Column: Thank You to Those Who Made Our Rodeo Coverage Happen

SAN ANGELO, TX—(Column) Growing up in the rural town of Crosby just outside of Houston, I’ve always had a deep admiration and appreciation for the athletes and the sport of rodeo.

Every summer, my hometown would shut down for the Crosby Fair and Rodeo. We would have most of the up-and-coming cowboys and cowgirls of the PRCA Circuit. Not to mention my family was a short drive from NRG Stadium and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo which comes to town every March. We even went to one of the last rodeos in the old Astrodome when I was five or six years old.

That’s why it was an easy sell when my boss Joe Hyde asked me to direct our coverage for the 86th San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo. But it didn't come without tireless hours of figuring out a game plan to attack our coverage for this year's rodeo. It was an immense task to put everything together for this. It wouldn't be possible without the people who were around me.

Across the United States, Canada and anywhere a rodeo takes place, the storylines and amazing people are abundant.

This year we saw Joe Frost, the second cousin of the legendary bull rider Lane Frost, continue the family heritage of rodeo on the arena floor in San Angelo and make the short-go round.

We saw Logan Corbett, the Head Coach of the New Mexico State University rodeo team, go from relatively unknown athlete to a National Finals Rodeo qualifier by winning the finals. He would also be invited back for the Chute Out on Saturday after qualifying for the finals on Thursday.

But it’s not only the cowboys and cowgirls competing that make the rodeo so fun to take in. Arena announcer Boyd Polhamus continuously praised the volunteers that help to put the rodeo together.

We were set up in the Hospitality Barn for our base of operations and the kind folks who ran operations in there where they feed the cowboys, cowgirls and other volunteers made us feel welcome the entire time even though we may have been an inconvenience with all of our equipment.

These volunteers take time out of their busy schedule and make sure the rodeo runs smoother than any other in the world all while maintaining big smiles.

You can see all of our coverage in this playlist on YouTube.

After accepting the task of directing our coverage, I had to set about finding reporters to help tell the story of the 11 performances and Cinch Chute Out over the course of three weeks.

After her stellar dedication and work during our basketball and football coverage, I knew Kendall Ponce would be able to handle the challenge of reporting such a fast moving event.

After asking if she wanted to be one of our reporters to cover this event, Kendall informed me she had very minimal knowledge of rodeo. That didn’t faze her after she saw a few performances and Kendall stepped up to the plate and continuously grew her skills as a journalist across the three weeks.

Even though I would occasionally step in front of the camera, I needed one more reporter.

I didn’t have to look any further than the very same Sports Broadcasting program at Angelo State that helped me develop my skills. Ally Coscetti has done tremendous work covering sports for them and learning through an internship with a local media station here in town.

Ally, much like Kendall, had limited knowledge of rodeo coming in. Despite that, she showed up to every performance, worked diligently and picked things up quickly. It showed as some of her video interviews hit over 5,000 views on our Facebook page. She definitely has a bright future in Sports Journalism.

While our reporters were key components to our coverage, our support staff of Joe, Zoey Hanrahan and Brandy Petty were just as integral to telling the story of this momentous event. Without them running around, videoing and helping to relay more information to our reporters, our productions would have failed.

But none of this would be possible without the help and access from the San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo Association and Marketing Director of the SASSRA Tom Thompson. Our sponsors San Angelo Community Medical Center, West Central Wireless, Diegos Burritos, Blaine's Pub, Twin Mountain Fence, Twin Mountain Dentistry, Sonora Bank, Chicken Express and Raising Cane's were also the ones who laid the foundation that made it possible to bring this coverage to you.

This rodeo has seen 85 previous installments and, on behalf of the entire team here at San Angelo LIVE!, it was an honor to cover the 86th installment of one of the best rodeos in the world.