PUEBLO, Colo. – As Cole Melancon scanned the updated 2021 Unleash The Beast: American Roots Edition schedule in December, he saw a familiar town listed on the schedule.
Pecos, Texas, and Buck Jackson Memorial Arena.
The west Texas town claims to have held the world’s first rodeo on July 4, 1883, on its streets. The West of the Pecos Rodeo eventually grew into one of the most historical rodeos through the years, and the rodeo was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 2008.
Pecos will be hosting the Unleash The Beast: American Roots Edition on Feb. 20-21. The UTB’s next three events, in fact, will be held in Melancon’s home state of Texas. The PBR’s primary tour is on hiatus this weekend before resuming in Del Rio, Texas, at the historic Val Verde County Fairgrounds on Feb. 13-14.
Melancon leads the PBR with three round wins on the Unleash The Beast and is the No. 6-ranked bull rider in the world standings. He is 3-for-7 this season, but all three of his qualified rides resulted in round wins – 87.25 points on Dang It, 88.5 points on Bottom’s Up and 88.5 points on Soup in a Group.
The Paris, Texas, native cut his teeth in the PRCA before joining the PBR tour full-time in 2020, and he has goals of making a run at both the 2021 PBR World Finals and 2021 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.
Before the PBR season began, Melancon went 2-for-3 to win the Texas Circuit Finals in Waco, so Texas has already treated him nice this year.
Melancon is taking advantage of the UTB off-weekend, and he is in the draw Friday night at the Rodeo Rapid City PRCA event in South Dakota.
He is also planning to take the next step in his PBR career in 2021 following a 10th-place finish in the final 2020 world standings.
Melancon sat atop the Rookie of the Year standings from the moment he won his debut event at Iron Cowboy last February in the iconic STAPLES Center, only to see the prestigious rookie buckle snatched out of his grasp by 2020 PBR World Finals event winner Boudreaux Campbell.
And he made sure to go down swinging.
Entire story can be found at www.PBR.com .
