Rodeo Life
World's Greatest Roper winner Preston Williams: Paiute and proud
By ADRIAN JAWORT
Photography by T Slash D Rodeo Photos
Preston Williams roping at the 2009 Crow Fair Rodeo near Billings, Montana
"We didn't learn to rope out in the arena," Preston Williams says about his rodeo education growing up on Nevada's Walker River Indian Reservation. "We learned to rope out on the range."
Apparently Williams learned well, because in June he earned the 2009 title of World's Greatest Roper at a competition held in conjunction with the Reno Rodeo in his home state of Nevada. One of 17 ropers who qualified to compete, Williams — who usually prefers circuit and Indian rodeos to nationwide events — bested last year's champ, K.C. Jones, and world champions like Trevor Brazile, Chad Masters, Randon Adams, and Matt Sherwood to take the coveted title.
For some, the 34-year-old Paiute/Shoshone Indian seemed to have come out of nowhere (or almost nowhere: Schurz, Nevada, population 864 to be exact) to win the title. But for those who have followed the Indian National Finals Rodeo (INFR) circuit, Williams' win came as no surprise. His dad, after all, is Fred Williams, a legend in Indian rodeo. And Williams, eager to follow in his father's footsteps, has been competing in professional Indian rodeos since he turned 13 in 1988.
During his teen years, Williams could also be found on the Yerington High School basketball court, shooting layups with the finesse of a tossed lasso. But once Williams earned a rodeo scholarship, his basketball coach grudgingly acknowledged that the all-around athlete should turn his attention full time to the arena. And now Williams, by example, is encouraging a new generation to step off the ubiquitous rez basketball court and onto a different, albeit dustier, stage.
It's not such a big leap, even if it is a tough sell. Basketball might still be considered the most popular sport on the rez, but most horsemanship is often a basic necessity in many rurally situated Native American communities. So it's no coincidence that Indians from the Southwest to Canada have a high ratio of rodeo competitors in their midst. Still, competing on a national level can be hard to fathom.
"A lot of Native Americans have talent," Williams says, "but they never want to leave the reservation [to compete]." That tendency is slowly changing, he says, as a younger generation has begun to venture farther from the known comfort of local communities. "Now they're getting out and getting more exposed," he says. "They're not afraid to leave home."
Then there's the cost. For many young rodeo stars from impoverished reservations, the financial hurdles can be overwhelming. "I think it's just a lack of support financially," Williams theorizes about the relative dearth of Native American representation in the PRCA. "We have to do it on our own dime, but that's not just Indians. A lot of non-Indians have to do it alone, too."
That's something Williams knows well from personal experience. After becoming the 1997 Intercollegiate Rodeo Association Finals All-Around Champion, he joined the PRCA circuit for a few years, but he couldn't consistently garner the financial support needed to accommodate the demanding schedule. "Getting sponsors isn't easy," he admits. "But I did have one sponsor, the Viejas Casino near San Diego, that stuck with me for six or seven years."
Instead Williams participated in the more-affordable INFR circuit, and he remained loyal to it, eventually winning six INFR championships, including four calf-roping titles and two all-around titles, his latest in 2005. He may not earn Trevor Brazile's millions, but his PRCA and INFR winnings have helped him to the tune of two trucks, 17 horse trailers, and hundreds of winner's saddles and belt buckles.
This year, the World's Greatest Roper was "open to the world" for the first time, allowing any roper to enter. Williams jumped at the opportunity to compete in his own backyard. He placed 10th out of 25 contestants in the first round, but after making it to the finals, he was confident that he could take the title if he just stuck to his game plan. As he watched leaders Pat Boyle and Marty Becker each take more than 20 seconds to head their steers, Williams (who headed his steer in 7.4 seconds) realized he needed to heel a steer in 7.9 seconds or less on the last throw to win. He did it with time to spare, posting a time of 6 seconds flat and winning the 2009 title with a total time of 78.1 seconds for the three-round event.
Williams can vividly recall other memorable moments in his career, but being crowned the World's Greatest Roper certainly tops that long list. The fact he won it so close to where he grew up made it extra special.
"There were a lot of local people there I knew and people from my hometown," Williams says. "It felt great. And it felt great to represent the Native Americans."
Rodeo goes Native
Try this word-association test: I say rodeo, you say ... Indian. Or you should. Rodeo's not just for cowboys anymore. But then again, it hasn't been for a long time.
Since Western tribes were first placed on reservations, Indian agents saw rodeo as a means of acculturation. But Northern Plains Indians saw it differently: The rodeo may have been a cowboy (or vaquero) invention, but it was a familiar forum to tribes who had gathered for generations during the summer months to display their skills on horseback. Putting the event in a ring didn't make a whole heap of difference.
Indians quickly adopted the new format, seeing it as a way to maintain their horsemanship traditions and skills while strengthening community ties. But Indian rodeos were mostly a regional affair until 1976, when Clem McSpadden — grandnephew of Will Rogers, former Oklahoma state senator and U.S. congressman, ProRodeo Hall of Fame member, and famed rodeo announcer — co-founded the Indian National Finals Rodeo in 1976. For the first time, regional Indian rodeo associations from across the United States and Canada were united under one organization.
To find out more about the history of Indian rodeo, check out Riding Buffaloes and Broncos: Rodeo and Native Traditions in the Northern Great Plains by Allison Fuss Mellis (University of Oklahoma Press, 2003).
— Kathy Wise
