CAVE SPRING, Ga. — It all started behind an old barn.

As a child, Robbie Hodges used to trickle off the school bus, hike out to the pasture behind that barn, and ride bareback. Near Highway 411 on the Alabama side of Cave Spring, the expansive pasture where Robbie first battled broncos rises into one of the rolling Appalachian foothills.  

As Robbie’s skills increased he dreamed of being famous — that his star would ascend to lofty heights, much like the rise of that old pasture as it merges into God’s handiwork. 

“That’s where I learned how to ride bareback,” he said recently. “I used to imagine I was at the National Finals.” 

One day Hodges, 42, would indeed reach the top of the rodeo peak, but not as a bareback rider like he might have thought. 

Hodges did, in fact, become a rodeo star, showcasing his bareback bronco riding skills across the country in the 1990s. Though he flourished (he estimates it to have been a $150,000 riding career), Hodges admits that he never came close to making the National Finals, reserved for the top 15 riders in the world.  

Any hopes he had of reaching that bareback peak came to a crashing halt in September 1999. 

In an event in Biloxi, Miss., Rockin’ Robbie Hodges, as he is often called, dislocated his shoulder. The injury ended his riding career. As it turns out, though, Hodges wasn’t through with the rodeo business. 

Robbie’s quick wit and rodeo connections quickly paved the way for a career as a rodeo clown. Officially he is called a barrel man, and he has two primary duties in the rodeo ring: protecting thrown or dismounted riders by distracting bulls and providing entertainment; and cracking jokes and jesting with the announcer and the crowd.  

After only six years as a Professional Bull Riders member, Hodges has climbed to the pinnacle of his profession.  

“It’s been the best year I’ve ever had,” Hodges says. “I got nominated for Clown of the Year, Comedy Act of the Year, and the Coors Man in the Can award.”  

The feather in Hodges’s hat, however, is the honor for which he has dreamed since first kicked up his spurs behind that old barn – the chance to take part in the National Finals Rodeo.   

The NFR, known as the Super Bowl of Rodeos, is a ten-day event held in Las Vegas. The top riders in each of seven events compete for world championship.   

Robbie has been proud just to attend the event the last few years. 

“I was sitting up as high as you could get in the Thomas and Mack Center last year,” he says. “I could reach and touch the top. I’ve kind of got a different seat this time.”  

Hodges explained how he was chosen as barrel man for the bull riding event.   

“The top fifteen bull riders in the world, those who qualified for the Nationals, vote for the barrel man,” he said. “Three of us were selected. Then they re-vote. The first place, with the most votes, gets the barrel, the other guy’s the alternate.  I thought I’d finish near the bottom. Then I found out I’d won.” 

Hodges’s honor is more precious knowing the history of barrel men working the NFR. 

“Only, like, four barrel men have been chosen in the last 15-or-so years,” he says. “They tend to get picked over and over. Those other guys have been modern legends in the business.  I’m just honored to be on the same list as them.” 

Viewers can watch Rockin’ Robbie Hodges during the bull riding event in the National Finals Rodeo, scheduled to air on ESPN2 and ESPN Classic through Saturday. He’ll be the one with face paint, hidden in a 180-pound barrel with a smile as wide as the rising pasture behind that barn back home in Cave Spring.