story by Ruth Nicolaus
Cody Duncan comes from a family of ropers. His dad, Tom, his uncle, Randy, and his granddad, Dean, all roped or still do, and Cody, a member of the Kansas Junior High School Rodeo Association, competes as a tie-down, team, and ribbon roper.
Although he lives in Drexel, Mo., he competes in Kansas because the family knows a lot of people in the Sunflower State, and because his dad Tom used to rope with some of them.
Cody rides a sorrel horse named Spuds who was his dad’s roping horse. Spuds is an all-around kind of horse; his mom Danicia rode him for the barrels, and Spuds can be bulldogged off of as well. Spuds carried Cody’s dad to a United Rodeo Association title in 2004.
The Missouri cowboy is an eighth grade student at Drexel Public School. He enjoys math class but science is not his favorite. He likes doing science experiments, but he’s not crazy about all the homework the teacher gives.
Cody’s favorite teacher is Mr. Brooker, his math teacher, because “he’s easy going, and he can adjust to you.”
At school, his favorite lunch is taco salad, and he likes nearly anything his mom makes, especially her chicken broccoli casserole, green bean casserole, and spaghetti.
In his spare time, he likes to hunt deer and turkey and rope. His favorite cowboy is tie-down roper Tyson Durfey, because Durfey is originally from Missouri.
Cody looks up to his dad because his dad “ropes really good,” and he taught him that “you don’t rope to catch, you rope to win.”
He has two older sisters, Shannon and Kristin, and two brothers, Hank and Luke.
