story by Lily Weinacht
Jesse Hopper covered two of his three bulls at the 2017 AJRA Finals to win both the year-end and the Finals champion titles. The 17-year-old from Mangum, Oklahoma, went into the finals tied for first with Tanner Jones, but Jesse was the only contestant in his age division to ride his bulls. Last year was Jesse’s rookie year in the AJRA, where he won the finals in the bull riding, while this year he finished fifth in the OHSRA bull riding. “Wanting to be a world champion one day drives me,” he says. “I’m not going to get there without hard work, and that drives me to practice and get on as many bulls as I can. I love getting on bulls. It doesn’t really feel like work – it’s just fun for me.”
Jesse and his older sister, August, also a bull rider, are the main members of their family to rodeo. Their cousin and several of their uncles rodeoed, either team roping or riding bulls, while Jesse started his career riding sheep. “Once upon a time I thought I was going to be a team roper. But I was told I couldn’t because I was left-handed and I’d have to switch hands, so that was the end of that.” But the dissuasion proved constructive for Jesse, who plans to make a career as a professional bull rider. He’s competed in the Youth Bull Riding World Finals the last eight years and finished fourth in the junior bulls last year.
“My dad has always been the first one there to help me. He got me started and is there for every bull I get on,” says Jesse. “Cody Custer has given me pointers and I’ve gone to his Camp of Champions in Sayre, Oklahoma. My Uncle Eugene has helped me and Clay Taylor is always inviting me to his house to get on bulls. There’s tons of people wherever I go always helping me. I’ve met a bunch of PBR guys, and I like to follow Justin McBride and Jess Lockwood.” The Hoppers also have several head of their own bucking bulls for Jesse and his sister to practice on. “I can practice whenever I want, usually once or twice a week, and my dad is always there to help with gates and flanks, and my sister can spot me and give me a pull – anything I need. We started out by using my Uncle Eugene’s roping steers (for practice), and now we’ve transitioned into buying actual bred bucking bulls. They’re mainly for practice, but we do take them to some smaller rodeos if they need bulls.”
Jesse is one of a handful of students at Mangum High School to rodeo. A junior, his favorite part of school is football practice, playing for the Mangum Tigers. He explains that he’d much rather be working on his family’s farm or riding bulls. “We mainly grow hay to feed the bulls and calves through the winter, so I swathe and cut hay.” Jesse and his parents, Doyle and Lisa Hopper, make their home near Reed, Oklahoma, 15 miles outside of town. “You probably couldn’t find Reed on the map,” says Jesse. “There’s not a lot of people, and since it’s mostly farm land, there’s lots of things to do outdoors, and places to go swimming.” Though Jesse’s friends prefer to do other sports like baseball or power lifting, many of them enjoy hunting and fishing together, and he’ll occasionally ride his family’s horses by the river.
“I don’t ever leave my house without a cross that I wear, everywhere and every day,” says Jesse. “I’d like to go to Nationals, if not win a National title in high school, and continue my rodeo career and win a PBR World Championship.”
