With father by his side, Kade Sonnier reaches new heights

Kade Sonnier looked to the rafters as the notes began to echo throughout the Thomas Mack Center, causing the corners of his eyes to well with tears.

Before almost any organized sporting event in America, the national anthem is almost guaranteed to play. There’s no way of knowing how many times Kade had heard the song. Hundreds, thousands, maybe more.

Yet, on this 2018 evening, the tune hit differently.

In a few moments, Kade was going to watch his father, Joey, compete in saddle bronc riding at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. It marked the first time Joey ever qualified for the NFR, at 39 years old.

This was Joey’s culminating moment, the conclusion of a long journey that led him back to rodeo success, and, more importantly, back into his son’s life. For Kade, it was the starting point of an unexpected journey, one he would take with his father by his side.

“No national anthem I’ve ever stood for, no sport or game I’ve ever been a part of, has compared to that,” Kade said. “Just being there for eight days, I kind of shed some tears and shed some light on where I thought God was leading me.”

Reconnected through rodeo

In some ways, rodeo drove a wedge between Kade and Joey before it ultimately brought the father and son back together.

Joey joined the PRCA almost two decades prior to his first NFR appearance. Back then, the sport was more party than profession, and Joey struggled to turn down a good time. He battled alcohol and substance use disorders for years, bouncing in and out of Kade’s life.

“I missed a lot of Kade’s childhood. When I was in, I was 100 percent in. But I never wanted to involve him in whatever turmoil I had going on in my life,” Joey said, noting he made the decision to get sober in 2013. “I had reached out to Kade about making amends, and he was pretty hurt. I think he was just as much embarrassed as he was hurt.”

Their relationship was a slow rebuild that started with little things, like attending Kade’s baseball games or providing a horse for a school play. During that time, Joey began the process of returning to rodeo on a full-time basis.

It came to a head in 2017. Joey needed to make a late-season, three-rodeo sprint that would span 3,000 miles in less than 70 hours, all for a chance to make the circuit finals. His regular travel partner was unable to go. So he asked his son to tag along.

The drive gave the pair an opportunity to have honest conversations about their relationship and past. It also gave Kade the chance to help his father.

A Division I baseball prospect at the time, Kade knew what it took to compete at a high level — knowledge he eagerly passed along.

“He was like, ‘Dad, it’s not like that anymore. These young kids, they’ve got an edge on you because they’re younger, they’re faster, they don’t have a family at home to worry about feeding. If you’re going to do it, you need to get into the gym.’ And I believed him,” Joey said.

A year later, the commitment to fitness and well-being carried Joey to his first NFR, where Kade was proudly looking on.

The son had helped the father get to rodeo’s pinnacle moment. The roles shortly reversed.

Trying something new

Baseball had long been Kade’s life, and in the fall of 2017, he reached what at the time was his biggest goal.

A standout catcher who led Teurlings Catholic High School to back-to-back Louisiana state championships in 2016 and 2017, Kade signed with Nicholls State to continue his career.

In March 2018, he tore the labrum in his non-throwing shoulder, ending his freshman season. He recovered quickly and returned to the diamond for fall workouts.

His comeback was short lived as he tore the UCL in his throwing elbow during a scrimmage, resulting in the need for Tommy John surgery. The procedure was postponed until late December, so that he could be in Las Vegas with his father for the 2018 Wrangler NFR.

As his recovery dragged on, Kade began to feel disconnected from the game, leading to a conversation with his dad.

“I don’t like to admit that I quit, but I felt like I was a step behind and my heart was being pulled toward something else,” Kade said. “I ended up hanging my spikes up and trading them for some spurs.”

Admittedly, Joey wasn’t initially sold on the idea. Kade had given up rodeo as a child to focus on baseball. He’d never been on a real bucking horse and his frame – 5-foot-9, 170 pounds – was a little too stocky for saddle bronc riding.

The duo agreed that he should take part in bareback bronc riding instead. They purchased some practice horses, keeping them at a facility where Joey works. While COVID-19 shut down much of the country, the Sonniers had the resources to practice and train.

“We watched him out here cut flips and get yard-darted and get absolutely slammed. Some days, he’d bounce up and say, ‘Load me another one.’ And some days he’d be like, ‘I think I’m done for the day,’” Joey recalled. “And I’d be like, ‘Nope, we’re going to keep going. You can walk, you’ve got all your teeth. We’re going to dig deep and get on another one.’ I just wanted him to know when you can’t go no more, you can.”

Joey set parameters once pandemic-related restrictions were eased in 2020. Kade competed in limited amateur rodeos before going to Cody, Wyo., to take part in the Cody Night Rodeo, a summertime event that allows up-and-coming athletes a chance to compete in rodeo daily.

“That was like the first taste of rodeoing, different state, different town, different atmosphere,” Kade said. “If it wouldn’t have been for that, I wouldn’t have been able to progress as fast as I did. Being able to get on 20-something horses in less than 30 days is pretty hard to do anywhere else.”

Kade rode on his permit for another year in 2022, just to gain more experience. The Sonniers made a decision that 2023 would be his first season as a PRCA member. He joined up with three-time world champion bareback rider Tim O’Connell as a partner. O’Connell helped Kade navigate scheduling and traveling.

Less than four years removed from riding his first bucking horse as an adult, Kade was set for his rookie season as a professional. Everyone was hoping for the best. No one could have imagined what would come next.

Following his father’s footsteps

To many, the notion would have been unrealistic, but the moment Kade said it, Joey knew it was going to happen.

As the season unfolded, the rookie continually sought advice from his father. During one conversation he made a bold proclamation — he was coming to be among the best bareback riders now, not later.

“I asked Kade what he thought and he was like, ‘Dad, I’m not 100 percent sure I can win Rookie of the Year, but I can make the NFR.’ And he said it with 100 percent conviction,” Joey said. “I said it every year and didn’t mean it until 2018, personally. When Kade told me that, I believed him. He said it with enough conviction that I knew he knew it, and I believed he would.”

Fellow rookie bareback rider Keenan Hayes has garnered many of the headlines this year, and rightfully so. Hayes regular-season earnings of more than $265,000 shattered the previous PRCA record.

Meanwhile, Kade came into the NFR with more than $160,000 won during the regular season, an all-time record for rookies not named Keenan Hayes.

The goal, however, was never really to win Rookie of the Year. The focus has always been on a world title.

To reach this point, Kade put together a dream year that included 10 wins or shared championships, including the Calgary Stampede and Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo.

“I don’t know that anybody has ever taken 10 years off and made the NFR. And I did it. I don’t know that anybody has ever started riding and three years in made the NFR and be top three in the world. Stuff like that doesn’t happen,” Joey said. “He has what I call a healthy obsession to his craft, and that’s what it takes to be elite.”

With help from his dad, making the NFR was his goal when the year started. With that mission accomplished, Kade has a new focus. Through two nights of the NFR, Kade stood sixth in the world standings. And he got his first Vegas check, with a three-way tie for sixth in Saturday’s second go-round. It was a modest profit of $1,651, but you’ve got to start somewhere, as Kade well knows.

And no matter the outcome of these 10 days in Las Vegas, Kade is thankful for the journey, the lessons learned, and the chance to be a great person who just happens to be good at rodeo.

“I’ve changed my goal to try to win the world, but I’m not going to hang my hat on it,” Kade said. “Because at the end of the day, it is the most coveted buckle in the world, but to a certain degree, it’s still just a piece of metal you wear on your waist or put up on a wall. It doesn’t define who you are.”