Thompson embraces all that comes with being arena director
Jul. 29—CHEYENNE — There wasn't much consideration when Tom Hirsig asked Frank Thompson to take over the Cheyenne Frontiers Days Rodeo arena director role.
"I said, 'Yeah, let me think about it. OK.' I mean, these jobs don't come around, so there was no consideration," Thompson said. "When I had the opportunity, I said, 'Absolutely.'"
Thompson is in his 11th year as the Frontier Park Arena director, and took over the position after it was in the Hirsig family for 88 years, Thompson said. Thursday morning's early rain showers helped provide a glimpse of Thompson's duties throughout the day. Expecting some rain meant dragging the arena a little differently than usual.
"It starts with making sure the ground is prepared as good as we possibly can. That's a full-time job, and it changes every day," Thompson said. "You just plan for things like that. We knew we had a chance of rain, so we worked our ground different after the rodeo (Wednesday) and tried to prepare as much as we could."
The biggest issues that may arise, Thompson said, typically involve the livestock. During Saturday's performance, a horse jumped the fence between the arena and the track and was loose on the track. Thompson was working on roping the loose bronc when another bronc got loose on the track.
Knowing the rest of the crew in the arena is prepared for those type of situations is refreshing. It means smooth performances happen more often than not, he said.
"This thing is so big, and there are so many things going on, if my crew doesn't have eyes in the back of their head, it's easy to miss something," he said. "Any animal issues during the show — we try to handle those the best way we can. It can sometimes be controlled chaos, so I just try to be in as many places as you can be. A good performance — I really have no decisions to make. It just runs smoothly."
From the stock, to the contestants, to the production side of things, Thompson has to be familiar with it all. The knowledge it takes comes from lifelong experiences.
"There's no classroom education that you can go to to become an arena director," said Thompson, who's from Buffalo, South Dakota. "It's growing up around cattle, it's growing up around the rodeo, it's understanding the production side of it, the contestant side of it, and there has to be a balance in there."
One of the biggest — if not the biggest — obstacles is making sure the stock is unharmed. Five years ago, the agenda became to bring in bigger and stronger stock to make sure the already rare injuries to animals were even less frequent.
"We try to prepare ourselves as much as we possibly can," Thompson said. "You just try to hedge your bet the best way you can, and that's with older, stronger stock."
Thompson is a four-time National Finals Rodeo steer wrestler and won the world championship in 2000. He never fared well when competing at the "Daddy of 'em All," he said, but there's no doubt he experienced the type of anticipation that comes with competing in Cheyenne.
That anticipation is one of the things that keeps him on the ground at Frontier Park.
"Because this rodeo will makes your guts churn — that dry mouth, that excitement, that adrenaline you get when you compete — I still get a little bit of that when trying to run this show," he said. "And that's what I crave and really like."
After retiring at age 38, the 54-year-old Thompson started running Chute 9. A few years later, Hirsig approached him to take over his role as arena director, and Thompson knew he couldn't pass the opportunity up.
If Thompson has his way, he'll probably always be some part of rodeo.
"I love rodeo," he said. "Rodeo is all I've ever done, so especially to be a part of arguably the biggest regular-season rodeo there is, and to be the arena director, is just a dream job."
Thompson's wife, Dawn, has been the CFD beverage coordinator for 34 years, and helped him get roped into working at CFD. His daughter, Madison, holds an office position for CFD, and his son, Zane, is a professional team roper. The family used to live in Burns, Wyoming, east of Cheyenne, but now Thompson runs a ranch in Ogallala, Nebraska, where he's been the past two summers.
But he'll still come back to help run the show at Frontier Park.
There are countless people that help Thompson make sure there are few interruptions. If he goes unnoticed, that means things tend to go well. However, he knows its an all-hands-on-deck effort.
"The important part is the labor work of all the volunteers that help me, and understand, and have been here for years and years," he said. "And my crew is excellent, and that makes my job pretty easy and not nearly as stressful."
Robert Munoz is a writer for WyoSports. He can be reached at rmunoz@wyosports.net. Follow him on Twitter @rmunoz307.
