David’s Western Store, still the hub of operation, is where NRS developed. The tack department (above) was added almost immediately after Isham purchased the Western wear store. Isham recreated the atmosphere of a traditional Western wear store by improving displays, lighting and adding home furnishings (right).

Ten years ago you might have seen one of the first edition National Ropers Supply catalogs—one of only 14,000 copies. This year you will receive a NRS catalog, one of 800,000 copies. Such phenomenal growth is no surprise, concedes David Isham, owner and founder of NRS, considering the unprecedented growth of amateur team roping. NRS hasn’t just ridden the coattails of a booming industry, though, the company has done as much to promote team roping’s growth by relentless innovation and dedicated customer service.

But what most don’t realize is that NRS might not even exist had Isham’s first loop a-horseback not found its way around the horns of a Corriente steer and come tight.

Isham moved to rural Decatur, Texas, from the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex when he was 10 year old. His parents wanted to give their children a chance to be involved in a community, play all the sports in school and give them a sense of small town America while still being able to commute to work.

Almost inevitably, Isham became fast friends with a schoolmate whose family ranched for a living and roped for fun. Isham would spend evenings after school and summers working the chute and roping the dummy with his friend. He never roped horseback, however, until one day during his junior year in high school his friend’s father offered him the chance.

“Doggone if I didn’t catch the very first steer,” said Isham. “And it was just history from there.”

Asked if history would have been rewritten had he not caught that steer he smiled and said, “That’s a good question.”

But when he came tight on that first steer and turned him in to the corner, something bit Isham that has probably bit everyone who reads these words: the roping bug.

He roped all through college at Abilene (Texas) Christian University, where he was studying for his accounting degree. He roped once he graduated, joining his father and brother-in-law as an accountants, and worked on the auditing staff at Price Waterhouse in Fort Worth. The office job only lasted for a year. The local Western wear store in Decatur had come up for sale and Isham decided to take the plunge, buy the store and become an entrepreneur—it was 1989 and he was 24 years old.

“It was pretty easy,” said Isham. “I was fortunate enough with the help of my parents to get the loan I needed. It wasn’t a very big store so it didn’t represent a whole lot of money. I wasn’t married at the time so I really poured everything into that business.”

He called it David’s Western Store and immediately began making innovations. First, he moved the store to a new location in town and lost the image of the old, dark, musty Western store. He made the place bright, inviting and clean.

“I immediately started developing the tack department in the store and obviously things kind of concentrated on roping supplies,” said Isham. “I was at the right place at the right time. Decatur was really starting to grow. Everything just fell into place.”

Later that year he was married to Karen, with whom he has had four beautiful kids, Cade, Jaci, Katie and Gracie.

But David didn’t settle into the slow-paced family life of a small-business owner. Although he’s a dedicated family man, (see the inside cover of your next NRS catalog) he’s the kind of guy for whom the wheels are always turning.

“I had a knack for searching out the really great products,” said Isham. “And it helped greatly for me to be active in the sport of team roping.”

People would stop into his store from out of town and compliment him on the quality of products and the agreeable atmosphere and lament how they wished their hometown had something as nice. So, in an attempt to get more exposure, Isham took out an ad in the ProRodeo Sports News, advertising jeans, boots and tack.

The response was lukewarm and he knew he had to make a change.

“I always struggled with the name, David’s Western Store,” he said. “I knew when people thought of David’s Western store, they thought of the typical little dingy mom and pop Western store. What else in the world could be in Decatur, Texas? So I knew I needed to come up with a name that represented better what we were. I knew I had the best selection of roping stuff and I knew if someone from California saw an ad for National Ropers Supply his first thought would be, ‘They probably have what I’m looking for.’ We changed the ad from David’s to National Ropers Supply and the calls quadrupled. Then I came up with the 1-800-GoRopin phone number and between that and the name it instantly made a difference.”

It still wasn’t quite clicking. Folks would call and ask for a catalog. Isham would reply that he didn’t have one, “But I’ve got everything you need.”

“Instantly I realized I needed a catalog,” he said.

