Anyone who follows the sport of rodeo or calf roping has heard the names Joe Beaver and Shane Hanchey.
Joe Beaver is one of rodeo’s legends. After joining the PRCA in 1985, he has pocketed over $3 million dollars in earnings, and has roped his way to 8 world titles (All Around and Tie-Down Roping) and 22 WNFR appearances.
Shane Hanchey joined the PRCA in 2009, and already has over $1 million in earnings to his credit, along with a Tie-Down world title in 2013 and 8 WNFR qualifications.
STT recently visited with both about their roads to success, and also asked a few fun questions for comparison.
When did you start roping, and tell us about your path to the pros?
Joe: I’ve got a picture where I’ve got diapers on sittin’ on a big horse swingin’ a rope. I started roping off of a Shetland pony when I was three or four years old. I was nine or 10 when I won my first breakaway roping championship in the Texas Youth Rodeo Association. From that I went to a year of high school rodeos, then I cut loose and started going to amateur rodeos my sophomore year of high school. When I was a junior and senior, I went to over 250 rodeos a year. When I got my card, 100 rodeos a year was nothin’!
Shane: I was four or five years old when I started ropin’, and I was probably five at my first rodeo. I did Little Britches when I was about 10 to 14 years old. Then I did four years of high school rodeo and two years of college rodeo. I won state finals twice, placed at nationals two years, then went on to the college finals my freshman year in 2009. I learned a lot in those years, and I knew I wanted to do this for a living so I think I payed attention to everybody. After I qualified for the college national finals in 2009, I went right into the pros and qualified for the NFR in 2010.
What changes have you seen in pro rodeo over the years?
Joe: More money—the Finals is paying close to what it should—still not what it should, but getting bigger and better. Second, it is a whole lot easier to get to more rodeos with so many of the big two-headers being back to back that you can do in the same day. Back when I was workin’ them, and Ty Murray was workin’ two or three events, it was hard to get there. They may think it is hard now, but today is much easier than what we did on planes, trains and automobiles. We would have different rigs on the road, we flew back and forth and chartered. Now it is so much easier to work the good rodeos, there’s so much more money, and there’s so much more sponsorship and endorsement opportunity.
Shane: Rodeo has changed for better and worse—a little bit of both. There’s a lot more money to run at now versus 2010. Then you had Calgary and Houston for example as your big paying ones, now you have The American and Salt Lake City and it is growing for sure. I’m not sure it is a made for TV sport, but it has a lot of fans and following so that’s cool.
Who was your roping mentor or role model?
Joe: I just picked guys who were successful. I picked some because they had a blast, they stayed out all night partying but could still beat your butt the next day. Then there were guys who were just so mentally tough and focused that I copied them, then there were some guys who had awesome talent, and some guys whose flanking and tying I copied. I didn’t have any role models, I just had a dream!
Shane: My brother, Jason. All little brothers want to do what their big brothers do and he was a roper so I started roping as soon as I understood what he was doing, so that was pretty cool. And of course, I watched Trevor Brazile and Joe Beaver but one guy that I really patterned myself after was Shawn McMullan. The rodeo world lost him in 1996. I really like watching his tapes and I like a lot of things about his game that I try to instill in mine.
What did you eat for your last meal?
Joe: Broccoli and chicken alfredo
Shane: Salad and lobster
What was the last TV show or movie you watched?
Joe: Man, I don’t know what it was called but we watched something really weird at bedtime last night! But I also watched “Yellowstone”. “American Made” was the last movie.
Shane: “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” was the last TV show, and “Braveheart” with Mel Gibson was the last movie.
How did you spend your last day off?
Joe: I don’t ever have a day off. I have to make money every day. I’m either doing clinics, I’m buying and selling horses, I’m buying or selling places, or I’m entered somewhere with my boy. If you are going to be successful, it better be the only thing you care about. It’s like quarterback Tom Brady, he may play golf now and then, but that man studies football about 24-7.
Shane: Play golf. I just played in Spanish Fork, Utah.
