Beaver overcame odds to win all-around title

Thursday, Dec. 4, 1997 | 12:41 p.m.

If Joe Beaver proved one thing at the 1996 National Finals Rodeo it was that he should never, ever be counted out.

The 31-year-old roper from Huntsville, Texas, overcame seemingly impossible odds to collar his second world all-around cowboy championship in as many years.

"I knew I needed about $80,000 (from the NFR) to win it," said Beaver, now a seven-time world champion. "Everybody had written me off. But I came here thinking I was going to make it, and it happened."

The odds against Beaver repeating as the all-around champion started stacking against him in June when he broke his left wrist in a freak accident while team roping at the Eastern Oregon Livestock Show and Rodeo in Union.

At the time, Beaver led the Crown Royal world all-around standings with $60,985, led the world calf roping standings with $43,427 and was fourth in the world team roping header standings with $17,558. But by July 2, Herbert Theriot of Poplarville, Miss., had passed Beaver in the all-around standings. As Theriot's earnings climbed, Beaver dropped in the standings, falling to sixth by mid-September.

However, Beaver did not stand idly by. Against his doctor's advice, he still tried to team rope. By the Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days rodeo, July 20-28, he was roping calves. By mid-October he'd climbed back to fifth place in the all-around race and, when the regular season ended Nov. 3 at the Grand National Rodeo in San Francisco's Cow Palace, Beaver had climbed back to a fourth-place ranking with $87,333, trailing Theriot by $28,141.

But perhaps more importantly, and to Beaver's detriment, Theriot had qualified for the lucrative $3.2 million NFR in both calf roping and steer wrestling.

Having earned $27,079 as a team roper, Beaver finished the season ranked 20th in the heading standings and did not qualify for the NFR in that event.

If "The Beav" was going to win a championship, he had to win it roping calves -- an event in which he owns five world titles.

When Beaver walked into the Thomas & Mack Center before the ninth round on Dec. 14, he still trailed leader Theriot by $24,723. Safe money was on Theriot.

But in his heart, Beaver knew better. He just waited until the last minute to let everybody else in on the secret.

Smokin' Joe tied his ninth round calf in a fast 7.7 seconds to win the round, pocket $13,384 and maintain his second-place seat in the average contest.

Theriot ran into trouble in both his events in round nine. In calf roping, he posted an 18.6-second time, finished out of the money, and fell from sixth to eighth in the average race. In steer wrestling, he turfed his steer in 9.8 seconds, finished out of the money and dropped from second to sixth place in the average race with 45.8 seconds on nine head.

But Beaver still needed a winning run in the final round to win the all-around title.

"My whole year was decided in that last nine seconds," Beaver said.

He was right -- except that it was 8.6 seconds -- enough to win the round. It also pushed him to first in the average race, worth another $29,135. The win boosted his 1996 earnings to $166,103.

But Theriot didn't exactly pave the way for Beaver. He tied his 10th-round calf in 9.1 seconds to split second- and third-place money, good for $8,352. But Theriot still finished seventh in the calf roping average race and earned only $3,390. He managed a sixth-place finish in the steer wrestling average contest to earn another $4,979.

In just a little over 24 hours, Beaver won two calf roping rounds and the average title for a whopping $55,903, enough for him to win his second world all-around title.

* World Titles: 1985, '87-88, '92-93 World Champion Calf Roper and 1995-96 World Champion All-Around Cowboy.

* Hometown: Huntsville, Tex.

* Date of Birth: October 13, 1965.

* Height/Weight: 6-3/220.

* 1996 Earnings: $166,103; $139,024 (CR); $27,079 (TR-Heading).

* 1996 NFR Earnings: $78,770.

* Year Joined PRCA: 1985.

* NFR Qualifications: 12 (1985-88, 90-97).