story by Lily Weinacht
Jim Boy Hash of Kendall, Kansas, is the new KJHSRA National Director. The father of two competing in the KJHSRA and KHSRA, and the head rodeo coach at Garden City Community College since 2003, Jim Boy has helped the next generation of rodeo athletes for many years. Until recently, he was the faculty director for the Central Plains Region rodeos at GCCC for five-and-a-half years, but he chose to take on the role of national director for the KJHSRA to be more involved with his kids’ interests. “The previous director was Rowdy Slavin, and his kids all moved up to high school, so the association asked me if I’d do it. I enjoy doing anything I can to help the rodeos run smoother, help the kids, and represent our state at the national level,” says Jim Boy.
He’s primarily responsible for the state junior high finals taking place at the Celebration Centre and Bar K Bar Arena in Lyons, Kansas, in 2019, along with selecting stock and putting personnel together. “My son Jaytyn qualified for Nationals in the team roping this summer, and each state is responsible for doing certain things at Nationals, so we helped with loading calves and steers. At regular rodeos, they put me on the track to facilitate the judges in case anything arises. Rodeo is teaching the kids responsibility, communication, how to deal with others, and how to face adversity and overcome those things.”
Jim Boy has been involved in rodeo most of his life, either working or competing in rodeos as early as grade school. “I grew up rodeoing in the Texas Panhandle in Canadian, Texas, and I grew up helping Bill Hext. He put on a lot of our junior and amateur rodeos, so in high school, I’d help him, and when I came home from my first year of college. A friend put on a barbecue before each rodeo, and me and another guy picked up broncs, so we’d have our pickup horses saddled, and we’d be serving beans up until the rodeo started.”
Besides working as a pickup man, Jim Boy competed on both ends of the arena, though steer wrestling was his forte. He rodeoed on the PRCA Prairie Circuit and in the KPRA, with many of his winnings putting him through school at Oklahoma Panhandle State University. He met his wife, Jessica, through rodeo, and she too has a background in producing rodeos, working with her grandfather, Otis Jennings, of J-J Rodeo Company. “I enjoy the production side of rodeo and facilitating a smooth rodeo going off,” Jim Boy explains. “And I enjoy being around the stock, especially watching my horses perform at the NFR. I started raising bucking horses to have them here at the college, and I was fortunate enough to raise a couple that could make it big time.” His mare Garden City Gal is bucking at the WNFR for the third time this December, and last year she won the seventh round in the saddle bronc riding. Pretty Woman, who won the eighth round last year in the bareback riding, was chosen to perform again as well.
Along with his bucking horses, Jim Boy provides goats for goat tying at college, Little Britches, and junior high and high school rodeos. He and his college team host a Little Britches rodeo every November in Garden City, while he’s also keeping up with college rodeos, football games, and hauling stock. “For the (KJHSRA/KHSRA) association, I want to continue what’s been done before, and I’m trying to increase membership through my college rodeo team. I have kids inquiring about being on the team, and they can go to high school rodeos and have a better idea of how to rodeo. I’m interested in educating parents as well as kids about the many different facets of rodeo.”
