Bear Pascoe has to go build a fence.
He once played in 82 NFL football games and tangled with the best of them – Ray Lewis, Brian Urlacher — and he once hoisted the Lombardi Trophy, fulfilling a lifelong dream.
He played parts of eight different NFL seasons, riding the fancy planes, driving in the fancy cars, living every bit the glamorous life of a professional athlete.
And now he’s building a fence, about as far away from the glitz and glamour of The League as he could be.
He’s tackling a new challenge now.
This one weighs about 600 pounds.
On Monday morning during slack competition of La Fiesta De Los Vaqueros Tucson Rodeo, Pascoe — who regularly uses the hashtag #BearDown86 on social media, surely enduring him to local fans around the Old Pueblo — will continue to pursue dream No. 2.
He lived out the first one in style.
Chosen by the San Francisco 49ers in the sixth round of the 2009 NFL Draft, he never advanced beyond the practice squad and was unceremoniously cut, only to catch on with the New York Giants. He’d go on to spend parts of five seasons with the Giants on both the practice squad and active roster, playing in 62 of 64 games for the team from 2010-13, peaking with a Super Bowl XLVI upset win over the heavily favored New England Patriots, when he caught four passes for 33 yards.
After one year with the Atlanta Falcons in 2014, Pascoe signed with the Chicago Bears in 2015 but was cut on the eve of the season. He signed with Detroit in mid-December that year and played out his final NFL campaign, and he was signed to the Patriots’ practice squad the following year and played in a few preseason games, but the morning after his last — Aug. 21, 2016 — he was told the bad news: He was being released.
That morning, he flew home to California, and that very same night, he was in the arena steer wrestling.
“I just figured that was the next step,” he said. “That was always my plan. As soon as I was done with football, I’d dive into rodeo. It was time to move onto the next dream, the next goal.”
Pascoe grew up in a ranching family — his father was a foreman on a local ranch — and he grew up inundated with every event rodeo offers. As a child he even did a bit of jackpotting — pursuing purses around the local central California circuit — but as he got bigger and better at football, he saw the gridiron as his ticket to a college education and potential NFL riches.
In the back of his mind, he was a cowboy through and through, even if he never did get to play for Dallas.
It would be nice and tidy if the next chapter of Pascoe’s story was a clear triumph, but it turns out, giant animals are fickle creatures.
Pascoe has not been a smashing hit on the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association circuit. Luckily for him, he hasn’t taken too many smashing hits yet, either.
He knows bulldogging is a learned trait, as much about feel and style as size and strength.
Ali Anton urges her horse to the barrel racing finish line on the opening day of the 95th La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Tucson Rodeo on Saturday.
Luckily, he’s got a good teacher.
Pascoe’s father-in-law is John W. Jones, Jr., son of the great J.W. Jones, both world champion steer wrestlers.
If anyone on earth can teach Pascoe the tricks of the trade, it’s Jones.
The biggest piece of advice: Just don’t overthink it.
“I lean on John a lot,” Pascoe said.
“He’s taught me how to steer wrestle, he’s been there every time I’ve practiced. He’s working the chutes or hazing for me. One of the biggest things he tells me all the time is just don’t over think it. Just catch him, shake him and throw him.”
Jones’ daughter, Katie — Bear’s wife — is a successful barrel racer on the WPRA circuit.
When Pascoe retired from the NFL — or, more accurately, when the NFL retired Pascoe — he and Katie had been married three years but together for seven, ever since his rookie season. She’d put her life and passions on hold, particularly her horses back home and her burgeoning rodeo career.
But she wanted steer wrestling for him, as well. They were, and are, a team.
“This was something I was very up front with Katie about,” Pascoe said. “I’d always said the two dreams I had were winning a Super Bowl and winning an NFR title. Katie is my No. 1 supporter. She’s always there in my corner. She was there from the get-go with my NFL career, there for the high and the lows.
“She saw everything with San Francisco, and that was a bad situation, to the good times in New York to the journeyman times from Atlanta to Chicago to Detroit to New England. When things were coming to an end, she was good with it, and she was excited to get back to the ranch and get started working with her horses.”
After returning back to the ranch for good in 2016, Pascoe got his start, working on his ground game, developing technique. In the spring of 2017, he jumped his first steer and … it didn’t go too great.
“I took a couple tumbles,” Pascoe said.
“But my third or fourth time, I caught a steer and threw him down.”
Pascoe continued to practice for much of 2017 and he was competing in rodeos by the end of the year. In 2018, he committed even more, but after not seeing the results he’d hoped for, he went back to the drawing board mid-year in 2019.
“Being an athlete has its perks, and it has helped quite a bit with this, but a lot of steer wrestling is a feel thing and developing your own style,” he said. “That’s why I took a step back. A lot of athletes take it back to the basics. I wanted to reassess my situation and what I want to do with this.”
Pascoe also works as a personal trainer and he’s gotten into high school football coaching, teaching the next generation of players how to deliver a lick.
He’s been on the receiving end of a few, too, on the football field, even if he hasn’t gotten his clock cleaned by a snorting steer.
“I’ve played against some of the best players ever, Hall of Famers,” he said. “Ray Lewis, Brian Urlacher — and I’ve hit both of them. I’ve yet to get hit by a steer where I see different colors.
“But I’m sure it’s coming.”
Reed Neely gets his stirrups just right, preparing for his ride in the saddle bronc event on Day One of the 95th La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Tucson Rodeo on Saturday. The event continues through next Sunday.
