Photo courtesy of Sam-Sin Photography
Professional steer wrestler Will Lummus competes in recent national competition at Las Vegas, Nev.
Lummus wins NFR championship
A local steer wrestler is a national champion.
Will Lummus, who lives in the Byhalia Road area, captured the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) crown in competition at Las Vegas, Nev., December 2-11.
“The National Finals is the Super Bowl of rodeo,” he said. “It’s the biggest thing in rodeo.” The top 15 steer wrestlers in the
world competed for the top two buckles — the NFR champion and the world champion.
In winning the NFR crown, Lummus had the fastest combined time for 10 steers over a 10-day period.
“This was my first time to win it,” Lummus said. “It was great, very exciting.” The world champion title is
awarded to the best steer wrestler over the entire year — the top money-winner.
And that’s the ultimate goal for Lummus, who started participating in rodeos as a sixth grader.
“I’d like to be world champion,” he said. “That’s the only buckle better than the one I just won.” Lummus grew up in West Point and graduated from Oak Hill Academy. He and his wife Jenna, who is from Hernando, moved to this area after getting married in October 2017.
She is a pharmacist at Tyson Drugs in Holly Springs. They met while in high school at a high school rodeo in Tunica.
Lummus was a member of the rodeo teams at East Mississippi Community College and the University of Tennessee at Martin.
He’s been a member of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association since 2012. Then in 2017, he started rodeoing professionally. That first year he finished 20th in the world, just short of the top 15.
Lummus has continued to climb the ladder.
And his family has been there to support him along the way.
“My wife was there with me (at the National Finals this month) the entire time, and so were other family members,” he said. “It was a family affair. It always is. Rodeo is just family-oriented, and that’s one of the biggest things I like about it.”
Lummus is 29 years old. He will turn 30 in April 2022.
“I definitely plan to rodeo this coming year,” he said. “We will see how it goes. I want to give it a little more time. I still have something I want to accomplish — world champion.”