[August 10, 2011] The voice of rodeo Tweet Aug 10, 2011 (Fergus Falls Daily Journal - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- With his deep southern voice and redneck cowboy humor, professional rodeo announcer Kelly Kenney will entertain the audience at this year's PRCA rodeo at the Red Horse Ranch this Friday and Saturday. "Fergus Falls is my second home," said Kenney. "Everybody here treats me the same way my family does, and I spend more time here in Fergus than anywhere other than my home in Missouri." Kenney first came to Fergus Falls to announce the first Red Horse Ranch PRCA rodeo seven years ago. "I pulled into the driveway and saw Leigh Barry," he said. "When I met him he was on a four wheeler, and I thought he was a janitor, and he thought I was just another cowboy. It wasn't until we visited for a while that I found out he was the owner of the ranch, and he found out I was the announcer. We've been best friends ever since." Growing up in the small town of Humansville, Mo., Kenney played high school football, basketball and baseball. It wasn't until his sophomore year that he became interested in rodeos. "My family wasn't into it, so I had to initiate my own route," he said. "I picked up roping as a hobby when I was a kid, so I wanted to get into steer wrestling." Unfortunately Kenney suffered knee injuries through steer wrestling that made him unable to play football and basketball. Still wanting to contribute to the team, he accepted an offer to announce basketball games. "That's the first time I ever had a microphone in my hand," he said. After graduating high school Kenney continued to be involved in rodeos and steer wrestling. "One day I was at a rodeo, and the announcer didn't show up, so I was asked to do the announcing," he said. "My response was 'absolutely not.' I was then informed that I didn't have a choice, so I said a prayer, sang the national anthem and announced the rodeo. The crowd responded great to my unrehearsed, redneck humor, and I had a lot of fun doing it." It was a domino effect after that, said Kenney. He was asked to do another show, then another and another. After two years of announcing rodeos he saw a flicker of light that this might be something he could pursue as a career. A couple years later in 1999, he announced around 80 semi professional shows in a year. He then took on a full time job as rodeo coach at Missouri Valley College while still announcing over 70 rodeos a year. After coaching for over a year, his students and friends encouraged him to pursue the path of becoming a PRCA rodeo announcer. After getting his card as a PRCA announcer in 2001 and turning down all semi professional events, he announced only eight PRCA rodeos in his first year. "I went from being on top of the world to hitting rock bottom in one year," he said. The next year he announced 20 rodeos, and the year after that he announced around 60. Now he works at 80 to 100 rodeos a year. "I've been fortunate enough to be able say that I have worked only PRCA sanctioned rodeos since July of 2001," he said. Kenney drives his pickup and trailer all over the country announcing rodeos in around 20 states a year including Minnesota, Florida, Georgia, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Missouri. While he spends much of his time traveling the country, Kenney's favorite thing to do is go hunting and fishing with family and friends. "Every year by mid Oct. I'm wore out, traveled out and peopled out," he said. "That's when I spend my two most important weeks of the year elk hunting out west." Kenney credits his success as a rodeo announcer to the way he was raised and the people who have helped him throughout his life. "God has blessed me with many talents, but talent will only get you so far," he said. "You need good people to help you along the way. I've been rewarded much more than I should have been because of the people I've had in my life." To see more of the Fergus Falls Daily Journal or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://fergusfallsjournal.com. Copyright (c) 2011, Fergus Falls Daily Journal, Minn. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]