story by Michele Toberer
Rob Black grew up on a family ranch in Bruneau, Idaho as one of the 9 children of Joe and Margaret Black. He and his seven brothers and one sister, spent their time riding, roping, and using all the skills needed to get the ranch work completed. In 1970, his senior year of high school, he started competing in rodeo, and rodeo has been a part of his life, off and on, ever since. Now 65, Rob recently competed in his first season with the Mid-States Rodeo Association as he’s been working on a pipeline project in West Virginia as a construction manager for TC Energy. “I have competed in rodeo most of my life, and once I was back east, I started looking at all the rodeo opportunities there were, and thought, ‘I’ve never tried rodeoing back here, I think I’ll give it a shot.’ I’m so glad I did because it’s been a great experience. The people have been welcoming and the rodeos have been fun. I went to 21 rodeos between July 19th and Labor Day!”
Wickenburg, Arizona has been home to Rob since 2002, but there’s been quite a trail that led to him settling there. After graduating high school, he started out at Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario, Oregon, then transferred to Montana State University to finish his degree. He played basketball and football in college, but then came back to rodeo, competing for a living as a calf roper and team roper during most of the late 1970’s across the northwest. He spent most of the 80’s and 90’s getting back to his family roots and raising his own family on a ranch in Idaho where they ran a couple thousand head of cattle. Rob has a daughter, Marissa Muncey, who lives in Corona, New Mexico with her husband, 2-time world champion saddle bronc rider Taos Muncey; a daughter, Lindsay Black, who is a pharmacist in Boise, Idaho, and a son Blaise who passed away 13 years ago. All of the kids competed in high school and amateur rodeos, and Blaise and Marissa competed in college rodeo. “In 1996 I stepped back into the rodeo scene, because Blaise wanted to rodeo. We bought a calf horse, and he and I rodeoed together until 2006, when he passed away. Blaise won the calf roping title in the Idaho Cowboys Association a couple years, and he and I won the team roping title together a couple years, and I won the all-around title a couple years in North Dakota also.”
Rob is grateful to recognize Bob Johnson and Troy Perkins as two cowboys that had a lot of influence on his roping. “Bob pretty much taught all of us in the northwest, me and my friend Dee Pickett, we called him coach and he was the guy that taught us to rope calves. Troy was my first team roping partner and he taught Mike Beers and the Minors; Troy was the one that showed us how to rope and win. At that time, I headed, and I still do some, but now I mostly heel.”
While working and competing in the MSRA this season, as he was based out of West Virginia, Rob was appreciative that friend JC Malone, sold him a calf horse that fit him just perfectly. “I told JC I was needing a calf horse and he sent Caviar, an 18-year-old palomino gelding, to me at Colorado Springs. I brought Caviar to a stable I boarded him at in Chesapeake, Ohio, and the lady that ran it took great care of him and would ride him during the week for me. I’d pick him up for the rodeos and didn’t rope one practice calf on him all summer, and he worked outstanding.”
Rob recently competed at the Senior Professional Rodeo Association finals, and the World Series Team Roping Finals and Patriot in Las Vegas, where he roped with Marissa and other partners. So, as he still travels across the country to blaze his own rodeo trail, he’s thankful for the opportunity to compete with the MSRA this year, “People up here have treated me like I was one of them and I’ve had a great time in this good association. For a 65-year-old guy to get to go do this, I feel very fortunate.”
