Rodeo cowboys and cowgirls get injured.

That’s one of sport’s purest truisms. It’s not a matter of if. It’s a matter of how many times and how long the injuries will keep the cowboy from competing at his top level.

All sports have injuries, though. So, what’s the big deal, right?

The big deal here is that these athletes don’t sit the bench when they’re too injured to compete. There’s neither a physically unable to perform list nor an injured reserve list.

Were it not for a 1989 collaboration among Justin Boots, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association injured rodeo athletes would be getting the shaft more than they already are – another time, another column for that last part.

The three groups formed the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund to help the athletes if there is a catastrophic injury during a rodeo, on the way to a rodeo or on the way from a rodeo. JCCF has given more than $4.6 million to more than 650 competitors.

Rodeo competitors don’t get paid for just competing. It’s not like football, baseball, basketball or hockey. Unlike those sports, cowboys have to pay to compete. Then they don’t get any money unless they win.

“It’s like gambling,” Culver, Ore., cowboy Brian Bain said. “You’re always betting on yourself.”

The stakes are extremely high for many of the cowboys. Bain has health insurance. He breaks an arm or a leg; his medical bills won’t overtake the rest of his bills and leave him struggling to pay for groceries.

Others might have that problem if the JCCF were not there for them.

“What we focus on is living expenses,” JCCF program manager Cindy Schonholtz said. “We don’t cover medical bills. Sometimes we’ll cover things that aren’t covered by medical insurance: like say a brace, we’ve bought wheelchairs. We’ve actually paid tuition for some seriously injured cowboys who weren’t going to be able to go back to rodeo. We helped them go to school to get a different career.”

Being a nonprofit organization that relies on constant donations, there’s a limit to what the JCCF can do. There is an application and qualification process that the competitors must go through to get assistance. It’s a needs-based qualification process that requires the competitors to disclose their assets and liabilities, income from the sport, monthly income, contributions to the sport and longevity in the sport.

Some cowboys don’t believe that the contributions to professional rodeo and longevity in the sport should be considered when a broken back keeps them from working. Still, the cowboys at the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo are happy for the consideration of their sport and for assistance they’re given.

“It’s always good to know somebody else is looking out for you, that there’s people out there that know and understand the life that we live and the risks that we take from day to day,” Almo, Idaho’s Mac Erickson said. “You never expect it, but you know it’s going to happen at one time or another. It’s bound to. It’s in the sport. It’s in the way we live. If you don’t have other coverage somewhere, it’s good to know that they’re going to help you down the line.”

Until rodeo athletes start getting a fair or even better deal, hopefully, a few more folks will support the JCCF.

Mark O’Meara, a semiregular on the Champions Tour, defines majors as the traditional four played by PGA Tour players, not those open only to seniors. Photo by