None of the 100 or so calf-ropers and steer-wrestlers who lined up in their โMontana Silversmithโ vests and โBar None Country Storeโ boots knew that the man who directed their horses to the starterโs box won the 1972 โHoof and Hornsโ 4-H competition at the Pima County Fairgrounds.
None suspected that Sam Merriman was the 1975 champion of the โSaddle and Spurโ breakaway roping competition, or a 1978 winner of the Southern Arizona Future Farmers of America competition.
But Merriman gets your attention, even if you donโt know that he spent five years as one of the most productive special teams players in NFL history.
Roughstock?. Thatโs Sam Merriman.
He is 6-feet-3 inches tall and, even now, 35 years after he played in the AFC Championship game against Jim Plunkett and the Oakland Raiders, Merriman has a commanding presence as he directs calf-ropers and steer-wrestlers in heavy traffic at the Tucson Rodeo Grounds.
โIt was probably inevitable that I came back to this, back to the rodeo,โ Merriman said Monday during slack competition at La Fiesta de los Vaqueros. โThis is how I grew up. This has been in my blood forever.โ
Instead of wearing Seahawks jersey No. 51, Merriman wears a Tucson Rodeo Performance vest, part of a small army of committee members and associate committee members who have made La Fiesta de los Vaqueros, at 93, Tucsonโs most historic sporting event.
Over those 93 years, the most transcendent rodeo cowboys ever โ Casey Tibbs, Jim Shoulders, Ty Murray โ have walked on the turf Merriman walked Monday.
Few have a better story.
Merriman is from the generation of cowboys who made being a cowboy cool. Future Farmers of America? It rocks. The 4-H competition at the county fair? Bring it.
โSome nights my sister and I would stay out till 10:30, roping, and ride back home in the Rillito wash in the dark,โ he remembers. โWe were always on our horses.โ
But when one of Tucsonโs top junior cowboys grew from 110 pounds to 190 while at Amphitheater High School, he became much more than a cowboy. He became one of the most accomplished football players in Tucson history. He was an integral part of coach Vern Friedliโs only state championship team, 1979. After that came one of the most difficult decisions of Merrimanโs life.
School or rodeo?
โMy parents told me it would be my decision,โ he said. โWell, we ended up selling our horses and I went off to play college football.โ
A month ago, Merriman was told he had been voted into the University of Idaho Sports Hall of Fame, and it almost seems overdue. He set the school record with 519 tackles from 1980-82, was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks, whereupon he set the franchise record for special teams tackles.
Retiring at 27 with his health intact, Merriman got on with a busy life in Seattle. He raised a family, worked in commercial real estate, coached high school football for 22 years, built and sold a health-care equipment company, and five years ago decided to return to his hometown.
He bought two horses and went back to the rodeo.
At 56, heโs not able to crack the PRCA circuit, or even the regional Turquoise Circuit, but there are ways to stay competitive.
Arizonaโs prevalent, all-comers Jackpot rodeos demand an entry fee of anywhere from $30 to $1,000, and theyโre as close as Picacho and as far away as Wickenburg.
โIโm a die-hard so I do Jackpot ropin,โโ he said. โArizonaโs a great place in the winter for these Jackpot rodeos that seem to be everywhere. I was pretty decent as a kid, so itโs still doable even though it was 30 years since I was last in competition. Iโve been ropinโ with some guys who are close to 80. Thereโs a wealth of knowledge that these men can share, and Iโve been able to learn from them and get better.โ
Merrimanโs return to Tucson also included involvement with the Tucson Rodeo.
Gary Williams, the groupโs accomplished general manager, knows a natural when he sees one, and he saw one in Merriman.
โHis leadership is especially noticeable in the bull riding segment,โ Williams said. โHe brought his football and coaching skills to help make the operation the best itโs ever been.โ
On Monday morning, Merriman worked with about 15 other men in a holding area for dozens of calves separated from the calf ropers by a blue gate. The rangy former NFL linebacker stood out, looking like John Wayne in the middle of a cattle drive.
At one point, the wind blew Merrimanโs cowboy hat into the chute with 10 or 20 rompinโ calves.
He opened the gate, moved through the calves and retrieved his hat before it was stomped and turned to dirt.
It was no more difficult than covering a kickoff against the Dallas Cowboys.
