Gee stayed tough until the end to claim crown

Thursday, Nov. 30, 2000 | 11:51 a.m.

PRCA

It was the last round of the 1999 National Finals Rodeo and freshman Mickey Gee knew exactly how the table had been set with the world championship on the line.

The defending champion, Mike Smith, led the world standings, while Gee was fifth with about $26,000 to make up. But the Texan from Wichita Falls controlled the average race, while Smith was out of it with a couple of no-times.

"I knew if Mike won the round, I was going to have to place no worse than fourth to win the world," recounted Gee. He turned to his hazer, the experienced Jimmy Powers, for advice.

"He said 'Mickey, just lay off the barrier a little bit, run him out there, catch him, throw him down and stay in the average.' You know, better safe than sorry.

"That was my game plan. Then, as we started to go into the arena, I told Jimmy 'You stay with this son of a buck, I'm gonna go for it.' I thought 'Shoot, this is my chance to win the world right here.' So I ran at him. I took a run at the barrier."

Gee, riding Powers' horse Scooter, was on the steer in a flash. With his arms around the steer's horns, Gee quickly laid him on his side. Time: 3.6 seconds. Gee jumped to his feet and pulled his imaginary six guns in celebration.

"When that steer hit the ground, I knew exactly what was happening," said Gee. "I knew I had it."

Gee, the second-youngest of the 15 steer wrestling finalists was still struggling to express his feelings nine hours after that overwhelming moment in the Thomas and Mack Center.

"It hasn't clicked yet; I don't really realize what I've accomplished," he said. "Like I still have to take a deep breath to (convince) myself it's over and it's happened, that I've done what every boy who dreams of being a cowboy wants to win a world championship.

"It's more thrilling than I thought it would be."

Gee placed in seven rounds and earned $77,244 at the 1999 NFR, while jumping from 11th to the top of the world standings with a 1999 income of $133,527. His 42.0 seconds on 10 steers surpassed Butch Myers' 1997 record of 43.3, and his NFR prize money exceeded Smith's 1998 record of $75,250.

Gee is also the first NFR rookie to land the honor since Steve Duhon in 1986 and the youngest bulldogging champion since Ote Berry won his first title in 1985 at the age of 23. And he did it all with just two full years of experience on the pro trail.

Although Gee joined the PRCA in 1996, he didn't hit the road full-time until last year. He split first with Berry at the Southwestern Exposition and Rodeo in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1998 and he decided to start competing full time.

"I said 'boys, I know where I can make me some money.' I had enough to get down the road and it's been good ever since," Gee said.

He finished 44th in 1998 with $23,533 and joined the 15 elite in 1999 starting off by winning Fort Worth again, this time on his own, for $9,500.