Old friends fuel Ohl’s effort

Three names have been synonymous with calf roping in the National Finals Rodeo the past decade: Joe Beaver, Fred Whitfield and Cody Ohl.

They have won 17 of the last 24 calf roping titles.

But Ohl is the only one among the Texan trio who is competing this year in the world's richest rodeo.

"You know, I really do miss not having Joe and Fred out here with me," the six-time world champion said.

He seems to be riding for himself and his longtime friends this time around.

After winning outright Sunday, the 36-year-old Ohl tied Trevor Brazile for first Monday night at 7.1 seconds in the fifth go-round before a crowd of 17,027 at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Ohl was able to celebrate with Beaver, 44, who is here working as an analyst for ESPN's rodeo coverage.

A seven-time world champion who won his first title in 1985, the NFR's inaugural year in Las Vegas, Beaver underwent hip replacement surgery six weeks ago and has retired from calf roping.

"My hip just didn't have any runs left in it. Now it's time to let it go. I'm OK with it," said Beaver, who plans to return to team roping next year.

He said he prefers to be remembered for his last NFR in 2006, when he placed in seven of the 10 rounds.

Whitfield, 42, was the world champion seven times between 1991 and 2005 and finished 20th this year -- five spots from qualifying for his 18th NFR.

He returned home to Hockley, Texas, after watching the first two rounds.

Beaver said Whitfield roped strong all year but was lacking that one special horse he needed to make a serious run at the Finals.

Some encouragement from Beaver helped ignite Ohl on Sunday night after he had failed to earn a paycheck in the first three go-rounds.

"I told Cody if (his late father) Leo Ohl was here he'd have slapped him in the head to get him started," Beaver said. "So that's what I did."

It seems to have worked.

"I didn't know a whole a lot about this calf. I just knew he ran a good pattern and didn't kick," Ohl said after Monday's round. "And that's all I ask for."

A little smack from an old friend didn't hurt either.

Other winners in the fifth go-round were Bobby Mote (Culver, Ore.) and Jared Smith (Cross Plains, Texas), bareback riding; Lee Graves (Calgary, Alberta), steer wrestling; Riley and Brady Minor (Ellensburg, Wash.), team roping; J.J. Elshere (Quinn, S.D.), saddle bronc riding; and Sherry Cirvi (Marana, Ariz.), barrel racing. For the first time since the sixth round of the 1997 Finals, no bull rider completed an eight-second ride.

• NOTES -- Brazile won $15,342 in calf roping to push his all-around total to $311,118. It's the fourth consecutive year he has topped $300,000, a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association record. Brazile leads second-place Clint Robinson by $120,000 and third-place Josh Peek by $136,000 in the all-around world championship standings with five go-rounds left, including tonight's, which starts at 6:45.

Contact reporter Jeff Wolf at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247.