Jeff Copenhaver, the 1975 PRCA World Champion Tie-Down Roper, and an instrumental figure in the cowpoke service, died May 17 in Granbury, Texas. He was 73.
Copenhaver is the child of ProRodeo Hall of Famer and double cross Saddle Bronc Riding World Champion Deb Copenhaver. Deb died Feb. 6, 2019, at 94 years old.
“It was an incredible ride,” said Sherry Copenhaver, about her union with Jeff for a very long time. “I believe individuals should recall that he significantly impacted God in this Earth and that he was an incredible guide, an extraordinary roping mentor and I lived with a boss, and I lived with a contender.”
Jeff and Sherry had one youngster, little girl, Shandy, who is hitched to Cody Stromberg.
Jeff qualified for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo multiple times – 1971, 1973-76 and 1978. He was fourth and fifth on the planet standings in 1974 and ’76 and was the world champion in 1975.
“Jeff carried on with existence intensely and energy,” Sherry said. “He had the option to reward others. He had the option to be an incredible coach and mentor and helped other people become title holders.”
Jeff was conceived Jan. 12, 1949, and brought on a farm up in Post Falls, Idaho.
Jeff began roping at age four and by 11 he was contending genuinely. Notwithstanding help from his father, and roper George Richmond, and Warren Wuthier, Jeff likewise improved his roping abilities by watching old films of ProRodeo Hall of Famers Dean Oliver and Jim Bob Altizer roping.
Jeff went through a one-week gorge of needing to ride roughstock yet that blurred rapidly.
“Whenever I was 14 years of age, I weighed 175 pounds, which was too huge to even consider beginning with, and I chose right fast to pass on the broncs and bulls to another person,” expressed Copenhaver in a May 31, 1978, article of the ProRodeo Sports News. “In any case, I had been roping since I was around 11 years of age, and I enjoyed secures calves best.”
Jeff joined the PRCA in 1968. He won the Columbia River Circuit Year-End title in 1976 and Lone Star Circuit, presently known as the Texas Circuit, in 1978 and was the hero at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo in 1974 and 1978.
“A challenger could have all the capacity on the planet however he won’t be useful until he figures out how to win by wiping out the entirety of his slip-ups,” Copenhaver said in the May 31, 1978, article of the PSN.
Jeff prepared top dog secure and breakaway ropers for over 30 years, in the U.S. what’s more, Canada. He has additionally prepared champions in Australia and Cuba.
In 1986, Jeff and Sherry began America’s most memorable Cowboy church at Billy Bob’s in the notable Fort Worth (Texas) Stockyards. Jeff and Sherry went through years voyaging broadly and universally helping roping schools and rousing others to be champions for God in their reality.
Copenhaver likewise composed a book named “God Wants You to Win!”
“It was perfect to achieve an objective that was for what seems like forever,” expressed Copenhaver about bringing home his big showdown in a Dec. 9, 2008, article in the Spokesman-Review. “It consumed all my considerations, each breath, my actual presence. That evening I sat on the edge of my bed and asked, ‘Is that all there is?’ Even with the fulfillment of achieving that there was a void, and it began a three-year search.”
As indicated by the article in the Spokesman-Review, after three years, at a rodeo in Madison Square Garden in New York, Copenhaver and his significant other, Sherry, ran into a close buddy, “a calf roper from Connecticut, you can envision how uncommon that is,” Copenhaver said.
The Copenhavers were struck by his attitude.
“I could simply see the harmony, the happiness, that something great had happened to him,” Copenhaver said.
Subsequent to barbecuing their companion, the Copenhavers got back to their inn.
“We bowed down toward the finish of our bed,” he reviewed, “and asked Jesus Christ into our souls.”
Steer roper and minister Corey Ross adulated Copenhaver.
“The best thing about Jeff is he shown some care for the Lord,” Ross said. “At the point when you show at least a bit of kindness for God then you show some care to need to help individuals. His main goal was that. I met Jeff many, ages ago and I had such an adoration for himself as well as his loved ones.”
Memorial service administrations for Copenhaver will happen at 10:30 a.m. (CT) May 23 at the Cowboy Church of Erath County in Stephenville, Texas.
Source Link: https://wranglernetwork.com/