story by Ruth Nicolaus
Boyd Miller is in his second year of competition as a bareback rider in the Central Plains Rodeo Association.
The Ft. Scott cowboy is a student at Ft. Scott (Kan.) Community College, where he will graduate this month with a degree in farm and ranch management.
He grew up in Burwell, Neb., and competed in high school rodeo in the barebacks and team roping. He qualified for the National High School Finals twice and graduated from high school in 2012.
Boyd attended Northwestern Tech in Goodland, Kan., on a rodeo scholarship and earned a welding degree. He had met Coach Cross, the rodeo coach for Ft. Scott, at Nationals, and decided to go to the eastern part of the state. He loves college rodeo at Ft. Scott: “the atmosphere, the coaching and the ability to get on horses whenever we want,” he said.
In Ft. Scott, he does day work and competes not only in college rodeo and the CePRA, but in the American Cowboy Rodeo Association as well.
Boyd works to give back to up and coming bareback riders, noting that he was self-taught. “Helping the younger bareback riders is something I strive to do, because I didn’t get much help, and I want them to be the best they can be. I want people to have what I didn’t have.”
He enjoys getting on the bucking horses of Jimmy Crowther. “He has some outstanding horses, and I’ll go to about any of his rodeos. I’m a little far east to get to his rodeos, but when I go, I make a point to hit as many as I can.”
After college graduation, he hopes to find work on a ranch in Oklahoma.
Boyd has a younger brother, Justin. His parents are Bob and Deb Miller.
