CREASY CASHES IN DOWN SOUTH
February 19 , 2010

By Dwayne Erickson
Luke Creasy has been competing on professional rodeo’s world stage for only three years; but, the 21-year-old bareback rider from Brownfield, Alta. has already got a favourite regular-season rodeo: the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show in Fort Worth, Texas.

Creasy was one of only two Canadians among the 1,200 contestants to place in the average at the $540,000, 17-day, 30-performance marathon. He placed in two of the three preliminary rounds, cashed sixth in the championship round and nailed fifth in the average for $2,883.

Creasy did everything he could to improve on his performance. He originally scored 80 points in the short go, but the horse he was on spun out of the chute backwards and he was offered the option of a re-ride.
“I thought, ‘well, I’ll go for the W,’ and I accepted,” Creasy reported. “But, it didn’t go as well as I had hoped and I was 78. I wanted to get into the middle or high 80s.”

The gamble didn’t cost him a cent. He remained in the same position he was with the 80.
But, his decision shows that if the opportunity is there to improve on what he’s already won, he’ll seize it. There’s no backup in him.

“Fort Worth has become my favourite rodeo anyway because I’ve entered it three times and got a cheque out of there every year,” Creasy revealed. “In my rookie season, I won $700 and last year $3,100,” (topping off that appearance with a second-best 82-point spur ride in the championship round).
It comes to $6,700 out of one rodeo.

Maybe, though, the Dixie National at Jackson, Miss., may join Fort Worth at the top of his memory bank.
The weekend after the Texas stop, he secured an 85-point spur ride to win first, worth $6,092.
Creasy was somewhat pumped up when he crawled in the chute. Shortly before catching a ride to Jackson, he got a phone call asking if he wanted to compete at the $1 million San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo.
He told them “heck, yes, I do.”

Creasy had entered San Antonio on a lark, but they drew him out because he didn’t finish among the top 40 in last year’s world standings.

But, when Colorado bareback rider Zach Curran turned out of the last bracket of 12 contestants due to injury, they needed a replacement and Creasy got the nod because his name was on the entry list.

He didn’t advance to the rodeo’s playoff rounds, but he did pick up a couple of cheques in the four-round qualifier that added up to $778.

Maybe it was a blessing in disguise.

Creasy, a student at Western Texas College in Snyder, tries to confine his pro rodeo activities to weekends so he doesn’t miss classes. But, it’s not every day that a cowboy gets to ride at a $1 million rodeo, so he accepted the San Antonio invitation despite the fact it interfered with his studies.

While he was working the rodeo, he had to turn out of two exams back on campus.
“I hope they let me make them up when I get back,” he said. “But in the long run, I’m not sure how it’ll work out. I talked to my coach and he pumped out some emails to my teachers to explain my absence.”

Creasy’s education, which comes as a result of a rodeo scholarship, is at the top of his priority list. He’s taking a full load of courses towards achieving an Associate Arts degree in English. Eventually, he wants to become a teacher at a post-secondary institution back in Alberta.

He’s got another five years of college and university studies ahead of him.
No matter what happened in the San Antonio playoffs, Creasy would find his name among the top 10 in the world standings with more than $10,000 to his credit.

And, living in Texas, he had more opportunities to build on his bank account.
The weekend after San Antonio wound down, he was scheduled to compete at San Angelo and Tucson. He didn’t qualify for the $1.5 million Reliant Stadium rodeo in Houston, but he also hoped to have the following Star of Texas rodeo at Austin on his itinerary.

It wraps up rodeo’s season-opening winter run.

Creasy, who qualified for five championship rounds and placed in three of five averages on the college rodeo trail prior to last year’s Canadian Finals Rodeo, has four more college events on his March schedule.
If he maintains his success, he’ll be bound for the College National Finals Rodeo for the second straight year.