I remember seeing Mark Arnold around at the ropings and rodeos when I was a kid, but really didn't know him more than a smile and a hello. From a distance, he seemed kind of quiet to me, but then I wasn't one of his close, personal friends.
I spent the better part of a week with Jake (Barnes) and Clay (O'Brien Cooper) at Clay's house in Glen Rose, Texas, the first week of October. We got up in the dark before the chickens a couple mornings to go to slack at Waco, and worked inside while our photo shoot got rained out outside each afternoon. The optimists in us saw the grass grow before our very eyes.
Rickey Green came by one day to rope, and I'm sorry to say I missed him. When he was down at the arena, I was up in the house downloading files I needed to edit. Then he left because of the rain. Had I known he was going to head out so soon, I'd have shut this thing down and gladly run through the rain to see him. Rickey's another one I never really got to know all that well, but I have had a few chances to sit down and visit with him over the years and the guy is gold.
Anyway, it's interesting how life goes. Just a few days later, Jake called to tell me Mark had died, suddenly and unexpectedly at home in Cave Creek, Ariz., on October 9-at 47. I knew I needed to respectfully remember Mark, who was a respected and renowned member of the roping community. Mark qualified for nine Wrangler National Finals Rodeos from 1979-89, won the 1984 BFI with Rickey and the 1991 George Strait with Allen Bach. But how do you memorialize a guy who was only a casual personal acquaintance? Easy-you talk to his friends.
"We called him Pickles," Jake said of Mark, who was the vice president of his family's Klein Pickle Company. "I moved to Arizona in 1981 and Mark was a native, so I was around him a lot. At one time, Mark Arnold was one of the premier ropers. And he acquired one of the best head horses of all time from Ramon Figueroa. They were close friends, and when Ramon decided to become a full-time jockey, Mark bought that horse. Rebel was his name, and when Mark bought that horse it elevated him to the next level. He was one of the all-time great horses. He was an awesome average and rodeo horse. He was phenomenal."
And Mark appreciated that fact. "Mark babied that horse like he was his kid," Jake continued. "He really thought a lot of him. And if you ever needed to win something and had the opportunity to ride him, he was the one to get on. I rode Rebel every chance I got. Mark was a good guy. He loved roping. Roping was his life."
As was his family. Mark is survived by his wife, Shetlan; two daughters from his first marriage to Susan, Cailee and Mollie; a son, Matt; his dad, Byron, who lives in Paradise Valley, Ariz.; his mom, Earline of Monterey, Calif.; a sister, Susan DeMuro of Portland, Ore.; and three step-brothers, Brian, Jeff and Joe Knapp. A memorial service was held October 15 in Scottsdale. Mark's family would appreciate memorial donations be made in his name to the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund, in care of the PRCA at 101 Pro Rodeo Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80919.
Next, I called Clay. Jake had mentioned that he thought Clay won Salinas (the California Rodeo) with Mark one year, and sure enough, he did.
