Resistol Rookie Riley O’Rourke making a run at steer roping history

It’s become a regular occurrence for Resistol Rookies to make a massive impact in PRORODEO.

In 2023, Keenan Hayes became the first rookie bareback rider to win a PRCA World Championship. In 2019, newcomer Haven Meged won the tie-down roping and Stetson Wright became the only rookie to win the all-around. Sage Kimzey joined Bill Kornell (1963) as the only rookies to win a bull riding gold buckle in 2014.

Nine cowboys have secured PRCA World Championships as Resistol Rookies. But a rookie has never won a world championship in the steer roping – an event typically dominated by seasoned veterans.

This year, 21-year-old Riley O’Rourke looks to change that.

“That’d be pretty cool,” O’Rourke told the PRORODEO Sports News. “I don’t really think about that very much. I just think about roping and trying to make money.”

O’Rourke hasn’t had any issues making money this year. As of Sept. 15, he’d earned over $90,000 and sat second in the PRCA | Bill Fick Ford World Standings – trailing three-time and twice defending PRCA World Champion Cole Patterson by less than $2,500.

The Skiatook, Okla., cowboy picked up signature wins at the Will Rogers Stampede (Claremore, Okla.), Walker County Fair & Rodeo (Huntsville Texas), Yuma (Ariz.) Silver Spur Rodeo, Wild Bill Hickock Rodeo (Abeline, Kan.), Yuma (Colo.) County Fair & Rodeo, Inter-State Rodeo (Coffeyville, Kan.) and Days of ’76 Landmark Stand Alone Steer Roping in Deadwood, S.D.

He didn’t expect to have a ton of success in Year 1 roping against some of the best to ever do it.

“I was told last year by some guys that I could make the (National) Finals (Steer Roping),” O’Rourke said. “But I didn’t know I’d have the Finals made after Cheyenne. That was what was mind-blowing to me.”

O’Rourke didn’t realize how much money he’d strung together until somebody else pointed it out to him after he earned a Round 2 win and $6,895 payday at Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days in late July.

“When I won the second round of Cheyenne, I hadn’t checked the standings,” O’Rourke said. “So somebody told me I had $50,000 or $55,000 after I won that round. I pulled (the standings) up and looked and saw how much I had won. And I was like, I made the Finals. Everybody tells me it takes $47,000 (to make the NFSR). I was like, dang, I made it.”

Not many cowboys jump into the steer roping at a young age. But the story is a little different in Pawhuska, Okla., – the steer roping capital of the world.

“Until I was 12, I lived in Pawhuska, Okla., which they call the steer roping capital of the world,” O’Rourke said. “There wasn’t anybody who roped calves or anybody who team roped, everybody tripped steers. Since I started roping when I was 12 or 13 all I wanted to do was trip steers, my dad just didn’t really let me.”

O’Rourke spent time in the tie-down roping as well, and has won another $1,500 in the event in seven go-rounds. But his dream to be a PRORODEO steer roper stayed alive and he bought his PRCA Card this past year.

“It’s been kind of unbelievable,” O’Rourke said of his season. “I thought I’d maybe be in the top 25 in the world my first year and then have to go back home, save money and try again. So for it to be this good, I have money to do whatever I want to do. It’s pretty crazy.”

O’Rourke is currently a college student at Western Oklahoma State College in Altus. The head coach of the Western Pioneers is Jesse Tierney, a 12-time NFSR qualifier (2011-16, 2019-24) who was in position to join O’Rourke in Mulvane, Kan., this season as of Sept. 15.

The rookie has also been surrounding himself with veterans on the PRORODEO road like Tierney, two-time NFSR qualifier Billy Good (2020, 2023), four-time qualifier Thomas Smith (2019-21, 2024) and 2024 NFSR qualifier Black Deckard.

“I grew up every year watching the Finals on The Cowboy Channel,” O’Rourke said. “To talk and be around (those veterans) and have people that have been there forever tell me good run or give me a piece of advice is awesome. I’ve known most of them since my dad roped when I was like eight.”

O’Rourke is relying on horsepower from a 10-year old Dun Horse named Riley that he purchased from Casey Hicks. He bought the horse after the M.M. Fisher Memorial Steer Roping in Andrews, Texas.

While O’Rourke has more than a fighter’s chance to win the world on Nov. 14-15 during the NFSR at the Kansas Star Casino in Mulvane, Kan., he’s not putting extra pressure on himself ahead of the event.

“I think I’ll just enjoy it,” O’Rourke said. “To be honest I never had much money growing up. It was always one of those deals where I had to win to go to the next one. Growing up I never really thought I’d have the chance to go. I’ll just enjoy it because it’s one of those deals where I never thought it’d happen, and it happened, so I’ll be excited.”

–PRCA