Events: Tie-Down Roping Born: 1/4/1982 Joined PRCA: 2002 Titles Won: 0 Career Earnings: $184,848.00 Wrangler NFR Qualifications: 2 2007 Regular Season Earnings: $65,171 Residence: Decatur, Texas 2006 Highlights Won Rodeo de Santa Fe (Santa Fe, N.M.). Won the Ramona (Calif.) Rodeo. 2004 Highlights 2004—Won the National Western Rodeo (Denver), the Navajo Nation Fourth of July Celebration (Window Rock, Ariz.), the Home of Champions Rodeo (Red Lodge, Mont.), the Calgary Stampede, the Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days and the New Mexico State Fair (Albuquerque). Was a finalist at the Pace Picante ProRodeo Chute-out (Las Vegas) and won Rd. 7 with a time of 7.4 seconds at the Wrangler NFR and was second in Rd. 1 with a 7.2-second run. Finished the year ranked 10th in the world with $118,014. *2007 Wrangler NFR Update Cooper finished seventh in the average, won $32,921 in Las Vegas, and finished 10th in the world.

SWR: Clint, you’ve had quite the year. Did you ever think you’d make your second Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in 2007?

Clint: At first I was doing really good and then we had a family tragedy and I didn’t think I was going to make it. Then I came back and things turned around and yeah, I thought I was going to make it. I rode a horse of Blair Burk’s all year long called Grumpy and I did real good on him at Caldwell (Idaho), San Juan Capistrano (Calif.) and a bunch of other places.

Then, I didn’t have any luck in Omaha—I missed both calves—but I still thought I would make it to Dallas. Then, when it all came down to it, I was one man out. Then, unfortunately, that happened to Barry [Burk] and I got a shot to go. When I got that call I thought, ‘I have to take full advantage of this.’

SWR: First, let’s stay in the arena. Barry Burk, who won Omaha, was practicing for the Wrangler ProRodeo Tour Championships of the Ariat Playoffs in Dallas and broke his finger and had to withdraw, giving you a last-minute chance to compete there and win enough to make your second Wrangler NFR. Since you were 18th in the Crusher World Standings and your season was over, what were you doing when you got the call and how did you prepare for Dallas?

Clint: I was just at the house. I’d been team roping every day. Barry called Blair [no relation] and then notified the PRCA with a doctor’s release and then they called me. Dallas is just an hour from my house.

When I got the call from Procom that I was in Dallas, my dad [8-Time World Champion Roy Cooper] and a friend J.D. Tadlock who has been helping us a lot and Blair Burk and I all got together and we just got a game plan together and decided since I had nothing to lose, I’d just go at every one and just have fun and that’s what we did.

SWR: Did you have a horse ready?

Clint: I rode Blair Burk’s good horse Sweetness.

SWR: Things went pretty well in Dallas, you placed second in both the long rounds and the semifinal round, won the average and took home over $15,000.

Clint: It was a great roping, I thought, and a great deal for me. I was fortunate to draw good calves and I roped well.

SWR: Before, you mentioned something about a family tragedy. Care to share with us what happened?

Clint: Unfortunately, my fiancée Amber and I lost our daughter, Casely Faith, from a diaphragmatic hernia. It’s like a one in a million deal. She was born April 24 and we lost her on May 20. When she was born, everything was fine. Then when she took her first breath of air, it pushed her heart into one of her lungs. Then she only had one lung to support her. Right then, we rushed her to Children’s Hospital and that’s where she remained until the end.

SWR: That’s awful. How did you deal with it?

Clint: At first it was really tough, I got really frustrated there for a while. At rodeos people who didn’t really know us who had heard about it would come up and try to talk to us and that was tough. Now I’m starting to learn to deal with it a little bit. A lot of prayer and a lot of time by myself has helped.

SWR: We’re glad to hear that. I also understand that besides making the NFR, you’ve got some other great news.

Clint: Amber and I are going to get married in Las Vegas on December 5th and we just found out we’re going to have a little boy. We didn’t know what we’re going to have this time and we didn’t care, we just wanted it to be healthy. We went to the doctor, the same doctor we had before, and they ran a bunch of tests and everything looks good. We’re real excited. He’ll be due April 14th.

SWR: We’re excited for you. Thanks for sharing the details of your 2007 year with us and best of luck.

Clint: No problem, thanks.