Long-time Wylie board member has always had a big heart for calf roping, but until recently, he truly didn’t understand just how much.
Mike Awtry has been team roping since high school, but it wasn’t until he was older that he finally started tie-down roping. “I’d been team roping since high school because of the people I was surrounded by,” said Awtry. He said it was little backwards to starting tie-down roping as a 40-year-old, but when friend Mike Woodson asked him if he wanted to give tie-down roping a try, Awtry responded with “Only all my life.”
Awtry was hoping to come back to roping after taking a break. At the time, he had been busy with all the activities of his two stepsons, Ryan and Riley Bailey, Wylie classes of ‘13 and ‘18 consecutively. Awtry also has a daughter, Addi, who is currently a junior at Wylie High School; she too has kept him busy with school activities. “I was enjoying being a dad.”
In the spring of Addi’s freshman year, she decided to leave volleyball to focus on cheer, and Awtry saw the opportunity to climb back into the saddle more competitively. “I told her that one of us has to compete,” he said with a grin.
However, an unfortunate turn of events didn’t seem to align with this idea. “At the end of the week Addison told us about concentrating on cheer, my roping horse died. Then a week later, I found out I had an aortic aneurism,” said Awtry. “It was by the grace of God we found it. I had no symptoms other than high blood pressure, which I has been stubborn about having checked.”
It was February of 2022 when Awtry got the news, and it wasn’t until Dec. 13 of that year he finally went under to have it corrected – it being the “big bubble” on the main artery of his heart. Awtry said it took him a bit of time to wrap his head around it, but when the doctors said he couldn’t lift more than 20 pounds, it really hit that this was something to not take lightly. It was time he faced the reality that roping was not in the cards any time soon.
This past December, a year after his surgery, Awtry found himself exactly where he had hoped and prayed to be – competing in the Ultimate Calf Roping (UCR) All-In Roping in Las Vegas. He also found himself roping well enough to finish second in his division of 100 competitors.
Awtry said he knew he’d go back to roping, but what transpired over the course of a year to get back in competition shape was no easy task and something Awtry believes was nothing but the hand of the “good Lord.”
“It was a slow process. After about three months, I was released and back at it. I would get up at 4:50 a.m., praise God, workout, and saddle-up by 6 a.m.,” says Awtry. “It was a year to the day, roping the last calf and winning second from waking up from the operation. Only God can orchestrate that.”
Awtry says the blessing of support from his family, friends, and medical team also gave him strength. Addi and wife Buffi were alongside him when in Vegas. Buffi said seeing her husband succeed after such a challenging time was special.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the way he took his weakness after surgery and turned it into motivation to heal and in the process accomplish one of his biggest goals,” says Buffi Awtry.
Awtry said he also draws inspiration from a dear family friend who was in a fatal car crash last September. “I keep a jacket of Cason Grant in my horse trailer as a reminder of him and how hard he worked,” said Awtry. “He was one of our [Wylie’s] best athletes, such a hard worker, and an encourager.”
From here, Awtry plans to compete in the finals in May and then slow down some to focus on his daughter’s senior year and overall health. I imagine after that this, we’ll find Mike Awtry back in the saddle again slinging his rope.
By Kristen Johnson