Longtime friends, competitors make NFR field for first time

Ask Macon Murphy or Kincade Henry about their time as team roping partners, and the laughs start to flow — followed by an abundance of lighthearted jabs.

Henry called the pairing awful, quickly pointing out that Murphy was often to blame.

“When you talk to him, he’s going to tell you how bad I was, but to be honest, his handles were absolute trash,” Henry joked. “He cannot handle a steer to save his life, and he’d get mad at me when I’d miss. I (said), ‘Well holy crap, just handle the dang steer.’”

Murphy’s retort centers around a two-minute compilation video of missed catches that he keeps handy on his phone, evidence he believes shows that his former partner was actually the problem.

“Don’t even let him tell you that. He’s the worst heeler you have ever laid eyes on. He can’t hit a duck in a barrel,” Murphy responded. “It’s unbelievable. It’ll make a guy want to quit. You can’t listen to nothing that sucker says.”

Those laughable performances back in their high school rodeo days built the bedrock of a friendship that continues to this day — all the way to this year’s Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

Thanks to some success late in the season, the former Panola Junior College cowboys earned the 14th (Murphy) and 15th (Henry) spots in the tie-down roping world standings, each securing their places among the field of NFR competitors for the first time.

The pair first met at junior rodeo events as teenagers. Before the start of his sophomore year in high school, Henry, a Texas native, told Murphy he wanted to try rodeoing with him in Louisiana and asked to be team roping partners.

While their work together wasn’t anything special, their friendship certainly turned out to be. When Murphy, about two years older, went off to Panola Junior College for school, he did everything he could to persuade Henry to join him on the college’s rodeo team. Henry had other intentions and was dead set on going elsewhere but obliged his buddy by coming to campus for a tour.

Thanks to some gentle nudging from his friend and sound advice from coach Jeffrey Collins, a former world bareback riding champion, the duo once again got back on the same team.

“As soon as the tour was over, I was like, ‘Yep. That’s where I’m headed,’” Henry said.

That decision certainly worked out well for both young men. In 2021, Murphy captured the College National Finals Rodeo tie-down championship. A year later, Henry followed suit with a tie-down championship of his own.

“I was in the box with him when he won his title the first year I was in college, and then he was in the box with me the year when I won mine. It’s pretty cool,” Henry said. “I was just as pumped whenever he won as I was whenever I won it, and I truly mean that.”

Those outings set the stage for 2022, when the pair started hitting the professional circuit hard. Murphy finished with just under $106,000 in earnings for the regular season, while Henry held off Cooper Martin by less than $600 to earn the final NFR qualifying spot, with just shy of $102,000 for the year.

Which brings the duo back together for a moment they once dreamed of — literally.

During those high school and junior competitions, Henry and Murphy would kill time by watching videos of other tie-down ropers making their runs, specifically previous NFR champions.

The image of the yellow chutes became ingrained in their minds and, though they’ve both been inside the Thomas & Mack Center before, this is the first time they’re on horseback on the arena floor.

“It’s something you can only dream about really. It’s something you can only think of in your head,” Murphy said. “We went from high school, to amateur, to college to pros together. It’s hard to put into words really, but it’s dang sure worth it.”

While they are competing for the same honors, the friends will still be there for each other no matter the outcomes.

Getting to Vegas was half the battle, and they did it together. Now, both young men are planning to savor the experience. But they’ve also come to prove they belong. Henry certainly did that in the fifth go-round of the Wrangler NFR on Monday night, tying for first with a 7.3-second clocking to pocket a $25,882 check. In fact, Henry is having a solid week in Vegas, vaulting up to No. 5 in the world standings with $188,194 in season earnings.

“It sounds cliche, but it’s a childhood dream come true to get to run 10 head in there this year,” Henry said. “But I’m not letting myself get satisfied with that thought. I’m going to smell the roses, but at the same time, I’m there to win. I’m ready to get out there and compete.”

Murphy pocketed a fifth-place check of $7,462 in the NFR’s third go-round, and he remains confident while aiming for more paychecks in the second half of this 10-day rodeo.

“To know that I can compete with the top competitors is pretty satisfying. I can’t name another way I’d rather make a living, that’s for sure,” Murphy said.