32 ProRodeo.comPSN 9/3/201032 ProRodeo.com

BY ANNE CHRISTENSEN

!!avid Ortiz. Marvelous Marvin Hagler. Jerod Johnston.

Lance Armstrong. Kevin Youkilis. Scott NeSmith.

Greg Bi" e. Jon Lester. Clovis Crane.Ty Law. Cam Neely. Justin Browning.It’s a twist on Sesame Street’s favorite

game, “Which of these people is not like the other?” And the answer is: # ey’re all the same, in at least one way: # ey’re all pro athletes supporting the Jimmy Fund, which raises money to $ ght childhood cancer through the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

But four are di% erent, too. Johnston, NeSmith, Browning and Crane are PRCA cowboys and members of Team Cowboy Spirit. # e money they win at the Massachusetts-based Spirit of the American Cowboy Foundation rodeos – both members of the All

American Pro Rodeo Series – is matched by the foundation and donated to the Jimmy Fund.

# is year, bareback riders Johnston and NeSmith, along with PRCA saddle bronc rider Jesse James Kirby, stopped in Boston a& er the rodeo to visit children being treated at that city’s world-renowned pediatric cancer clinic, illustrating just how ready PRCA cowboys are to take a big detour o% the usual rodeo trail when there’s a good reason to swing wide.

# eir $ rst detour to the Northeast was nearly a ' uke, coming during the 2008

Fourth of July weekend. Johnston remembers looking over the ProRodeo Sports News long listings with NeSmith, planning their summer entries, when they noticed a new rodeo in Marsh$ eld, Mass.

“We thought, ‘$5,000 added and there’s probably only 10 guys going to ride there,’” Johnston said. “None of us had ever been any further east than Tennessee. So we thought, ‘What the hell? Why not?’ Scotty and I are cut from the same mold; we’ll try anything once. I called the committee and asked if they could pick us up at the airport, because we’d be there less than 24 hours – taking two red-eyes to get from Santa Fe (N.M.) to Marsh$ eld to Greeley (Colo).

“# ey took real good care of us for coming out that far, but it wasn’t until we got out there that we realized what the rodeo was for – the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund.”

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Cowboys join other pro athletes to support Jimmy Fund

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PRCA cowboys Scotty NeSmith, left, Jesse James Kirby and Jerod Johnston visited the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute on Aug. 16, cheering up outpatient children such as Issa Aljadi (pictured) who were coming in for chemotherapy treatment. “The clinic supervisor told us this little boy from Kuwait didn’t speak a word of English and had never seen a cowboy before, but that was the biggest smile he’d had in the eight months he’d been coming to the clinic,” said Johnston.

–Photo by Nicole Logan, Spirit of the American Cowboy Foundation

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Neither cowboy expected to develop a long-term relationship with a rodeo that distant, but now Marsh$ eld is locked into their summer plans.

“I know the stock contractor up there (All American Rodeo), the $6,000 added money is great and the committee is outstanding,” says NeSmith. “# ey took care of us the whole time we were up there, rides from the airport to the rodeo and back to the hotel, even some meals. And the Jimmy Fund is a great idea. No one in my family has ever had cancer, but it’s horrible for anybody – and even worse with kids – so if there’s anything we can do, we want to help.”

# e Massachusetts PRCA rodeos are hosted by the Spirit of the American Cowboy Foundation, developed by former PRCA saddle bronc rider Mike Allison – a transplanted Texan who is now vice president at Boston’s Eaton Vance investment management $ rm, a presenting sponsor of the New England Wild West Fest rodeo in Marsh$ eld.

Allison’s interest in $ ghting childhood cancer was inspired by Ian Emery, the courageous son of a colleague, who won his own battle with cancer. # e foundation has raised more than $70,000 for pediatric cancer research in its $ rst three years (almost half through the rodeos), added a second rodeo in 2010 and hopes to a( liate with more rodeos in the future, possibly bringing other local rodeos into the PRCA.

“As our rodeos grow, they become more pro$ table,” said Allison, the foundation’s executive director. “Our goal is to have all of our giving funded by the rodeos as they mature, but they’re still in the incubation phase.

“We hit it o% with several of the cowboys who came up for our $ rst Marsh$ eld rodeo, including Jerod, Justin and Scotty. # ey were touched by our mission and how seriously we’re trying to build a world-class professional rodeo here, and they present themselves in a manner that’s consistent with how we want to portray ourselves and rodeo here in Massachusetts. We’ve gone a long way to make it worth the trip for cowboys.”

# e Marsh$ eld rodeo, called the New England Wild West Fest, has grown every year, Johnston said. “# ey are getting so much

support, more and more volunteers, bigger crowds every year. Rodeo is still a celebrity sport in that part of the country – they only get to experience it once a year, and they just dig it. At one point, I had to take my cowboy hat o% for a few minutes, just because I got tired of answering where my horse was ‘parked’ – and I’m a guy who will talk rodeo all day long, with anyone.”

Visiting the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute gave him a chance to do just that – the three cowboys signed autographs, “ate” a (plastic) chicken dinner one young patient “cooked” for them, chatted and posed for photos.

“I walked into that clinic all smiles, and I walked out a changed person,” said Johnston. “When we climb on bucking horses, we know there’s a risk involved. But to go through what these kids go through on a daily basis … I wish I could have half the heart and the try that they have every day. If the money we raise pays for one treatment for one kid, then we are one treatment ahead.

“I’ve grown up thinking my whole life about being a professional cowboy, and now I’m living my dream every day. # ese kids have been faced with such huge challenges, and they might not get those opportunities – for some of them, their dreams will be cut short. But if we can help them experience it for just a few minutes – that’s the whole point of doing this, to share the cowboy spirit.”

All American fansJohnston and NeSmith – obviously fans

of the traveling life of the rodeo cowboy – both say that the All American Pro Rodeo Series encourages cowboys to go further a$ eld than they might otherwise, even if not everyone makes it as far as Massachusetts.

“In the summer I go to the bigger rodeos, but year-round it’s mostly All American because I stay from Oklahoma to Missouri and east of there,” says NeSmith. “# e Series helps out the smaller rodeos because we don’t just sit around waiting for the big rodeos – everyone wants the added money at (the All American Pro Rodeo Finals in) Waco. Plus you meet such good committees at the smaller rodeos.”

Johnston agrees. “I just like being on the road, and the $30,000 (threshold) opens a broader spectrum of rodeos to more guys – the smaller rodeos get big-name guys and more guys like us, too. # e guys on the rodeo trail think it’s great, and I think it’s just going to get bigger – it’s $ xing to be a pretty big deal.”

But Johnston now has an additional motivation to travel more, and to ' ash his Team Cowboy Spirit patches where they matter most.

“We’re going to visit more children’s hospitals,” he said. “# ey’re all over the country. I’m one of those people who gets a great feeling from helping people, and I’m all about helping kids.”

Supporting the Jimmy Fund and the Spirit of the American Cowboy FoundationTo contribute directly to the Jimmy Fund to $ ght childhood cancer, visit jimmyfund.org and mention the Spirit of the American Cowboy

Foundation as you make your donation. You can also support the foundation directly by becoming a sponsor or by participating in its Cowboys4Kids program, buying rodeo tickets that one of the SACF’s charities can use as they see $ t.

Former PRCA saddle bronc rider Mike Allison, left, founded the Spirit of the American Cowboy Foundation, which puts on PRCA rodeos in Massachusetts using stock from Sam Swearingen, right, of All American Rodeo.

–Photo by Nicole Logan, Spirit of the American Cowboy Foundation