Mike and Chase Adamson at Mulvane, Kan. at the Midwest Regional Finals
– Brenda Allen
Mike & Chase Adamson
story by Lily Weinacht
Mike and Chase Adamson are an uncle and nephew team roping pair that have been backing into the box together for the last three years. They rope in the CSRA and the USTRC, keeping them on the road nearly every weekend in addition to ropings and jackpots.
Mike, 46, has been roping for nearly 26 years. In the beginning, his brother, Gary Adamson (Chase’s father), competed in roughstock, then moved on to tie-down roping, leading Mike to take up team roping. During the first few years, Mike mainly competed at jackpots with his brother, then added rodeos to his agenda and even made several national finals ropings with the USTRC. Most recently, Mike won a saddle at the USTRC Affiliate Roping in Topeka, Kan. and he and Chase came home with a check for $10,000 and saddles from a USTRC regional finals in Wichita, Kan. Mike attributes much of the success to his horse named, appropriately, Cash. This is his second season on the 15-year-old bay, who has taken him to the pay window on many occasions. While Mike has years of roping experience under his belt, he’s always looking for ways to improve his competition. “Every year I put on a roping school that I invite professional ropers to come teach. I’ve had Jhett Johnson, Daniel Green, and even Allen Bach.”
Mike and his wife, Kelly, live in New Windsor, Ill. They enjoy taking trail rides together and Kelly travels with Mike to most of his rodeos. Their two daughters, Kaitlyn and Maggie, are both grown. Kaitlyn is a schoolteacher and Maggie is going to school to be a veterinarian. Mike is a Union carpenter and supervisor for a construction company in the Quad Cities. He started with the company right out of high school and has been with them since. All of his spare time, however, goes to roping practice and hitting as many rodeos and ropings on the weekend as he and Chase can find. The uncle and nephew practice twice a week at their brother/dad’s arena and move to another family member’s indoor arena during the winter.
Chase Adamson, 26, has spent his entire life around the roping scene thus far. His brother and two sisters also rodeoed, as well as several of their uncles, making it a family affair. Chase competed in junior rodeos and went on to high school rodeo, managing to fit basketball and football into his schedule with the help of his parents. High school rodeo treated Chase and his roping partner, Ben Davis, very well. They won the Illinois State Championship in team roping three years in a row. More recently, Chase won three out of four USTRC ropings heading this year, and he now has three more saddles to his name.
Like his uncle, Chase has been competing in the CSRA for three years. In addition to roping, he is also a steer wrestler, but is currently taking time off from the event while he looks for a new steer wrestling horse. His main heading horse, a 13-year-old named Brown, took him through his final season of college rodeo and is the best horse Chase has ever had. During his four years on the rodeo team at Murray State University, Chase met his future wife, Kelly. They are getting married in November in Collierville, Tenn. where her parents live. Meanwhile, Chase works at DuPont Pioneer Hybrid as the production planning coordinator, which puts him in charge of the company’s corn inventory.
In rodeo, Chase’s greatest goals include competing in the CSFR with his uncle Mike for the third year in a row and someday making it to the IFR. The pair of 5 elite USTRC ropers also hope to make several finals ropings with the association. Whatever the rodeo, these weekend warriors are ready for their next draw.
