PHILLIPSBURG – Rodeo fans will see a different face behind the microphone at Kansas’ Biggest Rodeo in Phillipsburg.
Randy Corley, who has announced the Phillipsburg rodeo since 1984, is unable to be in Phillipsburg this year, due to his upcoming induction into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs August 4-5.
So his good friend Wayne Brooks will take care of his duties while he is gone this year.
Corley was influential in getting his friend Brooks started in the announcing business.
It was 1994, and Brooks had been riding bareback horses for six years. He loved it, but “I wasn’t any good at it,” he said. He had started announcing small rodeos, and at a rodeo in Phoenix, a mutual friend introduced him to Corley and Corley’s father-in-law, Hadley Barrett. A friendship was struck, and Corley and Barrett signed for Brooks to get his PRCA announcer’s card. “If it hadn’t been for those guys, I don’t know where I’d have been today,” Brooks said.
And it blossomed from there.
Since 1994, Brooks has announced rodeos across the U.S. and Canada, working the Calgary Stampede, Pendleton, Ore., Salinas, Calif., Austin, Texas, Reno, Nev., Tucson, Ariz., and a host more. He’s won the PRCA’s Announcer of the Year award five times, and has been selected to work the Wrangler NFR six times (three times with Corley.)
He has a great regard for his friend. “There’s a reason Randy has won (the PRCA) Announcer of the Year twelve times,” Brooks said. “It’s because he’s positive, he’s fun, he’s energetic, and he’s easy to get along with. Whether you’re at a barbecue or at a rodeo, he’s the same guy.”
Brooks was born in Arizona and grew up in Wyoming and Montana. His dad worked for a western apparel company, opening new stores for them, so the family moved as his job required. He married his wife Melanie in 1992, and they have three children: daughters Taylor and Sheridan, and son Ace. Taylor is a graduate of Texas A&M and employed with a marketing firm. Sheridan is a student at Texas A&M, and Ace will be a sophomore in high school.
When his kids were little, the family traveled with him, leaving as soon as school was out and retuning in August. Those were good days, Brooks said. “Summertime always allowed a feeling of vacation, even though it was a working vacation. There’s no better feeling than having your whole herd of kids and family. It afforded us a lot of years of family bonding.”
The best part of rodeo, for him, is the people. “I enjoy the people,” he said. “Our most valuable group of people in our business is the volunteers, and they are some of the finest, most benevolent people in the world. We wouldn’t have our jobs without them. They are great, great people, doing what they do, for the good of scholarships, their communities, and the economic impact.”
When the Phillipsburg rodeo is over, Brooks will be in a hurry to get home to play a new role: father of the bride. His daughter Taylor will marry the weekend after the Phillipsburg rodeo.
And in 2018, Randy Corley will return. Brooks’ job is only for one year, he emphasized. “I’m glad I can do it for him.”
The Phillipsburg rodeo is August 3-4-5. Performances begin at 8 pm each night. Tickets for the rodeo go on sale July 3 and are available at Heritage Insurance in Phillipsburg and at the gate. They range in price from $12 to $18.
For more information, visit the rodeo’s website at KansasBiggestRodeo.com or its Facebook page (search for Kansas Biggest Rodeo.)