World Champion Dave Appleton left Australia at 20 years old to come to America and become one of the best to ever do it.
The first rodeo he ever entered was in Mesquite, Texas where he placed in the bareback and bucked off in the saddle bronc riding.
“I got a taste of ‘well, okay, I can win some money here’ but I really didn’t feel like I belonged,” Appleton said.
Along came John Paxton, a man who took in multiple young cowboys and helped them find their way. He helped Appleton get into Western Texas College in Snyder, Texas where their rodeo team’s head coach took a chance on Appleton.
In the fall of 1981, Appleton felt it all click. Between college rodeo and casually hitting some pro rodeos, Appleton started comparing his riding to others and he knew that he could compete with the best.
“It really takes a belief, to believe in yourself that you’re good enough to get there and then you just put your head down and go after it,” he said.
The thing about roughstock events, it is all about reaction. Appleton says that the college phase is where you can take advantage of honing in on your skills.
Appleton went on to ride barebacks and broncs in the PRCA where he took home the All-Around title in 1988.