During Jesse Brown’s time as a student at Washington State, he quickly realized that steer wrestling was his passion and immediately went to work with the intention of becoming one of the best rodeo athletes in the game.
Brown entered in his first rodeo with just a week to practice and reached out to five-time NFR qualifier and good friend Blake Knowles to help him get his start.
Although practice didn’t go as smoothly as Brown would have hoped he was able to use his athleticism (Brown played quarterback at Washington State and also was also a standout basketball player in high school) and recently obtained knowledge to successfully get the job done in his first performance as a bulldogger.
“His ground game was pretty natural, pretty strong,” Knowles said. “He was so athletic, he had the body control....He knew how to catch and how to miss, I think he went to the rodeo that weekend and I don’t exactly remember what he did, but I’m pretty sure he placed or maybe even won it right off the bat.”
Brown transferred to Montana State to continue to learn and master the sport of steer wrestling with the help of Assistant Coach Beau Clark, a fellow college football player.
“He kind of had the same mentality as me, he was all about running steers, run as many steers as you can,” Brown said. “He put me on all sorts of horses, some donkeys, some good ones.”
Brown believes part of the reason he and Clark clicked was their football mentality of trying to get as many reps as possible in practice.
“I remember it was fun to coach him because he was so coachable and such a great athlete that if you had a suggestion for him and gave him advice, he could instantly do it,” Clark said. “Jesse was willing to try anything you asked and he would do anything you asked.”
Clark played a large part in Brown’s decision to attend Montana State and made a huge impact on his career as a professional steer wrestler.
“Jesse Brown is an incredible human being. One of things I’ve always admired most about him is he can be this tenacious, relentless competitor in a physically demanding sport and then turn around a minute later and he’s the kindest most compassionate person,” Clark said.
After graduation Brown bought his PRCA Contestant Card and went on to win the Resistol Rookie of the Year while traveling with his close friends Trevor and Blake Knowles.
“His whole career has just been a steady slope upward of achievements, it’s pretty remarkable to watch,” Knowles said.