BFI’s Best All-Time

March 9, 2025 by Julie Mankin

Possibly the only accolade with more prestige than winning the BFI is winning bragging rights as the BFI’s all-time high-money earner. Over almost 50 years, a trio of three-time champs lead all ropers with money won at the BFI.

When Clay Tryan took over as the all-time high-money guy after winning third at the 2021 BFI with Jake Long, he was characteristically matter-of-fact for someone topping a roping that started before he was born.

“It’s cool, because any list you’re at the top of is good,” said Tryan, who was 41 at the time. “But being the best that day is all that really matters.”

He’s been the best at the BFI three different days. But he’s also placed several times to reach his all-time total of $260,361. Tryan, who boasts $3.2 million and three gold buckles in PRCA earnings, credits some of his BFI success to growing up in Montana and cutting his teeth over long scores. Plus, of course, great horses.

*2005 – Clay Tryan & Patrick Smith, 43.87 | Kirt Steinke Photo*

“Good head horses do the work at those hard setups, like the BFI,” said Tryan. “Ride a great head horse, rope sharp when you catch up and you will win.”

It’s tough to get Tryan to contemplate rumors about his potential GOAT status, however.

“When the day comes that I don’t have a chance to win anymore is when I hope to look back and think I was pretty good,” he said. “There’s no way any record at the BFI isn’t cool. But I’d like to add to it for a few more years before I start doing any looking back.”

Veteran Texas heelers Kory Koontz, 53, and Rich Skelton, 58, have BFI winnings that rank them right on Tryan’s heels. But Arizona’s Cory Petska has now crawled his way into the Top Five of over-200-hundred-thousand guys, as well, with $216,475.

“I am well aware of that list and really want to get higher,” said a determined 45-year-old Petska. “I love that roping and I love that list and I want to work my way up it.”

This year, Petska will heel again at the BFI for Chad Masters, a world champ who can say the BFI trophy buckle is one of the very few he doesn’t have yet.

“We came back high call the last time we roped together at the BFI, but wound up third or fourth,” Petska said.

*2017 – Luke Brown & Jake Long, 44.7 | Olie’s Images*

Ranked right behind him in fifth all-time is another veteran header, 50-year-old Luke Brown. But the two newest and youngest of the Top 10 are Buddy Hawkins and Erich Rogers, both 38 years old. Rogers has ridden into the Top 10 fairly fast by winning once and placing several times at a setup that most resembles chasing wild cattle in the desert.

“Twenty years ago, the BFI was my very first big roping, ever,” Rogers recalled. “Shawn Shirley and I won a Tolani Lake jackpot and it paid our fees at the BFI. So, the Feist was our first big outing, back when fees were $1,500 a man. We ended up third-high call.”

Rogers, who will head for Kollin VonAhn this year, also has fond memories of the times he placed third or fourth, plus his big win with Petska a decade ago.

“I had a horse that scored phenomenal and would really run in there; we drew really good and Cory was tapped off and heeled lights-out that day,” he said.

As for Hawkins, like Petska, he’s so determined to move up the list that he plans to add to his total whatever the BFI pays this year.

“A lot of the guys at the top of that list have been entering the BFI for decades,” said Hawkins. “Rich has entered since the mid-1980s and Clay Tryan since the late 1990s, so for me to be on that list after only about a dozen years is very special. I don’t take it lightly.”

Hawkins won the 2014 BFI with Drew Horner and then in 2021, placed second with Andrew Ward for $50,000 a man – which catapulted the duo into team roping history. They went on to shatter Jake n’ Clay’s NFR average record that year before dominating the Lonestar Shootout for $130,000, the American Rodeo for $200,000 and the last vestige of the BFI in Reno – the Reno Open – for $100,000. Hawkins said his horse X, now 19, is likely his BFI high-money horse, having made five or six BFI short rounds.

“You need versatility in a heel horse at the BFI,” he said. “A lot of horses make you ride the position the horse needs. But at the BFI, I want to be able to do anything I want in the arena with regard to the steer.”

Hawkins said he could watch the BFI from the stands all day long. It’s his favorite jackpot, hands down.

“The BFI is just my kind of roping, if you will,” he said. “I’ve been entering it since 2012 and have never felt like I drew out of the money there. The steers are even, so I knew that if I did my job, I’d finish near the top every year. I prefer an event where the luck of the draw has been taken out of it; where it just comes down to being disciplined and prepared and well-mounted.”