hands at the hardest-to-ride broncs in the sport Saturday night, then turned around and had the easiest buckers Sunday. That makes everything even and allows the winners to be the cowboys that show off their spur rides the best.

“You’ve really got to try to flash everything up and expose yourself in this pen,” said Cole Franks, who rode Outlawbuckers Rodeo’s Free Shipping for 87 points to finish in a tie for second place in the fourth round. “You’ve got to let go and let it all hang out more than you would on (Saturday) night’s pen or (Monday’s) pen.

“I’d seen that horse maybe once or twice, but I went and watched videos on him last night and was pretty excited about it. That horse is awesome.”

Franks also made Free Shipping look good and added $20,053 too his earnings. He has collected $37,670 in four nights in Las Vegas and pushed his season earnings to more than $154,000.

Of course, it was a much different feeling around the bareback riders locker room from Round 3 to Round 4.

“It is a lot more energetic,” said Franks, 21, of Clarendon, Texas. “It’s a lot more fun. Everyone’s chit-chatting, everyone is laughing and everyone is cracking jokes. (Saturday) night was very tense. Everyone was kind of quiet.

“For the ones we got on (Saturday), you have to almost crave that kind of horse. The ones we had tonight are the ones you want at your house to get on every day.”

Franks gets a bit Dirty at NFR

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Clarendon’s Cole Franks rides Dirty Jacket during Thursday’s first round of the 2022 National Finals Rodeo. PRCA ProRodeo Photo by Phil Doyle

By Ted Harbin, TwisTed Rodeo

LAS VEGAS – When Cole Franks was a youngster, he knew there was something about bucking horses that drove him.

His dad, Bret, rode them, competing in saddle bronc riding for years. Bret Franks is a three-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier who now coaches tomorrow’s stars at Clarendon (Texas) College. Naturally, his sons, including older Cole’s brother Clint, followed suit.

On opening night of the 2022 NFR, the youngest of the Franks boys was matched with one of the legendary horses in the sport, Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s Resistol’s Dirty Jacket, a top-three bareback horse for four straight years and a two-time Bareback Horse of the Year.

“I love that horse,” Cole Franks said after posting an 85.5-point ride Thursday night to finish in a tie for fifth place. “I’ve loved that horse ever since I was little. He was one of the first horses that I actually knew when I was little. I’d hear Dirty Jacket’s name come on the TV, and it’d pop my attention and I’d be watching.”

The first time the two matched up was during the 10th round of last year’s finale, and they also scored 85.5 points together.

“I was excited tog et on him last year,” he said. “I was a little more excited this time around. It was a different pen of horses, a different standout.”

And it worked out. For his finish, Franks added a little more than $6,000 and pushed his season earnings to $132,489. That’s key; not only does money help cover expenses and pay bills, but dollars equal championship points. The contestants in each event who earn the most money in a given season will be crowned world champions.

“That ride felt really good,” Franks said. “I felt like I got a little behind there at the end, but it was still good. He’s a dream to get on. We just want to keep building on it. Tomorrow I will be shooting for higher, better, more every time. You keep pushing to the top until you get there.”

He’s been close already. In his rookie season and his first trip to the NFR in 2021, he finished third in the world standings. He is 12th on the money list but has nine more nights to cash in. Each night offers a different challenge, and bareback riders will face the top 100 animals from this year’s season.

He will be matched with Rafter G Rodeo’s Ankle Biter on a night when the cowboys will face the semi-eliminator pen of bucking horses. The Round 2 horses will be a big test, but it’s also a stepping stone; the third round features the hardest-to-ride broncs in rodeo.

“I have yet to get on Ankle Biter, but I’m excited for that,” he said. “He’s awesome for that pen, too.”

Broncos fall to New Home in Regional game

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Bronco Lyric Smith gains yard last week against New Home. Enterprise Photo / Roger Estlack

The Broncos had a great season and playoff run, but it came to an end against New Home in Floydada last Friday in the Region 1-2A Division II Semifinals.

The Leopards were able to get the 14-8 win to move on, and the Broncos finished at 9-4 overall.

The Broncos were the first to score when Lyric Wilson took it in from nine yards out, and Wilson Ward added the two-point bonus. New Home would not score until the second quarter of play.

The battle was defensive from the beginning as senior Jmaury Davis struggled to find the holes. Davis could only muster 58 yards rushing on 27 carries which is not his usual yardage for a game.

“We just couldn’t move the ball like we’re normally used to,” head coach Clint Conkin said. “They were tough up front, and it was a defensive battle.”

The Bronco defense did all they could to hold the Leopards at bay with QB sacks and interceptions. Junior Colton Benson had a solid game from his position and sacked the quarterback more than once.

The Broncos dominated the time of possession but hit a New Home roadblock when they got the momentum going in their favor.

Tickets, please!

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Polar Express Conductor Scarlet Estlack punches the tickets of young movie goers as they entered the Mulkey Theatre Sunday for the annual showing of the Polar Express, benefitting the Donley County Community Fund. Enterprise Photo
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