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 Fresh
out of college, Denny Gentry jumped at the opportunity to work for the
New Mexico Cattle Growers Association. Little did he know this position
would give him the opportunity to establish what is now the team roping
industry.
Gentry attended Sul
Ross State University in Alpine after graduating high school in 1970.
He left Sul Ross without graduating due to financial stresses. Gentry
began a feed brokerage business with his father. Things were going good
for the family business until 1977 when Gentry was involved in an accident
that changed his life forever.
Gentry hit a railroad
bridge pylon head-on at 40 mph while water skiing. After gloomy predictions
from doctors and four days of unconsciousness, he woke to find his body
ravaged. His left knee had been crushed, pelvis shattered, elbows destroyed,
cheekbones smashed and nose demolished.
He spent the next
year recovering. Gentry went through four operations and after it all,
realized that he had an opportunity.
When Gentry was able
to get around again, he returned to college. He resumed his studies at
Texas Tech University and earned his degree in agricultural education.
During his last two years, he made the dean’s list and was listed
in Who’s Who in Agriculture.
After graduation
in 1979, Gentry took the position as communications director with the
New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association. Gentry had not been out of
school a year when association president, Phillip Bidegain, announced
that Gentry would be promoted to executive vice president of the association.
Gentry jumped in
headfirst. There were many things to do and they all needed the utmost
attention, as far as he was concerned. Gentry spent much of his time traveling
to meetings, working with legislators, meeting with federal and state
officials and selling memberships for the organization.
The cattle industry
was on a downhill spiral in the 1980s. However, Gentry had work to do.
He took ideas from association leaders, kept thousands of members and
potential members informed and worked on a variety of issues plaguing
the cattle industry. Gentry had a way of keeping everyone updated and
encouraged.
In the mid 1980s,
members were hard to come by. Not many people wanted to spend $45 to support
their industry organization. However, Gentry noticed these same people
would spend $300 every other week if it meant they were entered in a roping.
Gentry had a vision of hosting a team roping in conjunction with the Cattle
Growers’ Convention. To compete, you had to be a paid member of the
Cattle Growers Association. Knowing cowboys, Gentry figured that ropers
who were not members would come and pay membership dues just to rope.
Sure enough, it worked.
A test roping was held at the Horseman’s Indoor Arena at the New
Mexico State Fairgrounds in Albuquerque. The roping was open to New Mexico
residents only. However, Gentry learned that people were taking out P.O.
Boxes in the state in order to rope. Hundreds of ropers came to pay their
membership and entry fees and rope. The Cattle Growers Association gained
more members in one day than in a whole year. The profits from the roping
went to benefit the New Mexico Boys and Girls Ranch. The roping was a
success.
After the successful completion of another roping in conjunction with
the association’s annual convention, Gentry announced his resignation
from the association. He said he was “going into team roping full-time.”
At this time, team
roping was a sport enjoyed only by those individuals who worked in and
around the cattle and horse industries. The ropings were run in a jackpot
fashion, just as most other rodeo sports. In the jackpot system, the good
ropers win the money and the less experienced ropers are left out. This
way there is basically a guaranteed paycheck for the weathered ropers
and well, the others just have to get better and wait their turn in the
ranks. According to Gentry, this is not the best way to keep people involved
in team roping.
Gentry changed team
roping forever when he established the United States Team Roping Championship
in 1990. Gentry developed a new system to run the team ropings. The system
is similar to golf. Every roper has a handicap between one and nine. From
this, divisions are scaled. The combination of the team members’
numbers cannot exceed that of the division in which they are roping. This
system revolutionized team roping and made it the sport that we are familiar
with today.
There were only 1,200
members and a limited number of ropings during 1990. In 1993, the USTRC
sanctioned 45 ropings and in 1995 the number of ropings totaled 90, which
is how many have been sanctioned each year since. By 1999, the USTRC had
over 35,000 members.
To top off the USTRC,
national finals were established. Five percent of the gross from every
sanctioned roping went toward the purse for the national finals. Gentry
chose the geographical center of what was the existing team roping world,
Oklahoma. The Lazy E Arena in Guthrie was the location for the finals.
The first National
Finals of Team Roping was in 1990. It had 650 contestants and $185,000
was awarded in cash and prizes. In 1991, the purse for the National Finals
topped a quarter million with $388,000 awarded. In 1992, the purse continued
to grow to $1 million.
Gentry recognized
the need for communication within the team roping industry. Today’s
largest team roping magazine, SuperLooper, was started in 1993 by Gentry.
Gentry’s tenth
and last year as USTRC president was in 1999. Finals that year awarded
$3 million and over 8,000 teams and 3,600 contestants participated.
Gentry has won many
awards applauding him for the impact the USTRC has had on many agricultural
related industries. Gentry was the honored recipient of the 2000 John
W. Galbreath Award which is presented annually to an entrepreneur who
has utilized leadership and management skills to make a significant impact
on the equine industry. In April, Gentry was honored with the Chester
A. Reynolds Memorial Award at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage
Museum’s 41st Western Heritage Awards. He was awarded for his development
of an industry that would not have existed if not for the establishment
of the USTRC.
Denny Gentry and
his wife Connie live in Albuquerque with their three children, Lacee,
Audra and Lucas.
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