Published: March 09, 2009 06:52 am      

Backup plan

Some people define success differently when it comes to athletic prowess.

Breaking record times, repeating as world champion or rising from the ashes of personal defeat against all odds are cliché terms used to describe the pinnacle of athleticism.

Johnny Emmons is an everyday man. Polite and easy to talk to, he bears no resemblance to the typical star-crossed phenom who thinks he invented the sport he excels in.

But he is as successful as any of them.

Emmons was born and raised into a rodeo environment in Mansfield, and he took in the scene every weekend as a child.

“My dad roped in rodeo and my family made ropes and saddles,” Emmons said. “I was kind of born into it, and I started when I was 5 or 6 years old. I went to my first rodeo when I was 10.

“We were a quarter-mile down the road from the Cowbell Indoor rodeo, which was held every Saturday night for 50 years. I was there every weekend. I’ve been around it my whole life, I guess.”

Emmons went from winning his first rodeo buckle at the age of 12 at the Cleburne Little Britches Rodeo to making the national finals in calf roping in 1989, 1998 and from 2001-2003.

He won tie-down roping and all-around season titles in the Mesquite Championship Series Rodeo in 2007 and has won numerous individual honors.

Some of the most valuable lessons he’s learned from his days riding aren’t what you might expect, Emmons said.

Emmons is the assistant rodeo coach at Weatherford College where his daughter, Kayla, attends and participates in roping, and has valuable advice for the ambitious young riders he teaches.

“I tell these kids all the time, if I could go back [to college], I’d stay until they made me leave,” Emmons said with a laugh. “I use myself as an example. Stay in school and get a degree. I’ve got three or four kids here that have already gotten their pro cards, and they’re just jumping and dying to go rodeo.

“I say to them, ‘You’re going to end up like me at 40 years old, and you’re tired of rodeoing, haven’t made a lot of money, and you need a job. What are you going to do?’ ”

That’s not to say Emmons doesn’t love what he does. Coaching his daughter at Weatherford is something he enjoys.

“She’s very coachable and very trainable,” Emmons said. “I taught her how to rope, and her mom taught her how to ride horses, etc. By the time she was a junior and senior in high school, she was pretty solid.”

Kayla is no stranger to rodeoing, either, growing up in a similar environment as her father. She excelled while attending Grandview High School, just like Emmons did in the mid 1980s.

Kayla was awarded the Breakaway Roping Championship, Rookie Cowgirl of the Year in 2004 and was named the All-Around Cowgirl in 2004-05 by the North Texas High School Rodeo Association.

Her father took home the All-Around Cowboy title in 1984 and 1985.

“I started when I was about 5,” Kayla said. “I didn’t start roping until I was 12. I like it a lot. I grew up around it, so it was natural and came easy.”

Kayla said her father has been a positive influence in her rodeo career and has valuable insight.

“He’s taught me a lot,” Kayla said. “He’s been there at all different kinds of levels and shows me how the pressure can get to you. He’s good about keeping me focused and making sure you do what you’ve got to do.”

Kayla said her decision to transfer to Weatherford after initially opting to play basketball at Midwestern State came down to a matter of what she really wanted to do.

“He was there, and I thought that would be the easiest transition for me,” Kayla said. “At first, it was hard to decide which one I really wanted to do, but it’s really worked out for me.”

The main point Emmons tries to get across to the young riders he coaches is that it’s always good to have an option to fall back on because few will reach the highest level.

“Very few people that rodeo make a lot of money,” Emmons said. “For the rest of everybody else, it’s a struggle to get by.

“It’s tough being on the road, as well, and then trying to support a family. I’d win 100 to 120K a year, but it’d cost me 80 to 90K to do it in expenses. It’s hard to support a family on what’s left. Then you have kids that want to have horses and trailers and trucks, and that takes a lot of money.”

“I would like to help these kids make better decisions than I did at their age,” Emmons said. “I’ve kind of been there and done that. Hopefully, I can show them what I did and what I went through and lead them in a better direction.”

Emmons mentioned a recent Texas Tech grad as an example for his students to emulate.

“I know a kid named Adam Grey who did it the right way. He turned down a 100K-a-year paying job after he got his degree, and he almost made the finals last year. That’s his goal. He tells me when he makes the national finals, he’s going to quit and go get his 100K job. That’s what I wish all these kids would think like and try to do.”

Kayla is pursuing a physical therapy degree, Emmons said, which represents the embodiment of what he preaches to his riders.

“She’s going to try to get her degree, and she’ll probably be more professionally oriented than I was,” Emmons said. “Hopefully, she’ll rope and ride horses and all that on the side for a hobby.”

Mike Brown is the head rodeo coach at Weatherford College and says the approach that Emmons has towards coaching and the relationship he has with the students allows him to be effective.

“The biggest thing was his success in the arena,” Brown said of Emmons’ qualifications. “Also his demeanor. He’s a laid-back guy and a good teacher. He really stresses that a lot up here for these kids to get an education first and rodeo later. He can relay that to students in a manner which they understand.

“With the stability that he has and the common sense he brings, he shows kids how to get to that next level. He gets them up to the college and professional level and shows them how to win. He has a very close relationship with all the athletes we have, and he does everything we ask him to in a professional manner.”