Joe Beaver qualified for his first ever National Finals Rodeo in 1985. That was a huge year for Beaver, he was the Resistol Rookie of the Year and after winning Round One of the NFR he went on to finish as the 1985 World Champion.
“And in ’86 I thought they cant have a finals without me, I’m winning all the tours… All of a sudden I look up, I’m at home in south Texas, Victoria, and it’s hot. I’m down there in September and my dad said something about December,” Beaver said.
He thought he was going to be at the Finals and his dad told him he better get to work, they don’t take 23. Beaver entered everything he could enter, he says that being humbled that year taught him that you have to earn your spot in the top 15 every single year.
Beaver says he had a blast rodeoing with his traveling partners, the young kids they would bring along and he had fun whenever his family got to come along. He says when you can do that, you’re lucky and it’s a blessed career.
