Thursday, July 13, 2000
Team Roping Bonds Seniors
Aging ropers refuse to
give up pastime
By Stephen Deere
Reporter-News Staff Writer
As he stood next to his horse and spat tobacco
juice on the straw-covered floor of a stable, 70-year-old R.H.
Moss repeated what appears to be the Super Senior team ropers’
mantra.
He said he’ll rope as long as his body
lets him.
The Original Coors Team Roping finals held
its annual Super Senior team roping event Wednesday morning at
the Taylor County Expo Center. On each team, the competitors’
ages had to add up to at least 130 years, according to the rules
of the contest.
Many of the participants are men who’ve
been involved in rodeo nearly all their lives, and though age
has withered their bodies, it has not squelched their desire for
competition. They are men whose struggle is against both time
and nature, and they’ve found that in that battle, team roping
has proved a useful weapon.
“It beats sitting in a rocking chair
at home,” Moss said.
“It’s something that keeps us
young and keeps us going,” 67-year-old Edd Workman said.
Lester Grosenbacher, 75, started roping
in 1952, eight years after he invaded the Philippines as a naval
officer during World War II.
He hopes he has another five years of roping
left, but he’ll keep competing, he said, “as long as
my health holds up.
“I just like riding a good horse,”
he said.
Competitors said winning matters, but not
so much as seeing old friends — friends who’ve been
roping together for decades but only see each other once a year
in Abilene during the finals.
And friends who’ve become fewer each
year, as they slip into graves.
“We come to Abilene and find out which
one of us has died,” Workman said.
Moments after competition ended, his feet
planted in mud just outside the arena, Workman labored to recall
the name of a man he wants to imitate.
“That’s the thing about getting
older,” he said. “It’s tough to remember names.”
The man was an old friend from Oklahoma,
who’d roped his way into his 90s.
In college, Workman won three rodeo championships
with the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association.
Like a marriage, his commitment to rodeo
has turned into a lifetime’s decision. He still practices
most every day, or at least five days a week, and won’t stop
until he’s too old to climb in the saddle.
Only death, sickness or injury can sever
the bond.
“Everybody out here will rope until
they just can’t or until they get sick. It’s the way
of life,” he said.
Contact staff writer Stephen Deere at
676-6783 or at deeres@abinews.com.
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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