By Kendra Santos
The stage is set for tonight’s Showdown Round at the $574,400 Rodeo Corpus Christi, where six contestants from the Progressive Rounds will square off against the World Champions Rodeo Alliance Leaderboard #1 in each event. The bareback riding has an extra element of excitement, given the fact that nearly a third of the field comes from one Fort Scott, Kansas family. Brothers Colt and Bryce Eck have earned the right to ride for the title at American Bank Center tonight. They’re pretty pumped about it, and rightly so.
“I’m very excited, just trying to keep the nerves down,” said big brother Colt, who’s 21 and a junior at Missouri Valley College in Marshall. “I know there will be some buckers out tonight, so it’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s pretty awesome for my brother and me to be competing against all these NFR (National Finals Rodeo) guys.”
The Eck boys will join Leighton Berry, Mason Clements, Chad Rutherford, Garrett Shadbolt and Nick Pelke in this evening’s finals, with the horse draft coming in hot at 5 p.m. Central.
“I’m proud of both of us, we’ve been working for this and I’m glad it’s paying off,” said brother Bryce, 19, who just finished his freshman year at Fort Scott Community College in their hometown. “We’ve worked out together and ridden the spur board together—we’ve always pushed each other to be better. To be two guys in a seven-man field feels pretty special.”
Colt and Bryce are the sons of Shanna and Andy Eck, and also have a 15-year-old little brother, Trenton, who team ropes in the Kansas High School Rodeo Association.
“Our dad rode bucking horses when he was our age, so we’ve grown up in a rodeo family,” Colt said. “Dad cowboys and ranches, and is a pickup man now (including working the Prairie Circuit Finals). Bryce and I might pick on each other, like brothers do, but we also push each other and help each other out.”
Colt pays special attention to another Kansas bareback rider, Jess Pope, who won his first gold buckle last December.
“If I could pick anybody I’d like to ride like, it’d be Jess,” said Colt, who went to Fort Scott Community College for two years before transferring to MVC. “He’s a longer, taller person, too, so I’d really like to be able to compare my riding style to his.”
Colt nominated college rodeos to earn his way to Rodeo Corpus Christi, and is certainly not sorry about making the effort.
“Once you get here, you realize—wow, it’s worth it to get here,” he said. “It’s pretty cool getting to ride against the top guys who’ve been everywhere already, every horse in there tonight will buck and there’s lots of money to be won. An event like this gets our names out there a little bit more and who knows, maybe we can get in the rig with some of these guys someday.”
Fort Scott Community College Rodeo Coach Chad Cross started letting the Eck boys practice with the team when they were in high school. NFR bareback rider and neighbor Jared Keylon has also been helpful, including in the equipment department.
“I went to a few big rodeos last fall and nominated them, then went to Cowtown Christmas (WCRA major in Fort Worth) last December and did good there,” Bryce said. “The WCRA is good to all their contestants, they bring good horses and it pays good. This is one of the best places to be right now. Everyone’s coming to win. Now it’s time to do what we’ve been working on, ride like we know how and let everything fall how it’s supposed to.”
Big brother Colt seconds that.
“It’s time to just come with our teeth gritted and bear down,” Colt said. “Tonight’s going to be a riding contest.”
