Events: Team Roping (Header)
Tie-Down Roping
Born: 4/26/1991 Texarkana, TX
Joined PRCA: 2013
PRCA Career Earnings: $422,005.00
World Titles Won: 0
WNFR Qualifications: 3 (2015-17)
Current Residence: Broken Bow, OK
Partner: Paul Eaves
2018 ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Won the All American ProRodeo Finals (Waco, TX)
Won the San Angelo (TX) Rodeo
Won the RAM Texas (Waco) Circuit Finals
Won the Old Fort Days Rodeo (Fort Smith, AR)
Won the Mineral Wells (TX) Rodeo
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
2017: (Partner Paul Eaves) Won the Walla Walla (WA) Frontier
Days, the Spanish Fork (UT) Fiesta Days Rodeo, the Rancho
Mission Viejo Rodeo (San Juan Capistrano, CA), the Black Hills
Roundup (Belle Fourche, SD), the Rio Grande Valley Livestock
Show & Rodeo (Mercedes, TX), the Laramie (WY) Jubilee Days,
the Mineral Wells (TX) Rodeo, the Wrangler Champions
Challenge presented by Justin Boots (Rapid City, SD) and the
Beef Empire Days PRCA Rodeo (Garden City, KS). Won the
Tie-Down Roping at the Kitsap Stampede (Bremerton, WA).
Co-Champion at the Caldwell (ID) Night Rodeo and the
Greeley (CO) Stampede. Won the All-Around and Team Roping
at the Rose City Roundup (Tyler, TX). Won the All-Around at the
Comal County Fair & Rodeo (New Braunfels, TX), the Yellowstone
River Round-Up (Billings, MT), the Goliad (TX) County Fair
PRCA Rodeo and the PRCA Rose City Round-Up (Tyler, TX).
2016: (Partner Paul Eaves) Placed in six rounds to rank second at
the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (WNFR). Finished fifth in the
world standings with 218,611 dollars. Won the Southwestern
Exposition and Livestock Show (Fort Worth, TX), the National
Western Stock Show and Rodeo (Denver, CO), the Pasadena
Livestock Show and Rodeo Champions Challenge presented by
Justin Boots, the Dodge City, (KS) Roundup Rodeo, the Canby
(OR) Rodeo, and the Lawton (OK) Rangers Rodeo. Won the
All-Around and Team Roping at the Butterfield Stage Days
PRCA Rodeo (Bridgeport, TX), with Wesley Johnson. Won the
All-Around and Co-Champion in Team Roping at the Strawberry
Days Rodeo (Pleasant Grove, UT). Won the All-Around at the
Amarillo (TX) Tri-State Fair and Rodeo.
2015: (Partner Paul Eaves) Placed in four rounds to rank
eleventh at his first WNFR. Won the Deadwood (SD) Days of
‘76 Rodeo, the Mountain Valley Stampede (Heber City, UT),
That Famous Preston (IA) Night Rodeo and the Gladewater (TX)
Round-Up Rodeo. Co-Champion at the Beef Empire Days PRCA
Rodeo (Garden City, KS). Finished thirteenth in the world
standings with 115,498 dollars in earnings.
Last year’s trip to Vegas was the first made with his wife Taylor.
They planned their wedding to coincide with the rodeo season
and got married on October 8, 2017. That was just days after
Clay earned his second trip to Las Vegas.
The young couple returned last year with the gleam of gold in
their eyes as Clay hoped to win his first World Championship.
He finished fifth in the world in 2016 after winning over 100,000
dollars at the WNFR.
Clay and Jake won the US Team Roping Finals in Oklahoma City
and earned 141,000 dollars. His youngest brother, Britt, is also
a roper and he won a truck at an amateur event. Clay and his
brothers got their start in rodeo from their father and appeared
on “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno when he was seven years
old with his brother Jake to talk about their love of roping. Clay
is named after seven-time World Champion team roper and
ProRodeo Hall-of-Famer Clay O’Brien Cooper, who also is his
rodeo idol.
CLAY
SMITH
Photo courtesy of PRCA Rodeo LIFE 61