1. (Article that appeared in GEORGIA Magazine)
Ride ’em cowboy!
Rodeo cowboy Ryan Jarrett ropes the top spot
BY JEFF RANCUDO
In professional rodeo, Ryan Jarrett is proving Georgia can be known for more than pigskin, peaches and
politics.
In December 2005, 22-year-old Jarrett, a Summerville native, became the first Georgia cowboy to win a
world championship of any kind in the history of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA), the
major league of pro rodeo, with records dating back to 1929. In fac t, until Jarrett won his all-around
crown, no cowboy east of the Mississippi River had ever won a PRCA world championship in any event. His
all-around title, which he landed with a huge performance at the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in December
2005, also made him the second-youngest cowboy to win an all-around world crown.
As a result of Jarrett’s capturing the all-around title, Dodge decided to loan him a new “dually” truck to
pull his horse trailer for a year. Success hasn’t made him cocky, though. Fellow competitors respect
Jarrett for his quiet, businesslike approach, and few think his attitude or competitive nature will ever
change. Jarrett is interviewed, photographed and videotaped everywhere he goes. When asked how he’s
handled the publicity, he sticks to the modest, hardworking roots he learned growing up on his family’s
700-acre dairy farm near the small Northwest Georgia town of Summerville.
“Ah, it’s all right,” says Jarrett, at home briefly in late May helping his father, DeJuan, repair a tractor.
“It’s just kind of hard to believe it’s real. I’m meeting top cowboys I never thought I’d meet.”
Even after seeing Jarrett win the world title, some competitors still wonder how such a good cowboy could
come from Georgia. “They joke about it,” Jarrett says. “They didn’t know cowboys came from Georgia.”
So far in 2006, Jarrett is still in the chase to win a second PRCA all-around title. He ranks third, trailing
leader Trevor Brazile from Decatur, Texas, whom Jarrett defeated last December, and Fred Whitfield of
Hockley, Texas. The all-around world crown is given to the cowboy who wins the most prize money during
a PRCA season (a calendar year) in two or more events, making at least $3,000 in each event. The most
competitive portion of the 2006 PRCA season takes place this summer and fall.
Rodeoing is tough and unpredictable. So how will Jarrett catch Brazile, much less pass Whitfield?
“I’m just gonna keep rodeoing,” Jarrett says, “and we’ll see what happens this December.”
In the PRCA world, cowboys compete from January to November to compile as many wins and as much
prize money as possible to be in the top 15 money earnings in their event, qualifying them for the
nationally broadcast NFR in Las Vegas, Nev. The cowboy who earns the all-around cowboy world crown is
considered the most versatile and talented competitor in rodeo.
Jarrett competes in three timed events: team roping, tie-down roping and steer wrestling. He hopes to
qualify for the NFR in all three this year, something that’s only been done six times in PRCA history.
Pro rodeo success at a young age can lead to a great future. Besides Jarrett, the only other all-around
cowboy who’s earned a world title at a younger age was Ty Murray. A Texan now retired, Murray captured
seven all-around world championships, including six in a row from 1989 to 1998. Jarrett won his first
professional rodeo money (about $6,000) at a rodeo in Kissimmee, Fla., in February 2003. He joined the
PRCA in 2004 and promptly captured the PRCA’s Resistol Rookie of the Year honors in tie-down roping.

2. Before that, he competed four years in a row at the Georgia High School Finals Rodeo in Perry, winning
runner-up, all-around honors as a junior, and winning the all-around as a senior. Jarrett finished third in
steer wrestling at the National High School Finals Rodeo as a senior.
Jarrett’s sister Lauren, four years his senior, says her brother has always been quiet and dedicated to
becoming a better rodeo cowboy. “I’d like to stay the same Ryan I always was,” he says. “Whatever
happens, I hope I can still treat people the same way I always have. That’s just the way I was raised.”
Jarrett is a first-generation rodeo champion who’s never competed in other sports and has had great help
from his parents. His father, DeJuan, runs the 100-head dairy farm that has been in the family since
1958, and his mother, Joan, taught at Menlo Elementary School before retiring this spring.
Growing up on the dairy farm where cows are milked morning and night, Jarrett learned hard work early.
He was about 5 years old when he began helping on the farm. When he wasn’t working, he was practicing
his rodeo skills. “I’m sure growing up on the dairy farm helped me because you learn to not give up,”
Jarrett says. “In this farming business, you can never stay ahead, so you’re always trying to find a better
way to do things.”
Jarrett first competed in a youth rodeo event at age 8 when he tried chute dogging, a slower version of
steer wrestling where someone stands ahead of a calf and slows it down so the youngster can more easily
chase and wrestle it down. In Jarrett’s youth, family friend Charlie Lowry of Summerville, himself a three -
time NFR qualifier, remembers wondering if Jarrett “would ever be big enough to compete.”
Though small, Jarrett was a fighter as a youth. In Georgia Junior Rodeo Association competition, he won
the all-around crown for the northern portion of Georgia every year he could compete, from 1994 to 1998.
Today, as a 5-foot, 11-inch, 200-pound cowboy, Jarrett is respected by his competitors for his athleticism
and horsemanship.
“I’ve been doing [pro rodeo] for 10 years and [Jarrett’s] as good a timed-event cowboy that’s come along
since I’ve been competing,” says Brazile. “You can pick out any state you want and you won’t find many
guys of his caliber out there. The way I would explain it is that he’s the kind of cowboy that you tell him
the event and he’ll find a way to win it.”
Last year, Jarrett won more than $263,000 in prize money. But as Jarrett’s success continues, so do
expectations of him. “He’s under more pressure than he’s ever been,” DeJuan says. “I told him a few
weeks ago, ‘Just relax and if it happens, it happens.’”
So far, Jarrett’s rodeo plan has made believers of fans and competitors alike. For winning the 2005 All-
Around World Championship, he also took home a gold belt buckle and a new saddle with 2005 All-Around
World Champion stitched in big letters.
Whitfield, Jarrett’s competitor in the all-around, is impressed with Jarrett. “I’ve always been one to let my
rope do the talking, and Ryan does the same thing,” he says. “Ryan’s a gifted individual. It’s one thing to
be good, but he’s just a good athlete. And he’s got quite a bit of horse sense. I see more gold buckles in
his future.”
Jeff Rancudo, a communications specialist with North Georgia Electric Membership Corp. in Dalton, lives in
Varnell with his wife and two children.