If there’s a way to do something bigger and better than ever before, Cal Poly students will stomp all over the status quo and prove it. The Break-A-Wave Finale of roping and riding bucking horses on the beach is just the latest example.
As Coach Ben Londo said, “Cal Poly students and graduates break molds in all fields.”That’s because they learn the foundational basics, then gain real-world, hands-on experience. There are two recent-year Cal Poly Rodeo examples of this that came straight out from under the brim of Londo’s cowboy hat and his everything’s-possible attitude.
Dating back to 1951, the world-famous Poly Royal is a school-wide tradition to open theCal Poly campus to students’ families toward the tail end of each academic year. Per usual, the 2016 Poly Royal Rodeo arena was sold out and then some. “We had seating for 4,000, and over 7,000 packed in there standing four deep,” Coach Londo remembers. “The hills behind our rodeo arena were covered with students who were there to see what Cal Poly Rodeo is all about.”
He was searching for a solution to deliver on the huge demand to see the rodeo when, on his way to work one day, he drove by the Alex G. Spanos Stadium and said to the person on the other end of the phone, “We ought to just put the rodeo on this football field.” And that they did.
Making it happen meant moving mountains—both figuratively, in terms of permission and paperwork, and literally, with loads of dirt and setting up a rodeo arena between end zones. But “It can’t be done,” is not in the Mustangs’ vocabulary, and after rigorous rounds of planning and strategizing, the students got it done. “Saturday Night Live” at the 2017 Poly Royal Rodeo sold out the 11,000-seat Spanos Stadium, making it the largest college rodeo on record.
Then in 2020 and ‘21, the Poly Royal Rodeo was canceled on account of the pandemic.Those were tough days, and Londo knew his young rodeo team and their horses could use a lift. So they loaded up and took practice sessions to Pismo Beach, which according to Coach Ben, “might be the last beach where you can drive vehicles and ride horses.”
It started with the young Mustangs getting their horses out of their muddy pens at school, legging them up by loping down the shoreline, and throwing practice loops at the calf dummy sled to keep their roping arms in shape. It was a great escape fromCOVID-19 restrictions and led to the idea of competing on the beach. Coach Londo knew he was onto something when it was impossible to tell who had more fun out therein the sand, the horses or the humans.
“Why can’t we put on a rodeo at the beach? We have some of the smartest, go-get-’em student athletes anywhere on our team. And Mustangs don’t take no for an answer,” recalled Coach Londo. He then met with a cast of area officials, who granted permission and a state permit to hold a roping competition on the beach.
Magic was made when Mother Nature met Mustang Mania on the shores of the Pacific, and another Cal Poly first was born. The first-ever Break-A-Wave Finale was held the third week of September 2021. The second annual Break-A-Wave went down this past fall on October 14, 2022 and took it up a couple more notches with the addition of bareback riding and saddle bronc riding matches in addition to the original beach breakaway roping contest.
Londo and the bright young minds of the Cal Poly Rodeo Program who ran the show figured every angle into production, including timing the tide just right for optimal moisture content in the sand and the best possible footing for the horses. The breakaway calves and rope horses handled the twist of competing on that sandy beach with the greatest of ease.
Spectators included local rodeo fans, surfers, and curious passing joggers who all gathered around the one-of-a-kind arena. Two sides of the arena were constructed of standard pipe. The bucking chutes served as the third fence, and the Pacific’s rolling waves comprised the fourth. It doesn’t get more West-Coast Western than that.
When one bronc ventured out into the surf like a little kid at the beach, the cast of characters took off on horseback to help show him the way home—classic cowboy stuff.
Cal Poly Rodeo kids did it all: They announced, sang the national anthem, carried Old Glory on horseback at high speed, loaded stock, worked gates, set up and tore down that Priefert arena. As an alum myself, I felt extra proud to see such an epic and wildly original event produced by Cal Poly students.
It's hard to say which was more noteworthy — wowing the hard-core rodeo crowd who thought they’d seen it all, or intriguing those never-before exposed to the cowboy sport, who just happened by and were now hooked.
All this innovation goes all the way back to our respected elders who paved the way for Cal Poly Rodeo. There was no mightier Mustang or more staunch Cal Poly Rodeo supporter than Cotton Rosser, who left us last June at the age of 93.
After a stellar Cal Poly Rodeo career, Rosser was a rising all-around cowboy star when his competitive days were cut short at 27 by a catastrophic ranch accident.
Years ago in a conversation I had with Cotton, he told me, “I owe everything to Cal Poly, and have used the Mustangs motto of ‘Learn by Doing’ all my life.” Cotton went to CalPoly back when it was an all-male campus made up mostly of World War II veterans attending college on the GI Bill. “When I got hurt and couldn’t compete anymore, I learned by doing when it came to the rodeo production business."
Cowboy Cotton went on to rodeo superstardom and Hall of Fame status as a rodeo producer and stock contractor. He was renowned as the consummate showman and was often called “The PT Barnum of Professional Rodeo” because of his innovative opening ceremonies and fast-paced performances.
Fittingly, the Cal Poly Rodeo grounds was dedicated as the Cotton Rosser RodeoComplex just in time for Cotton to see it finished at Poly Royal 2022. Cotton’s son Reno Rosser, who’s also a Cal Poly alum, has served as Londo’s right-hand man on the production of taking the Poly Royal Rodeo to the football stadium as well as roping and riding on the beach at the Break-A-Wave.
“More world champions and hall-of-famers have come out of Cal Poly than any other college in the nation,” Jack Roddy told me. Jack is a ProRodeo Hall of Famer and WorldChampion Steer Wrestler, having won NIRA steer wrestling and all-around titles riding for Cal Poly Rodeo. He’s pretty proud of his San Luis Obispo rodeo roots.
Linsay Rosser-Sumpter is a third-generation legacy alum of Cal Poly Rodeo. She’sCotton’s granddaughter, and both of her parents, Bonnie and Lee, and brother, Levi (who was one of Londo’s college roommates), are Mustangs. Linsay was a Poly Royal all-around champ and rodeo queen, and she’s now the rodeo coach at Otero JuniorCollege in La Junta, Colorado. Last year Linsay was appointed commissioner of the Women’s Rodeo World Championship.
“The Learn by Doing philosophy is embodied in every aspect of the Cal Poly Rodeo Program, and because of that there’s no better education you can get in the world,” Rosser-Sumpter said, while working an event with me. “I work in higher education, andnothing else compares. I wouldn’t be the coach or commissioner I am without the skillset I learned at Cal Poly."
There’s no telling what Cal Poly Rodeo’s next first will be. What we can count on is that it will be smart, innovative, and better than ever. Lifelong work ethic, connections, and friendships are forged at the Cotton Rosser Rodeo Complex, and the can-do spirit at the core of this unparalleled college rodeo experience never weakens. Because that’s how kids in cowboy hats who rise up through the ranks of the storied Cal Poly RodeoProgram roll. When it’s too muddy to practice at the arena, well, let’s take it to the beach.
Kendra Santos has written about cowboys and rodeo all her life, including longtime stints with the PRCA, PBR, BFI and Team Roping Journal. She comes from a five-generation ranch and rodeo cowboy family, and is a proud alumni of the Cal Poly Rodeo Program. Kendra is mom to two cowboy sons, Lane and Taylor.