So in 1994 he printed 14,000 copies of a 48-page black and white catalog.

“I had no idea how I was going to come up with 14,000 people to mail it to,” he said. So he took out ads in every little roping and rodeo publication he could get his hands on, advertising his free catalog. They shipped out orders in used boxes and were overwhelmed by a dream come true that he had never really envisioned.

“Anybody who tells you they had a five–year business plan and they’re right on it is lying,” he said. “My dad, who’s my hero, and I talked and calculated about what a Western store could do running full steam ahead when I first bought the store. My company now sells 20 times what we thought, at a peak, a Western store could do.

“The secret is being able to capture opportunities when they come your way. Be flexible. Hire great people to work for you and that kind of thing. It’s amazing how each year takes care of itself and we find ourselves moving in a different direction. I’ve been fortunate that the hobby I love and the sport I participate in every day is the work I get to do.”

Today, NRS ships out five different catalogs to over 800,000 people. In addition to the spring and fall editions of the team roping and horse-supply catalog, they ship a catalog devoted to Western furnishings as well as one specifically for barrel racers. They are the official catalog of the USTRC and buy from over 400 vendors and manufacturers. Isham is quick to credit his employees, who you’ll recognize from the catalogs if you ever visit one of his stores.

“The Western way of life has always appealed to me so much,” said Isham. “I don’t care who you are in this country, if you’re in a high-rise in New York or a beach in California everybody has a fond thought toward the Western lifestyle. They may not ever own a horse, but they remember the first time they rode a horse or want to go ride a horse again or go to a rodeo never dreaming they could be a part of it. I was one of those people and now it’s part of my life. I was able to respect and appreciate the opportunity, the wonderful kind of people you get to be around all the time. Knowing how I craved roping, I knew there had to be thousands of other people who would love that same opportunity.”

So that’s how it started and that’s how it continues to grow. NRS has recently built a world-class training facility in Decatur that has become innovative in the industry.

Isham built his business on being able to reach people in their homes, but he hopes it will grow by giving people an opportunity to come in person to Decatur to the NRS Training Center.

“People don’t necessarily need a place to buy a pair of Wranglers or a rope, what they need is a place of expertise,” he said. “A place that they could be confident they knew the people in charge knew what they were talking about. The center allows us to put clinics on year round from helping ropers at whatever level they’re at. From a beginner class where a person can fly into Dallas, show up and learn all the basics of what it means to become a roper and have a positive experience. A place where he can go that’s professional and find out what it takes to be involved in the sport.”

World champions and notable teachers such as Walt Woodard, Rickey Green, Tyler Magnus and Craig Cameron all give clinics at the facility. Anything a student needs is available at the center, including a beautiful and comfortable bunkhouse-themed motel, plenty of stalls and of course, expertise.

Much like a golf course, there is a roping pro on hand at the center to give private lessons to horse or human at any time. Continuing the golf-course theme, the center also has a pro shop where everything that is sold in the catalog is hanging ready for use.

“Clinic participants can rebridle, repad and resaddle their horse all day long to try those products,” said Isham. “I thought it would be a great way to sell products, but what it has essentially forced us to do is to prove the worthiness of every product in our catalog. If it’s sitting out there and a guy puts it on, it better do what it says it’s going to do.”

In addition, the facility is available for rent. Everything from political fundraisers to steer ropings to team pennings to calf ropings have happened under the canopy of the training center. Team ropings are held every Tuesday and Friday nights and barrel races every Thursday. Even Trevor Brazile rented the facility for two weeks in preparation for the Timed-Event Championships.

“What I see happening is Decatuar becoming a real central area for team ropers,” says Isham, planning to be in the middle of it.

And while those plans and hopes are all wonderful, it’s only part of the big picture for Isham. “When I see where somebody has an opportunity to learn and they jump all over it and it becomes a life-changing event for them, I know this industry and this sport will continue to grow,” said Isham. “As professionals in the industry, we’re only limited by how easy we make it for people to be involved.”

Judging from the innovations and efforts Isham and his company make every day, the sky is the limit for team roping.