story by Lindsay King
A heart of gold with a faulty valve never slowed down Wild Wayne West from Lockwood, Missouri. A name derived from days spent in the Golden Gloves ring now lends itself to a rodeo clown walking the top rail of a rodeo arena. “I fought [Golden Gloves] for almost fifteen years and rode bulls, all while working even though I have a bad heart. Ironically, that put me in great shape.” Wayne found a special, but risky, surgery to replace his valve, one of those replacements went bad this year leading to surgery on January 25. “They had to go back in and do open-heart surgery, but by the end of April I was in Mississippi clowning a college rodeo.” Clowning at rodeos is one of the only reasons he has been able to pay off his medical expenses from the first surgery. Barnes and Sons Rodeo out of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, hires Wayne a lot. Barnes, along with Wayne’s friends and family, put together a benefit to help pay off this latest surgery. “My town and church were overwhelmed by the amount of people and hours traveled to come to the benefit. I was blessed beyond measure.” Now debt free from his surgery, Wayne can focus on all his business ventures. “I was born with a wrench in my hand, I changed my first head gaskets when I was about nine. Both my dad and step dad are mechanics, it is just something that I can naturally do.” Wayne owns and operates West Automotive, not to be confused with his father’s shop, Wild West Taxidermy, High Point Rodeo Productions and Three W Cattle, all on top of being a rodeo clown.
Wayne first entered a rodeo as a junior in high school, riding bareback horses and bulls, as well as team roping and chute dogging. “The bareback riding hurt too much and I never could afford to practice team roping, but I loved the bulls. Some people fish, I rode bulls, that is what I loved doing.” Wayne quit riding bulls in the ACRA and IPRA in his 40s, but never could quit rodeo all together. “I started producing bull riding events in 1992 in Springfield, Missouri, and somewhere in the middle of that I got asked to become a rodeo clown.” One of his first big break-out performances was in Billings, Montana. Wayne’s signatures at a rodeo starts 30 minutes before the performance, up in the crowd, getting to know people. “What we do is more important than any physical or financial gain; we never know what people are going through. For two hours I can help people escape what is going on in their life and have a little bit of fun and enjoy themselves.” This hit home for Wayne four months after the Billings rodeo when he got a letter from the couple he talked to every single night of the rodeo. “It told me the wife of the couple I had talked to had been seriously ill for over ten years and that was the first time she laughed and had fun in ten years.”
Married to his high school sweetheart Lisa for the last 36 years, Wayne has acquired more than just businesses. “I have two biological children, Sara and Burley. And then through teaching Sunday school I picked up three more daughters: Ryan, Charity and Lacey. They are my kids even though they have other parents.” Wayne has 14 grandchildren, the oldest is currently serving in Kuwait and the youngest is only 17 months. Out of everything, Wayne’s great life accomplishment is dedicating his life to Christ. “My biggest accomplishment, through God’s guidance, is my family and the lives I have effected because of his grace.” Along with Barnes and Sons, Wayne works a rodeo hosted by a church in Locust Grove, Oklahoma. “It is definitely the most rewarding, they do not charge admission and then they preach a little bit in the middle. But they do not cheap out either, it is a really great rodeo.”
Wayne is beginning to fill his pastures with cattle of a different color: spotted and brindled with horns, something most people in the area have not seen much of before. “We are taking the rodeo heifers that do not buck and putting black bulls on them.” Wayne is working to build a 500-head herd to pass down to his grandson. “I will keep doing the taxidermy until I simply can’t anymore. It is so relaxing and rewarding to see animals come back to life. Especially for the kids when they get their first big buck.” High Point Productions is slowly moving into the hands of Wayne’s kids, he is proud of how everyone stepped up when he could not be there. “I have always said that I will continue to clown until I can no longer physically walk on the fence. When I cannot do that anymore I will be done but I will never quit rodeo.” Barnes and Sons has permanent chute help the day Wayne quits clowning. “I just love that family and the rodeo life too much to leave it. I cannot imagine not being in rodeo in some aspect.”
