Jimmy Cleveland
Cleveland is a native of Hollis, Oklahoma and grew up in rodeo, beginning his competitive career in amateur rodeo at 14 years old. He was accomplished in the tie down and soon took up steer wrestling and added rough stock events to his list of competitions.
 
He worked every event in rodeo and became an asset to the Southeastern Men's Rodeo Team from 1977-1981. Cleveland contributed every year, helping the men's team qualify to the CNFR and winning a national championship in each season he competed at the CNFR. He would also earn his own CNFR national title in the bareback riding in 1979.
 
Cleveland won the International Professional Rodeo Association's Bareback Riding in 1974 and won the All-Around in 1975, working the rough stock and timed event ends of the arena.  He qualified to the International Finals Rodeo at finals numbers 4-7 in bareback riding and bull riding.  He earned the highest score of 84 at IFR #4 and a score of 90 at IFR #6. He was able to capture the bareback riding average at IFR's 4, 5, and 6 and while also posting very high riding percentage in the bull riding.
 
Cleveland went on to rodeo in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and was a two-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier. In 1981 he won the average in the bareback riding at the NFR, scoring 765 points in ten rounds of competition.  Cleveland is often referred to as one of the greatest bareback riders and credited to being one of the most analytical of all time by many of his peers.
 
Cleveland and his family currently reside in Spicewood, Texas.
 
James Ward
Ward is a native of Odessa, Texas, and started his rodeo career at a very early age, entering his first junior competitions around age eight.  He would put together an impressive junior career in the American Junior Rodeo Association, winning a pair of steer riding championships before moving up in age class to earn two junior bull riding titles and eventually a pair of junior bareback riding championships.
 
He would follow his successful junior career by first taking his talents to Eastern New Mexico where he was the national runner up in the bull riding at the CNFR as a freshman in 1974 while helping his team to a national championship. He would follow that up in 1975 with a runner up finish in the bareback competition while helping ENMU to a top-5 finish.
 
He would then transfer to Southeastern where he would come in as a junior after sitting out the first semester and reel off enough wins to take home the regional title in the bareback riding as well as placing in bull riding and saddle bronc riding, thus earning a Central Plains Region All-Around championship in 1976.  He would go on to parlay that into national titles in both the bareback riding and the All-Around, all while helping SE to its first of five-straight Men's National Championships.
 
As a senior in 1977 Ward repeated as the regional champion in both the bareback riding and the all-around competition, but suffered a knee injury during a pro appearance prior to the CNFR and was unable to compete at the finals.
 
During his senior season he had competed nationally and worked himself into the top-15 on the pro circuit, but devoted his weekends during the season to the collegiate work. Once he returned to the professional trail with his brother he would suffer severe neck injury on July 4 at Red Lodge, Montana, which would eventually require surgery and end his professional career way too soon.
 
Ward would then turn to training barrel horses with his wife, Renee's, father and would go on to train horses for his wife and daughters who have qualified for multiple National Finals Rodeo.