SPECIAL TO THE SUN
In the end, the 1995 world championship was Bobby Hurley's to win or lose.
He won.
Hurley, the California team roper who also won the world title in 1993, teamed with Allen Bach throughout the 1995 rodeo season. They performed well enough together to qualify in the top five at the National Finals Rodeo. There, with Hurley throwing the head loop and Bach swooping in as the heeler, the pair ground down the competition and reached the final round in contention for a world title.
Fitting, Hurley and Bach faced the toughest steer in the pen in the 10th round. No one was surprised when they roped their steer with routine ease, wrapping up the world titles in both categories. Last year was the first that world championships were awarded in both divisions, heading and heeling.
Standing between Hurley and the world heading championship before the 10th round were Matt Tyler, roping with Cody Cowden, and Kermit Maass, roping with Tyler Magnus.
However, in order to steal the buckle, either Tyler or Maass would need to win the final round and place at least second in the average. But neither Maass nor Tyler was leading the round by the time Hurley backed into the box, so he needed nothing more than a solid run to maintain his spot in the average and, consequently, claim the world championship.
"But when you're sitting there in the moat getting ready to rope, you start wondering to yourself, 'Did I carry all my ones and add this all up right,'" said Hurley, 32.
His math was correct, indeed. Hurley and Bach roped their steer in 6.8 seconds -- not fast enough to win money in the round, but good enough to finish fourth in the all-important average standings.
"When I won my first title I had to be five-flat on my last steer to win it," Hurley said. "This year I just had to catch my last one. You practice those two scenarios from the time you're 10 to the time you're 70."
The pair started 1995 slowly because they were focusing on teaching team roping schools. They competed at about 80 rodeos. Most full-time team ropers compete in about 100 rodeos each year.
"They when we did come back after doing all those schools, it took us awhile to get back in the rodeo groove," Hurley said.
By fall they were on a winning streak. Hurley arrived at the NFR ranked fourth in the header standings; Bach was ranked fifth in the heeler standings.
At the NFR, they won three of the 10 rounds and placed third in another. Hurley and Bach each won $36,467 at the NFR to boost their respective annual earnings to $81,658.
"Having a strong horse and a great partner are big advantages here," Hurley said of the NFR. "I can't give Allen enough credit."
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