Little cowboy: Calf roping passion of 7-year-old 'Rising Star'

He doesn't care for video games or all the standing around involved in playing baseball. About the only thing he watches on television is a DVD of the 1963 movie McClintock!, in which John Wayne plays a wealthy cattle rancher. Seven-year-old Clarke Gordon of Terry is a single-minded youngster who makes straight A's and already has his career picked out: Professional calf roper. "That's all that child cares about," says his mom, Delese. Clarke is a natural on a horse with a rope in his hands. He started riding by himself when he was 2 but has been roping only for a year or so. In late November at The Rising Stars Calf Roping championships in Duncan, Okla., he took home the winner's saddle for being the youngest competitor to rope and tie a calf in under a minute. He went two-for-three, scoring times of 25 and 37 seconds. The victory fueled his appetite for the sport even more. And so has this: Over the past couple of weeks, Clarke has learned how to get on his horse all by himself. "That's something you don't really think about, but for a 7-year-old, climbing up on a horse with no help is a tall order," says his uncle, Bart Brunson...more