If you’ve ever tuned in to the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) on TV, you might recognize the iconic voice of the veteran analyst unraveling the intricacies behind the sport of rodeo: long-standing analyst Butch Knowles.
With a talent for both education and entertainment, coupled with a steady dose of humility that has kept him a fan favorite for years, Butch has been a steadfast figure in the broadcasting industry for more than three decades.
Butch’s zest for rodeo came as a young man growing up in northeastern Oregon on his family’s cattle ranch. Together with his two older siblings, he decided to try his hand competing at a local junior rodeo in the late ’60s. From the moment Butch mounted up in the calf riding event—lasting all but one or two jumps, he added with a laugh—he was hooked.
“It just consumed me,” he told WLJ. “Rodeo was all I wanted to do.”
While working on his family’s summer ranch in eastern Oregon, Butch would tune into the radio broadcast for the Snake River Stampede, cementing his interest in becoming “a rodeo guy.” He began working at every type of rodeo event throughout high school and college, gaining experience across the spectrum of rodeo events, which he credits as instrumental in developing his career.
Butch continued competing himself, clinching all-around titles both in high school and as a competitor in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA) circuit during his time at Walla Walla Community College. While he competed in all three riding events—bareback bronc, saddle bronc and bull riding—he found the most success in saddle broncs but may have loved bull riding above all.
Following college, Butch received an offer in the late ’80s to cover the College National Finals Rodeo as an analyst. He was rodeoing full time at that point and was hesitant to take the opportunity. Butch ultimately decided to take the job after some sage advice from professional rodeo cowboy Lewis Field, who told him, “You never know where that might lead to.” From that moment on, Butch’s analyst career kicked into gear.
Butch worked with Red Steagall for several years covering the college finals rodeo before he received another call, this time asking for a NIRA representative to work alongside Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association administrator Jack Hannum, who was putting on judging seminars around the country.
“That was probably the best thing that I could have done,” Butch said. “We went to 12 different regions in the country—all the rodeo circuits. Jack explained all the timed events and I explained all the riding events. You really looked at each event in detail—which is a lot different from when you’re just getting on and riding.”
Butch’s time leading judging seminars led to another career advancement opportunity, this time as an analyst for the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo. Butch was approached after a seminar and asked to be the analyst for the bronc riding at the rodeo.
“When I got there, they said, ‘You know what? Just do the whole rodeo,’” Butch recalled with a laugh. Afterward, he was asked to become the analyst of the NFR, opening the door to what has spanned into a decades-long successful career.
“I just happened to be at the right place at the right time,” Butch said. “Everything I did leading up to it—working all the events and doing the seminars, producing rodeos and being on all the different boards—really helped because it gave me a lot of experience in all sides of rodeo. But, I still had to step through that door and pull it off.”
He added, “And I’ve been doing it ever since.”
As someone who grew up shy and hated speaking in front of others, it took a lot of practice to get to the point where he is now comfortable talking in front of millions of viewers, Butch said. As an analyst, his job is to pay attention to what is going on once the chute opens and react to it in real time. He simplified it down to sitting in the grandstands with someone watching a rodeo and just talking about it.
Butch’s passion for talking the sport comes from an unlikely source. In 1980, Butch was at the Tucson Rodeo traveling with a group of Canadians, who were huge ice hockey fans. At the time, the U.S. was in the Olympics playing against the Soviet Union in the hockey game that became known as the “Miracle on Ice.” Butch, a newbie to the game, became enamored with the sport once the Canadians explained the name of the game.
“I always thought that if I could do that in my job, if I could break rodeo down to where you didn’t offend the people that really understand the sport, but yet you could educate the people that didn’t understand it, I’d create more fans from it,” Butch said. “And that’s the direction I’ve always tried to go.”
The 2023 NFR
The most recent NFR began on a different note than years past. For the first time ever, NFR canceled the first day’s rodeo performance out of respect for the shooting that occurred just a day prior on the nearby University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus.
“Some people felt like they just should have gone on with the rodeo, and they certainly could have,” Butch said. “But in hindsight, looking back at everything, I think they did the right thing.”
An additional make-up round was added on to the following Wednesday, making it the first time there were two performances on a day of the last week. The make-up performance was not open to public access but was open to contestants’ families and any of the college students or first responders that were on campus at the time of the shooting.
“It was different than any NFR I’d ever been to,” Butch said.
Butch also remarked on the scope of the competition showcased during 2023’s events. Several contestants came in to NFR with huge leads, but by the seventh round, there were competitors taking the events by storm who had a chance to bump the leads and win a world title, he said.
“Granted, Keenan Hayes and Riley Webb went on and got their world titles, but they darn sure had to earn it,” Butch said. He added, “If they hadn’t had good weeks (prior to NFR), they would not have won a world title.”
For 2023, NFR had a payout of $14.9 million. This included guaranteed prize money of $1.2 million for all NFR qualifiers and $10,301,505 in competition prize money, among other payouts. In comparison, when Butch competed in his last NFR in 1991 he won the average, which was $19,000—a huge amount of money at the time, he noted. Today, the average pays $80,000.
In addition to the record-high payout, there was another moment that stood out to Butch. Top-ranked bull rider Ky Hamilton suffered a concussion during Round 5 of the bull riding event, losing consciousness and worrying the arena, Butch included, to whether he would ride again—not just for that NFR, but ever again.
The following day, while getting ready to go on air ahead of Round 6, Butch noticed Hamilton up and watching from the sidelines. Butch remarked to NFR TV host Jeff Medders, “That’s the best thing I have seen at this NFR: to see him standing right there, being able to watch this performance.” To which Medders replied that he had just received a call and Hamilton wasn’t just up and alert, but he would be competing.
“And I go, ‘You gotta be kidding me,’” Butch said. “And he not only competed, but he also placed on that bull and then he won. He was the only qualified rider that night and he won $100,000.”
He added, “That was some Superman stuff. And I was glad to see him go on and win a world title.”
Moving forward, with another NFR in the books—and a new title under his belt as a 2023 ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductee—Butch will continue to be a stalwart in the rodeo community.
“We’re all just cowboys. Some of us just do different things along the way, but there’s nothing better than being a cowboy,” Butch said. “It’s a great fraternity, this Western way of life is.” — Anna Miller, WLJ managing editor
