KC Jones keeps organized with lists. The 43-year-old bull dogger from Southeastern Colorado has qualified for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo eight times since joining the PRCA in 1995. When not on the rodeo trail, KC works on his lists, which include two successful businesses he created: Rodeo Vegas (the Official NFR After Party of the PRCA) and Pro Fantasy Rodeo (the official fantasy rodeo game of the PRCA and WNFR).
KC has been rodeoing for 20 years with a pro card. “When I started I never got to rodeo like a lot of others,” he said. I was late to get my PRCA card as my parents wanted me to get a college degree before joining the pro ranks. Early in KC’s life, “Mom and dad (Ruby and Charlie) did everything for me, taking me to gymkhanas, jackpots and junior rodeos. It was all about making sure we had everything we needed. It was more important to have a good horse than a fancy rig. So we were always mounted well, and they went out of their way to haul us around.” KC and his sister Kelly competed in about every event in every division of rodeo except the rough stock events.
He grew up with National Little Britches rodeos and high school rodeos. “I won enough scholarship money to go to college,” he said, starting his college career at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colo. “I wanted to be an Architectural Engineer, so I got an Associate Degree at Sterling and went on to the University of Wyoming.” He switched his major to Business Marketing, graduating in 1994. He went back to the farm and started working and rodeoing. “My rodeo habit was costing a lot, so I started shoeing horses and went to Equine Dentistry School. I could work really hard doing Equine Dentistry and still go rodeo.” He had a fair amount of success in the circuit and decided to branch out in 2000. He bought a big green truck that he named “Mean Green” which was one of the first “Big” trucks that was converted and used for rodeo and it carried everything he owned – shoeing tools on one side and equine dentistry on the other. “I was $600 short of making the cut to the WNFR that year.”
He met his wife, Gayle, a barrel racer and flight attendant for Southwest Airlines, in 2002 in Oakdale, Calif. “I gave her a ring a month later, in November, we got married. “Neither one of us was looking and it was meant to be at first site…it happened fast and we’ve been running ever since,” he said. “I’ve been successful ever since I met her. She’s got my back 100% so that gives me the confidence to do anything. She is in charge of the horses…she gets up and feeds all the horses, giving them their supplements and exercises them. During the winter we have a lot of guys staying here (Decatur, Texas) for the winter rodeos. She cooks and cleans for everybody – I don’t want her job.”
Full story available in the December 2014 issue.
