Page 17 - Classically Carolina 2018

HORSES

at the national championship rode
contested in Springfield, Mo. At
Missouri Valley College in Marshall,
Mo., rodeo became a year-round
proposition for Will. In the National
Intercollegiate Rodeo Association
championship, he finished third
in the nation as a junior. In 2009,
he purchased a permit to ride in
the Professional Rodeo Cowboys
Circuit in the Montana Circuit and
a year later, he bought a second
PRCA permit to compete in the
Great Lakes Circuit -- in which he
now competes professionally.

Will says the step up, as with any
undertaking, is a steep one when
going up against people who have
made this their profession.
“I went from college and being a big
fish in a small pond and, even that
first year (2010) when I won the
(Great Lakes) circuit, I was kind
of a big fish in a small pond. Then,
championships in locations from Iowa to Texas to British when I made the jump to doing this as a career, I became
Columbia. a little fish in a big ocean ... (Making the move to the
professional ranks) was a little intimidating … a little
“I told my granddaddy, when I turned 13, that I wanted scary, but I’ve been able to do it.”
to ride bucking horses, and we went from there.”
These days, Will competes in an estimated 100 rodeos a
His grandfather, Jim Smith, was well known in the year with 15 of those being Great Lake Circuit events.
community as an educator and athletics coach. Later His travel itinerary, which goes year-round, takes him
in life, horses and the S.C. High School Rodeo captured from coast to coast, north and south and into Canada.
his attention. He worked with youth, served on the High “Come August or September, I’m ready to come home, see
School Rodeo Board of Directors and supplied horses for my folks and take a break.”
contestants who didn’t have their own. The inaugural
James A. Smith Memorial Rodeo was held in 2017.

Will’s interest piqued and with his grandfather’s backing,
he started his riding journey with a trip to Summerville,
Ga., for the Lyle Sankey Rodeo School where he received
a rude and painful introduction to the sport.
Over the course of the weekend, Will rode some 10 horses
without incident until his stay was curtailed when he
was thrown off the back of a buck and sustained a
broken arm in the process. “I still liked it,” he says of the
experience. “As soon as my arm healed up, we went right
back at it.”

Will became one of the best bronc riders in the country.
He finished 10th in the nation as a high school senior

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