Down in the flatlands of West Texas is a college tucked away in the little town of Levelland, Texas. Home of cotton farmers and a weekly dust bowls, Levelland isn’t exactly a place you’d expect people to meet from all over the world. However, South Plains College is home to a diverse set of individuals from all around the United States and beyond. From Canada, to Colorado, to Florida and everywhere in between you can make friends with just about anyone from just about anywhere. Steer wrestlers, teammates, and dare I say friends, Logan Kenline and Clay Guthrie have proven that statement to be true. Clay and Logan met here at South Plains during their time on the SPC Rodeo Team.
Clay is from “Canada’s Cowboy Capital” Ponoka, Alberta, home of the Ponoka Stampede. Growing up he played rugby, hockey, and he pursued rodeo as well. Clay was introduced to the rodeo world by his dad, who was a steer wrestler and the first rodeo cowboy in his family. Naturally Clay picked up steer wrestling as his primary event and he’s never looked back. He came down to South Plains with many goals including: qualifying for the College National Finals Rodeo, signing with Tarleton after his time at SPC, and receiving a degree in teacher education. He accomplished signing with Tarleton and came close to qualifying for the CNFR for the 2019/2020 season only for it to be cancelled as a result of covid. So, his current main goal is to qualify for the 2022 CNFR and show well there. But he also has goals that he tries to achieve daily. For Clay it’s about the everyday successes, “I try not to look at a huge picture right now. It’s every day. If you’re accomplishing your short-term goals that’ll equate to your long-term goals. I kind of live in the moment and enjoy that.”
Logan on the other hand is as American as they come. Hailing from the small town of Penrose, Colorado which is about 15 miles west of Pueblo, he was born an All-American cowboy. From a very young age he can remember hauling from rodeo to rodeo with his parents, so it was only fitting for him to pursue rodeo as well. When I asked Logan what his aspirations for the future, he said that he was pretty close to earning his second associate’s degree in business so he wants to finish that up. Another big goal for Logan would be to be in the top 40 in the world, “If I can do that consistently over a good period of time that’d be a huge goal of mine, getting in some of them bigger rodeos for dang sure.” Logan’s largest goal is to make the National Finals Rodeo, “and then a dream would be being a world champ for dang sure. And if that happens then I mean life is set for sure. But like I said it’s all God’s plan so wherever that takes me it takes me.” For Logan, faith plays a huge part in his competition, “I always say a little prayer before, it’s like “God protect me and let me have fun” It’s just something I’ve always said and uh I mean I have to give all the glory to God for everything that I’ve done for dang sure.”
Sitting down with Clay and Logan I could just tell this was going to be one of my favorite interviews. These boys feed off each other so well and anytime one would bring up a story the other one fell right into line and could pick it up (or butt in, however you want to look at it) and help finish it. When asked about their college rodeo experiences, they both looked over at each other and got these big ol’ grins across their faces and started to laugh. At first, they were a little apprehensive about opening up about their good times but as soon as they decided it was all cool, they just let the stories flow. In the Southwest region you can always have a good time, “drinkin’ or not.”
One of Clay’s favorite college rodeo would probably have to Texas Tech. “Tech is famous because it’s the Halloween gig. And I’m a huge Halloween guy. One year I went as Larry the Mechanic, and our slogan was “we do the lubin’ to get you movin’” and then this year I went as Hamish, and my buddy went as William Wallace from Braveheart. So yeah, we rocked wigs and kilts all night. It was pretty sweet. We show up to what was supposed to be a Halloween party and so we get dressed to the nines, face paint, kilts, and we come for a good time looking for some beers and we walk in this joint and it’s us and maybe six other people in this group of 400 that dressed up. But when in Rome right? Ya have enough beers, courage adds up and it doesn’t matter. So, we got after it. But uh yeah, we went to the bar my first year and I love Halloween, girls wear nothing, guys act like idiots so it’s a good time.”
Big Spring was another one of the all-time favorite rodeos, courtesy of The Stomp. “I’ve got a great story!” Logan says. “So, in Big Spring they used to have this deal called The Stomp. And The Stomp is where you could bring your own beer, bring your own whatever you want pretty much. But you had to leave your keys at the door and you gotta tell them who’s driving and all this stuff. Which is a great deal. It was just this little run-down kind of dancin’ hall kinda thing. Well anyway I think it was my sophomore year, (trying to recollect what year it was and clay chimes in sayin freshman cause he wasn’t here yet.) Well, never mind might have been my freshman year. I don’t remember I been here for so long. So, any ways we go to The Stomp and it’s me, Logan Wiseman, Stefan Ramone, and his girlfriend. Anyways so were at The Stomp and it dang sure could have been a lot better but it also could have been a lot worse. They had some music and everyone’s just hanging out having a good time and everyone’s just hoopin’ and hollerin’ and there’s this bag of wine and everybody’s taking drinks off of it and everybody’s having a good time. It’s me and Wiseman and were just kind of beep boppin around and this buckle gets passed around and everybody’s just drinkin’ a beer off the buckle like a buckle boost or whatever the heck they call it. And next thing you know the buckle turns up in Wiseman’s hand and Wiseman isn’t afraid to turn down anything that’s for a good time and everyone’s like do it do it. And here’s ol’ Wiseman, he’s sitting there, debatin’ about it, not to sure and of course I’m like Just do it! Just having fun and He’s like alr9ight. He does it and takes this swig off this buckle well turns out it was Grady Quam’s buckle and long story short Wiseman and Grady did not get along at all. They were buttin heads the whole time, did not like each other at all. And I knew whose buckle it was and I dang sure wasn’t gonna do it. Like I’m like no I am not taking this drink off this belt buckle and Wiseman takes a knee and everything, and I mean just finishes the beer off, beer goes everywhere, and he’s all pumped up and everyone’s giving him the hootin and hollerin and I look at him and I’m like you know whose buckle that is? He like absolutely not. And I’m like that’s Grady Quam’s. And I thought for sure he was gonna throw up right there. I mean he just went from straight partying to I’m gonna kill somebody. It was like the flip of a switch. And we still give him shit about it to this day. Well, be like good thing that ain’t Grady Quam’s buckle and he gets so butt hurt about that. That’s probably one of my favorite memories was just seeing the instant lets party to I’m gonna kill somebody. It went from awe hell ya to oh shit. That was good.”
To be continued..
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