Meet WSF Board Member Leon Vick
It takes as strong team to provide resources for Western athletes. At Western Sports Foundation, an important piece of that team is our Board of Directors. This month, we sat down with Leon Vick, WSF Treasurer, to hear about his experience as part of the WSF board. Scroll to read a Q&A with Leon!
What’s your professional background?
I rodeoed professionally for 21 years as a steer wrestler. I was lucky enough to make the NFR twice. Once I started a family, my goal was not to make the NFR any longer. My wife was a flight attendant, so I chose to stay home with the kids and just rodeo locally.
Photo courtesy of Leon Vick
In 2007, I went to work for the National Western Stock Show. I’ve worked my way up the ladder there, and I currently serve as the Vice President of Rodeo, Horse, and Livestock.
How did you first hear about WSF?
Four or five years ago, Kody Lostroh called me and told me about Western Sports Foundation. They wanted to do something for the rodeo contestants at the National Western. I said, “heck yeah, I'll figure out a way to get you in, because that is a cool deal.”
Photo courtesy of Leon Vick
Probably two months after that, I received an email asking me if I'd be interested in joining the board. It took me about five seconds to reply with a single word: “Yes.”
What do you value most about what WSF does for athletes?
Giving money to injured athletes is one thing, but the clinics ended up selling me on WSF. Teaching people how to not only recover from an injury, but to prevent injuries is so important.
There's a lot of different things out there where an injured athlete can get help, but there’s only one that goes beyond that. And that’s the one I want to support.
The financial assistance is great, especially when someone really ends up needing it, but life after rodeo starts by staying healthy as long as you can, rehabbing injuries, mental health support, and so many other things that WSF provides.
How Could WSF’s services have impacted your career when you were rodeoing full time?
My wife would have slept better! One time, I was injured and had to have my right arm basically reattached. I was just rodeoing at the time, and my wife was expecting our first child. The doctors said I had to take a minimum of one year off. Panic set in at that point.
Photo courtesy of Leon Vick
Something like WSF would have meant a whole lot. To have help with the rehab and the mental support would have been really good at the time.
I was a rodeo cowboy, I always thought, I'll win more money tomorrow. I don't really need to plan. That’s still the attitude of a lot of guys today. That's the life all of us lead. If I was a young man, I'd do it all again, but I would go to a WSF clinic and learn how to manage money first.
What means the most to you as part of WSF’s board of directors?
I am honored to be on the board at Western Sports Foundation.
In the FFA, they say time, treasure, and talent. I give my time and my talent because I don't have much treasure to offer, because I was a rodeo athlete for 21 years. I offer when and what I can, but that's limited. So, I offer the other two—time and talent. I have some experience on the rodeo side as well as the contestant side, so I feel like my knowledge helps the foundation succeed.
Why should other people support WSF?
There’s a lot of people out there who enjoy going and seeing these rodeos. If you’d like to see it continue and grow, supporting WSF is a great way of doing that.
Photo courtesy of Leon Vick
If you want to keep this sport alive, we have to keep the guys going by keeping them healthy. We teach them how to stay healthy and prevent injuries. Injuries are bound to happen, but you can prevent a lot of those with good knowledge that our providers can teach them.
One thing rodeo has that no other sport has is the values. In rodeo, we pray and do the national anthem before the start of every event. It's those values that you don't find everywhere in our country anymore. I think those values have become so much more important to people as we are all coming back to what our country was built on.
If you’d like to join Leon in supporting WSF, please click here to learn more and get involved.