Maybe you haven’t heard of the James Pickens, Jr. Foundation Team Roping Event. But if the foundation’s namesake is a familiar face, it’s because he’s best known as a TV actor. I remember being at an event a few years ago and they put him on the big screen – the producers must have thought it was pretty cool to have a celebrity in the stands. But I remember thinking, “he’s got a legit cowboy hat on, this guy’s not just someone trying to fit in. He is in.” By the time Jim and his wife, Gina, were ready to get their foundation off the ground about 11 years ago, he’d already been going to the NFR for twenty years, talking to the guys and getting to know the ropers. “Roping for me was a great escape from the goings on of Hollywood, a nice way to decompress,” he shared.
Turns out, Jim has long been an admirer of cowboys and rodeo. “I’m a child of the ‘50s and ‘60s, every channel had Westerns on,” Jim recalls. “I always loved horses, loved watching the movies, I pretended to be a cowboy.” When he moved to New York City as an adult, he found he could ride horses in the city (“they only had English saddle,” he added) and he did so on 89th Street and through Central Park.
He kept up the lifestyle when he moved to LA and leased an Appendix Quarter Horse named Rhythm and did some team penning. But looking for more of an adrenaline rush, he was drawn to roping after watching a guy on set swinging loops on some downtime, and tried his own hand, admitting “maybe it was beginners luck, but I was able to keep up.”
Team roping is a niche sport, it gets to be a small world and we don’t get too much attention from people beyond it. “A guy like him, he could support whoever and whatever; he could have any kind of charity,” says Derrick. “For him to support the roping industry, well he has my respect.”
This particular fish was old and tired. While he made one quick but short run, that was about it. He rolled over and came to my hands. He was a warrior. He was long - 19” or more - but skinny and ugly. He’d been around. One side had an old osprey talon hole and his mouth had signs of being hooked with barbed flies. I never lifted the fish from the water. He required tender loving care for sure.
That last fish was all I could take. My hands were numb and I was sick of shivering. My buddy had given up on his difficult to catch fish and we all packed it up. It was perfect timing at nearly 6 PM.
To us cowboys, it’s pretty cool that a celebrity has such a genuine interest and passion for our culture and our sport. And to be honest, there’s a mutual star-struck feeling between Jim and our guys – and not just because he’s high-profile. He could easily use his status for charity in other ways – hosting a dinner, for example, would give him more control and less work. But an event makes a bigger impact, brings people together, and enriches the whole community.
“Plus, any time you’ve got an event with animals, there are a lot of responsibilities that go with it,” Derrick explains. “But we all know why he’s doing it and how hard he’s working to put this on.”
He’s like a guy with superpowers using them for good.
Going on eleven years now, the James Pickens Jr. Foundation Team Roping Event has given to two organizations that serve disenfranchised youth in Southern California. “We’re trying to bring attention to these kids, to say that they matter and their lives matter,” Jim shares. One is a cowboy camp for kids, introducing them to the cowboy lifestyle, to horse riding, and hiking – opportunities they might not have. The other is a faith-based afterschool project that creates a safe-haven for kids of single-parent households. “We have to recognize they’re going to be the future leaders, and they can’t do that if they’re left under-served.”
Mr. Pickens is a model of “the cowboy way” and we’re proud to have him in our community.
Learn more about the organizations this foundation supports:
