Williams has his eye on team record

Thursday, Dec. 2, 1999 | 4:33 a.m.

PRCA

Speed Williams

World titles: 1997-98 World Champion Team Roper (Heading)

Hometown: Jacksonville, Fla.

Date of birth: Dec. 14, 1967

Height/weight: 5-11, 200 pounds

1998 earnings: $128,472

1998 NFR earnings: $65,962

Joined PRCA: 1986

NFR qualifications: 5 (1994, '96-99)

There are those who would have panicked, those whose composure would have crumbled the instant the judge's flag signaled a no-time in the 1998 National Finals Rodeo's opening round.

But Speed Williams is a smarter roper than that. When Williams lost his rope in round one of the '98 NFR, all he and his heeling partner, Rich Skelton, could do was wait. Round two was only a day away.

"That first night I didn't get much sleep, Williams of Jacksonville, Fla., admitted. "It was really disappointing, especially after having such a great year in 1997."

The lost opportunity was a challenge the defending champs turned into a show.

Williams, 31, and Skelton launched a vigorous assault on the team roping competition with scorching times of 4.2, 4.6, 3.9 and, finally, a 3.8-second run in the ninth round of the '98 Finals.

The time tied the NFR arena record, set by Doyle Gellerman and Britt Bockius in 1995. It also came dangerously close to matching the PRCA team roping world record, a fact of which Williams was well aware.

"The world record is 3.7 seconds, set by Tee Woolman and Bobby Harris at Spanish Fork, Utah," said Williams. "I want that record."

But, more importantly, a second world title was also in Williams' line of vision throughout the '98 Finals. After watching his and Skelton's closest rival teams falter in the 10th and final NFR round, Williams' mathematical wheels were sent churning.

"I had it figured to where we didn't even have to catch (in round 10) to win," said Williams.

The pair clocked a solid 5.1-second run in round 10 to make its second set of world titles official.

Williams and Skelton finished the '98 NFR with $65,962 in fresh change to rewrite the NFR earnings record they set in '97.

Each roper also set PRCA earnings records with $128,472 in Williams' 1998 cashpot and $127,646 in Skelton's.

The now two-time world titlists, who roped nine steers in 55.6 seconds, also landed an impressive eighth-place NFR average paycheck -- impressive because they'd been dubbed "out of the average" since the NFR's opening day.

"Earlier in the week I made a mistake and put a lot of pressure on Rich to catch every night," Williams, a four-time NFR qualifier, said upon conclusion of the '98 NFR's final round.

Williams is no stranger to the pressure of catching from the heeling end either.

At the 1988 NFR he heeled for Casey Cox, making Williams one of only a half-dozen team ropers to compete at the NFR as both a header and a heeler.

His pair of world titles have come from the header's side, however, and each have come via a two-way partnership with 32-year-old Skelton.

Williams relocated to Skelton's stamping ground in Llano, Texas, last year so that he and Skelton could practice and compete as a team year-round.

But don't be mistaken. Williams is not a Texan.

"I'm the Florida flag guy," said Williams, a Sunshine State native.