12/23/2022
๐๐-๐๐๐๐ซ-๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ซ ๐๐๐ซ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐๐ฐ๐๐ง๐ฌ๐จ๐ง ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ข๐๐.
(Via our new sister site, CalfRoping.com)
Some guys rope all their lives, putting decades into honing the craft of tie down roping. It requires passion and determination.
Larry Swanson has both in spades.
What he didnโt have, at least for the first half of his life, was resources, namely, time and money. Now that he does, Swanson is inspiring folks with his zeal for the sport, still in the saddle at age 90.
Yep, thatโs right, Swanson just roped in the National Senior Pro Rodeo Association (NSPRA) Finals in Buckeye, Arizona on November 3-5, 2022 just a few days shy of his 90th birthday.
Though he was interested in rodeo from an early age, opportunities to compete were slim early on for Swanson.
โI was always interested in rodeo,โ Swanson said on November 15, celebrating his 90th birthday by doing evening chores on his farm in Colon, Nebraska, just as heโs done for decades.
His early interest was bolstered by a high school friend a few years older who went on to college and joined the rodeo team there. He invited Swanson to team practices and got him entered in the ba****ck riding a few times.
โI tried to compete in bull riding, but I didnโt like that,โ he added with a chuckle, a timed eventer at heart from the beginning.
Upon graduation, Swanson joined the Air Force. He served four years, two spent in Japan as an intercept radio operator from 1954-1956 in the wake of the Korean War. When he left the service in 1957, he returned to his farm in Nebraska and married his wife Jean, but Swanson still didnโt get his shot to hit the rodeo road.
โI bought a horse when I got out of the service to try calf roping, but I sold him a year later,โ Swanson said. โI couldnโt afford to go anywhere anyway.โ
Soon raising their four children, sons Roger and Russell and daughters Diane (Fromm) and Lisa (Egle), Swanson kept his head down working the farm, where he produced corn and soy beans, providing for his family.
๐๐จ ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐๐ฐ๐๐ง๐ฌ๐จ๐ง ๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ ๐๐๐๐ค ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ญ ๐๐? ๐๐๐๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐๐ข๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ก๐๐ซ๐: https://bit.ly/90_Year_Old_CalfRoper
Images by 4S Photography from the National Senior Pro Rodeo Association Finals in Buckeye, Arizona
