Crawley feels good in saddle but misses injured brother
Jacobs Crawley’s brother isn’t in his corner at RodeoHouston.
Sterling Crawley, who also competes in saddle bronc, broke his collarbone and suffered a concussion in a fall Feb. 23 in the San Antonio rodeo semifinals, sidelining him six weeks after surgery.
But Jacobs, who lives in Boerne, still receives plenty of support when competing inside NRG Stadium.
The 2015 world champ is a Texas A&M graduate.
“We’ve been rodeo-ing here together for five or six years, but it’ll be all right,” Jacobs said. “He hates missing this one, but this is the biggest rodeo of the month, and then, other than this, it’s slowing down.” Jacobs is heating up. He already won in Fort Worth and San Antonio this year, and he won Super Series III for the second straight year Wednesday, placing first in two rounds and advancing to the semifinals with $7,000.
“It’s been feeling really good,” Jacobs said. “I’ve had some nice bucking horses, the stock drawn for me has been good, and I’ve been able to ride, so I’m just trying to take care of business and keep advancing.
“That’s the name of the game here.”
The saddle bronc game’s first name is good health.
It’s a jarring sport, and it’s hard to beat the best — like reigning world champ Ryder Wright, who also rode in Super Series III — when you’re beat up and not at your best — or completely off the saddle.
So it was tough for Jacobs to see his younger brother’s tumble on live stream.
“It’s a dangerous deal,” he said. “What’s tough is he got knocked out, too … (and) concussions are tough, because you don’t know how serious they are until the guy comes to. So whenever I was talking to him, and was like, ‘Man, it’s fine, my neck’s not messed up, my back’s not messed up, it’s my collarbone,’ we can live with that.
“Necks, backs and hips — those are more careerending type injuries.”
And though Sterling isn’t in the chute with him, helping him strap in, he’s still supplying long-distance assistance.
“I talk to him on the phone,” Jacobs said. “I talked to him (Tuesday), and I talked to him (Wednesday), just checking up on brother stuff, a what-areyou-doing kind of thing, and he’s like a consultant.
“He can watch it all online, too, and I’ll send him videos, so even if one of us isn’t there, we’re pretty much still there.”
Corey Solomon’s still here after saving his rodeo.
The Prairie View tiedown roper didn’t make any money in the first two rounds but won the third, sending him to the semis in a three-way tie for second with $3,000. Cade Swor cinched the series with $4,750.
Ty Breuer ($6,750) won two rounds, with a pair of 85s, and the bareback series.
Clayton Hass, who also moved on in steer wrestling, and John Robertson ($12,500) were the top team ropers, Dakota Eldridge and Blake Knowles shared the bulldogging win with $5,000 apiece, Sherry Cervi and Tracy Nowlin tied with $5,000 in barrel racing, and Trey Benton ($4,000) won in bull riding.
“This rodeo brings the history … so you’re riding for that,” Jacobs said.
“When you retire, and everything’s over with your rodeo career, you want to have RodeoHouston under your belt.”