Payson’s Wyatt Johnson joined by rodeo champ Kaycee Feild to get official SI copy
Payson's Wyatt Johnson smiles while receiving an Athlete of the Month award from Sports Illustrated, at Spanish Fork Fairgrounds during a high school rodeo on Friday, April 24, 2015. GRANT HINDSLEY, Daily Herald
Payson's Wyatt Johnson, right, waits with professional bareback rider Kaycee Feild to receive an Athlete of the Month award from Sports Illustrated, at Spanish Fork Fairgrounds during a high school rodeo on Friday, April 24, 2015. GRANT HINDSLEY, Daily Herald
Payson's Wyatt Johnson, interviews with Sports Illustrated before receiving his Athlete of the Month award from the magazine, at Spanish Fork Fairgrounds during a high school rodeo on Friday, April 24, 2015. GRANT HINDSLEY, Daily Herald
Payson's Wyatt Johnson displays his belt buckle before receiving an Athlete of the Month award from Sports Illustrated, at Spanish Fork Fairgrounds during a high school rodeo on Friday, April 24, 2015. GRANT HINDSLEY, Daily Herald
Professional bareback rider Kaycee Feild's belt buckle, at Spanish Fork Fairgrounds during a high school rodeo on Friday, April 24, 2015. GRANT HINDSLEY, Daily Herald
Payson's Wyatt Johnson, right, waits with professional bareback rider Kaycee Feild to receive an Athlete of the Month award from Sports Illustrated, at Spanish Fork Fairgrounds during a high school rodeo on Friday. See more at http://bit.ly/1DM2fHv
SPANISH FORK — When Payson junior cowboy Wyatt Johnson entered the Spanish Fork rodeo arena before Friday’s South Utah County-sponsored high school rodeo competition, it wasn’t easy to have to be on crutches.
This was a big day, as Sports Illustrated reporter Ali Fenwick and a sergeant from the United States Marine Corps were in town to present Johnson a framed copy of the April issue of the sports magazine which featured Johnson as the High School Athlete of the Month.
Joining them for the presentation was one of Johnson’s heroes, four-time bareback world champion Kaycee Feild of Spanish Fork — who, ironically, also had to use crutches to get around, making Feild and Johnson a matched set.
Feild said he’ll be on the crutches for six more weeks because he had hip surgery a few weeks ago. Johnson said he’s planning on being back more quickly than that.
“[Last weekend] a bareback horse came out and went back, falling right on top of me,” Johnson said. “I came back up on top of him and I did a front flip off of him. I just lay there and said, ‘I can’t move guys.’ They took me to the hospital and there is just deep bruising. There could be a fracture, but it’s nothing major, they said. In a couple of weeks, I’ll be fresh I hope.”
He said having Feild there for the presentation — crutches and all — was “awesome.”
“You’ve got a world champion standing next to you,” he said. “I want to work up to being a champion. He was here to help out and give the awards.”
Feild said he enjoyed being there for Johnson and supporting an up-and-coming cowboy.
“It’s great for our sport that Sports Illustrated is recognizing a cowboy,” Feild said. “To come and be a part of it is an honor. I don’t know how to say it, but it’s an honor to be here and watch these kids compete.”
Feild grinned when asked whether he remembered being Johnson’s age.
“I remember being in this arena and the high school rodeos for sure,” he said. “I’m sure Wyatt is thrilled to meet me and see me here, but he doesn’t understand the respect I have for him, so it’s pretty amazing.”
Feild said he’s already heard Johnson get mentioned a few times in the national pro circuit and hopes the young man can continue to improve.
“I’ve heard his name a handful of times about how tough he is, especially for how little he is,” Feild said. “I’ll be really excited if I’m still around and I can compete against him. It will be really fun then to look back on this day.”
Johnson just loves being out competing, which made having to miss Friday’s rodeo hard to deal with.
“It really beats you up to not be able to ride in your home rodeo,” the junior said. “This is your rodeo, in your hometown, and I can’t ride in it. It’s kind of a kick in the butt, but you do what you’ve got to do.”
It’s been an interesting journey for Fenwick as well, a New Jersey native who now lives in Brooklyn — not exactly a hotbed for rodeo.
“There was a tiny rodeo about 45 minutes from where I grew up called the Cowtown Rodeo,” she said. “We would go there for fun on a summer weekend, but it was much smaller [than this]. I’ve had rodeo athletes in the ‘Faces in the Crowd’ feature I do, so I’ve had to ask questions on the phone about it. But I didn’t totally understand it until I saw it. It was really a thrill to see it in person.”
But among the many nominations that she’s seen in this feature that she’s been doing for seven months now, Johnson’s stood out.
“When Wyatt was nominated, I saw that it was a great story,” Fenwick said. “I got the nomination last year, but it wasn’t until March that there was an opportunity to do that, so I kept it in my back pocket until now.”
She said she’s enjoyed doing the High School Athlete of the Month articles because it gives her a chance to highlight some incredible people.
“It’s a great chance to tell a story,” she said. “We’re looking for someone who has a narrative that we can tell. It’s been great to see the nominations come in and recognize kids who have some special quality that everyone could use, whether in a rodeo arena or on a basketball court or anywhere. These are kids who have grit or determination or resilience or some lesson to impart to the rest of us. It’s been a really fantastic assignment.”