Consistency paid off for LaJeunesse

Thursday, Nov. 30, 2000 | 12:23 p.m.

PRCA

Lan LaJeunesse

Lan LaJeunesse arrived at the 1999 National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas without much fanfare. The most-asked question, in fact, of this 29-year-old NFR rookie was "How do you pronounce your last name?"

Ten days later, the unassuming cowboy with the boyish grin stepped onto the stage at the MGM Grand to accept his gold buckle.

"I've been more of a consistent bareback rider my whole career," LaJeunesse said after the NFR's final round Dec. 12, 1999.

"I just wanted to come down here and do my job, what I've done all along, and just not make any drastic mistakes.

"I really wasn't looking at the average, but shooting for winning those rounds and the average just fell into place."

Ranked 10th and wearing the No. 84 back number, the bareback rider from Morgan, Utah, entered professional rodeo's '99 championship event $35,000 behind top-ranked Pete Hawkins of Weatherford, Texas. Ten workman-like rides later, LaJeunesse found himself $822 ahead of Hawkins. A day-to-day approach, solid riding and lady luck played instrumental roles in his title march, LaJeunesse said.

"Those guys are my heroes, and on any given day they can whoop the pants off me," he said of his NFR counterparts.

"I just happened to draw horses who had great days with me. You have 15 of the best bareback riders in the world, you could flip a coin as to who was going to win every night. Everybody rides so good."

LaJeunesse ended up shattering the NFR average record with a 10-head score of 813 points, then established the NFR earnings mark with $99,487.

The door opened for LaJeunesse and the rest of the bareback riding field when Hawkins failed to mark his horse out in the first round. That miscue gave the rest of the gold-buckle hopefuls a shot at the average title, which paid the winner $33,105.

And LaJeunesse didn't waste the opportunity. He placed in the first four rounds, including a triumphant 85-point ride in round three and a pair of second-place efforts in rounds one and four. LaJeunesse's only setback came in round five, when he failed to place on Loretta Jane of the Silver Spurs Club.

"I got into a little trouble and I just had to make the whistle," he said of that 76-point round-five ride.

In round seven, LaJeunesse made a strong statement by winning with an 84-point ride on Copenhagen Two Spot of the Big Bend Rodeo Company. Hawkins failed to place. That meant LaJeunesse had the upper hand if he could continue to remain first in the average race.

"It's been a heck of a battle," LaJeunesse said after the seventh round. "I like the heck out of Pete and he's a great bareback rider, and I've just been kind of standing behind and cheering him on and just making sure I do my job and letting things fall into place.

"Everyone wants that gold buckle, but all I can do is just give it my all and whatever happens on Sunday afternoon happens."

On Sunday (the 1999 NFR's final round), LaJeunesse nailed a 79-point ride on Skoal's Cloverleaf of Keslers Championship Rodeo. The ride didn't place, but LaJeunesse wrapped up the average title with the effort. When the rodeo secretaries were finished compiling the numbers, LaJeunesse had won his first gold buckle with $151,340 to Hawkins' $150,518.

Just getting to the 1999 NFR, likewise, had been an uphill battle for LaJeunesse. "I think of all the years I've rodeoed, (1999) was my worst winter and spring," LaJeunesse said. "It got so bad, I think I only had $6,000 won a week before the Fourth of July, and that I thought I ought to start finding me a job."

Luckily, he won about $8,000 during the '99 Fourth of July holiday. Then, after another two-week cold spell, LaJeunesse got hot. He placed in nearly every rodeo he entered, including a key victory in Hermiston, Ore., which propelled him into the Top 15 for the remainder of the year. By the way, it's pronounced LA-JU-NESS, with a soft J in the middle.