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with a laugh.
• Sometimes his comments were about posture in the saddle or staying focused on the running steer at all times. "Now, now," he'd scream to the heeler, indicating it was time to pull the trigger.
• "Almost fell off didn't ya?" he said to one cowboy, who was off balance.
• Former bareback world champion Wayne Herman of Halliday, N.D., took the school along with his son Jake. For him, it was more like, "I'll teach you how to rope, but my days of getting on a bucking horse are long gone."
• Herman knows the feeling.
• He smiled as he sat in the stands during a lunch break.
• "I've always liked roping," he said. "Now I'm going to rope with my kids. Jake wants to rodeo in college, so this is good for him." Herman won his gold buckle in 1992, the year after Harris claimed his world championship.
• "I've known Bobby since the '80s. He does a really good job of teaching and knows what each individual needs," Herman added.
• For the guy that grew up north of Gillette, his passion for roping is what allows him to work with anyone, from former world champions to first-time ropers.
• The fire still burns. It's never been extinguished.
• "When I was a kid, I wanted to play basketball at UCLA. I wanted to play football for Oklahoma and professional baseball for the Dodgers," Harris said, his grin getting wider and wider at the irony of childhood dreams. "But I always knew I was going to be a cowboy."
• That's still a big part of his journey. Two years ago, Harris competed in what could have been his final National Finals Rodeo.
• It's been a long road, but he's still just as competitive as he was when he opened his PRCA career.
• Only, now, his pursuit involves ropers who are trying to take their skills to the next level.
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