Voice of the rodeo

Kenney calls 100 events every year

By Susan Larson | The Daily Journal

Published Saturday, August 18, 2007

Besides heart-stopping, horse-riding entertainment, another constant of the Red Horse Ranch rodeo is announcer Kelly Kenney.

Kenney, 32, a PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association) Pro Rodeo announcer, has called all three of RHR’s rodeos and acts as its spokesman. He has come to consider Red Horse owners Leigh and Shana Barry family. The Barrys can’t imagine a rodeo without him.

“He’s an incredible talent,” Leigh said. “I’m glad he keeps coming back every year. He really adds a lot to the show.”

Announcing puts Kenney on the road 300 days of the year, with 100 pro rodeo performances. It leaves little time for anything else, but it’s the life he has gladly chosen. Announcing entails more than saying who’s next out of the chute.

“I educate the fans about what they’re seeing,” Kenney said. “From bucking horses to steer wrestling, and giving them insight to the rules, dangers and speed bumps of pro rodeo athletes.”

He tries to help people see rodeo riding for what it is.

“This is a major league sport. It’s not a hobby. It’s not a part-time job. It’s no place for sissies or mamma’s boys. You don’t get sick days or vacations and the only time you get a paycheck is if you win. But it gets in your blood.”

Raised in a cowboy family in Humansville, Mo., injuries Kenney sustained as a high school rodeo competitor halted his athletic career.

“But that’s OK,” he said, “because I wanted to be a cowboy.”

At the suggestion of his former baseball coach, Kenney began announcing basketball games as a teen. Unbeknownst to him, it put him on the path to his rodeo career.

By his junior year, he put together a cowboy band for a saddle club fundraiser and music thereafter occupied much of his time. While pursuing an agricultural science degree in college, he was playing music five nights a week.

“All of a sudden, I realized I hadn’t been a cowboy in four years and it was killing me.”

Getting back to his roots, after college Kenney took a job managing a ranch and became head rodeo coach at Missouri Valley College in Marshall, Mo. There, he was honored as Ozark Region Coach of the Year.

His futures was set in 2001, when Kenney attained pro rodeo announcer status.

“Everything else in my life came to a screeching halt after that. I quit coaching and everything and this is what I do now … Traveling is a double-edge sword. You get paid to see the world. But when you’re seeing the world 300 days a year, you see home very little.”

Red Horse Ranch, however, has become his second home, he said.

“The people here appreciate our hard work. The people are as polite and considerate as the Southern hospitality I was raised with.”

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