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Saturday, December 1, 2007
Back in the Saddle
Fort Worth, TX
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By: Mark Wright
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Photo(s) By: Joe Myers
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After facing tragedy and near-dissolution, the Weatherford rodeo team is once again riding strong.
Sharon Wiley is the woman who brought the belt buckles back. But, don’t expect her to take credit for saving the cash-strapped Weatherford-Millsap rodeo team. To hear Wiley tell it, the team was salvaged by a generous community, supportive parents and a determined group of athletes.
“I just wanted to help the kids because I know what they had before, and it personally upset me,” said Wiley, who began her second stint as team sponsor in April.
What upset Wiley was that the traditions the team maintained during her first time as sponsor had been discontinued in her absence. When Wiley’s older son stepped away from the non-varsity high school sport, she turned the sponsor role over to someone else. In April, a year and a half after leaving the rodeo team, she received a phone call: “Ms. Wiley, the rodeo team needs your help. There’s no money.”
In Wiley’s absence, the team’s funds were mismanaged to the point that the team could not afford to hold its annual banquet or give out belt buckles. Traditionally, every team member receives a new buckle at the end of each season to recognize his or her accomplishments in bronc riding, goat tying, barrel racing and other events.
“When you’re supposed to get buckles and you don’t get them, that matters to a kid,” said Wiley, whose son Colton is a bull rider on the team.
The team, whose members compete in the pay-for-play North Texas High School Rodeo Association, also had to deal with tragedy. In November 2006, Weatherford freshman Celie Carnley, one of the team’s stars, died in a car accident that also claimed the life of the mother of another team member.
“We had some major problems last year,” co-sponsor Patsy Tuck said. “We had to pick our feet up and get started again.”
Wiley, a banker, enlisted the support of community and business leaders. Jerry’s GM Ltd., a prominent Weatherford car dealership, agreed to contribute thousands in sponsorship dollars. The Parker County Sheriff’s Posse, a civic organization that works to preserve Western heritage, donated the use of its rodeo arena for the team’s NTHSRA home meet in May.
With the donations, Wiley was able to provide a belt buckle for each 2006-07 team member. In fact, the money was enough to pay for nicer buckles than Wiley remembers past teams receiving.
“They deserved it,” said Jamie McClain, parts director at Jerry’s GM and a member of the Parker County Sheriff’s Posse. “They’re good quality kids. We just thought they needed some help.”
The team members appreciated the buckles, Wiley said, but not everyone kept theirs. Instead, several of the girls gave theirs to Carnley’s mother because they said she was the best in every event.
“I thought that was pretty special,” Wiley said. “They said, ‘Oh no, I’m not the champion. If she had been there she would’ve kicked our butts.’”
After several difficult seasons, things are looking up for the Weatherford-Millsap rodeo team. Through all the recent adversity, Wiley feels the rodeo team members have learned a valuable lesson: How to get up after a fall.
“I just think the team has really grown,” Wiley said, “because life is full of ups and downs.”
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