By Sonja Eschenburg
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”]
HOMETOWN: Fallon, NV
DATE OF BIRTH: 8/22/1987
EVENT: Team Roping – Heeler
Originally from Fallon, Nevada, Jade Corkill began his rodeo career early on in life. With roots that run very deep in the county, Corkill’s family first settled there in 1861, on what is now known as the historic Cushman-Corkill Ranch. According to an April 2014 City of Fallon Newsletter, Corkill is a seventh generation rancher who first started learning how to rope cattle when he could barely even walk.
Having inherited this lifestyle from family before him, Corkill spent his high school years competing in the National High School Rodeo Association, where he won state titles in both the team roping and tie-down events.
It was soon after graduating from high school that Corkill very quickly jumped into a successful professional rodeo career. In 2005, Corkill began roping with team roping header Matt Tyler, who competed in the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (WNFR) for 20 consecutive years (1986-2005) and also won the WNFR average title in 2003.
In an interview with Spin to Win Rodeo Magazine Corkill said, “I learned a lot from [/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][Tyler]. He knew everywhere to go and everything to do. I just tried to sit back and take it all in.” Slowly but surely making his way up in the standings, Corkill went on to earn the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) Team Roping Rookie of the Year heeling title in 2006. His horse, Fine Snip of Doc, aka Cave Man, was also voted American Quarter Horse Association’s (AQHA) and PRCA Team Roping Heeling Horse of the Year in 2010 and 2012. As a 2012, 2013, and 2014 World Champion Heeler, Corkill has ran his fair share of steers. According to RFD TV’s Cowboy Stories, Corkill, ‘at age 26 has [even] roped his way to nearly $1.2 million in earnings.’
As with any professional sport, rodeo athletes must also prepare well in advance of the upcoming season in order to perform at the top of their game. The old saying, “practice makes perfect” holds true for most things in life, including rodeo. Although both the timed events and rough stock events require plenty of skill, it is important to hone those skills if a cowboy plans on bringing anything home.
That being said, there is much more than meets the eye that goes into preparing for a rodeo. As one of the hottest team roping heelers around, Corkill is well known for his strong ‘mental game.’ In a YouTube video with Smarty the Steer, Bruce Corkill (father) was quoted saying, “Jade has always been able to slow things down in his mind and [really] get ahead of things.” Corkill has proved time and time again that he can miss a steer and still make it back to the short round without ever making the same mistake again. He knows what he has to get done and takes the shot without any hesitation, bottom line. This determination and ability to focus has surely enabled Corkill to perform well under extremely high pressure conditions.
Although Corkill spends a majority of his time traveling out on the rodeo road, he too, is also a family man. It’s no secret that rodeo is one big family. As a sport passed down from generation to generation, young kids, boys and girls alike, idolize their fathers and hope to oneday follow in their foot steps, both in and out of the arena. Corkill and wife, Haley, now have two sons, Colby and Kelton. Having had Colby at a fairly young age, in another YouTube interview with Smarty the Steer, Corkill said with a smile, “the excitement of having your first born child [definitely] overrides the nerves.” Colby is finally old enough where he’s getting comfortable doing things on his own, like roping the dummy. Corkill said, “Knowing that [Colby] wants to do what [I] do and be a part of it is pretty cool. It’s a cool feeling knowing that your little boy wants to be just like you.”
Although it is a professional sport by all means, rodeo is much more than that, as well – it is a way of life. Overall, living life out on the rodeo trail requires individual effort – avoiding personal mistakes, having the right attitude, and staying determined even when things get rough. Ask any rodeo athlete out there and almost all of them will tell you the same thing – that more times than not, in fact, it takes all of these things combined to make that winning run.
Professional cowboys with hopes and dreams of making it to the WNFR, like Corkill, often have many plans depending on their success. If they are sitting good in the first round, they stick around waiting to see if they will make it back to the short. If not, they hit the ground running that night just to make it to the next rodeo. It’s not unheard of for a cowboy to attend two or three rodeos a week because the more rodeos he enters the more likely he is to bring home a paycheck and earn a spot at the finals. With many long nights and hours of driving ahead of them, these cowboys stay true to themselves – all for the love of their sport. When it comes down to it, living this life can surely be hard at times, but it can also be fun and it is important to remember that that is what the sport of rodeo is all about.
View Jade Corkill’s rider profile here.
[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]