By Jordan Green, Editor-in-Chief
Coleman Proctor’s journey to finishing his degree at Northwestern Oklahoma State University was a wild ride. So was his graduation.
While most of Northwestern’s fall 2022 graduates were walking across a stage in Percefull Fieldhouse in Alva to receive their diplomas Dec. 4, Proctor was competing at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Unbeknownst to Proctor, Dr. David Pecha, the university’s executive vice president, was at the NFR along with Proctor’s family, who had devised a plan with the help of Proctor’s sponsor and friends.
Neither time nor distance would keep Proctor from receiving the degree he started more than a decade earlier. He didn’t have to go to commencement in Alva. Instead, commencement came to him.
“It was a special moment,” Proctor said. “It was a major accomplishment.”
NOT HIS FIRST RODEO
Born and raised in northeast Oklahoma, Proctor, 37, grew up around agriculture. Even as a child, his eyes were set on one thing: rodeo.
After attending Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College for two years, Proctor enrolled at Northwestern for the 2007 – 2008 school year and received a rodeo scholarship. He left in 2009, lacking 21 credit hours he needed to graduate with a degree in agricultural business.
“I was going to stay for ‘09, but just circumstances – I kind of needed to leave,” he said. “It’s always plagued me. I always wanted to get it, you know? … It was a real regret that I didn’t have my bachelor’s.”
After leaving Northwestern, life moved on. Proctor started a family. He and his wife, Stephanie, have two daughters, ages 3 and 5, and run a ranching operation. Aside from raising his girls and caring for his herd of cattle, he’s still a full-time rodeo cowboy.
That’s what led the seven-time Wrangler NFR qualifier to Las Vegas in 2021 for the annual event, the most elite competition in the sport of rodeo. Proctor was about to make a TV appearance on the Cowboy Channel at the Thomas & Mack Center when Pecha, a rodeo fan who often attends the NFR, met him.
“I knew he was one of our former students,” Pecha said. “I went up and introduced myself, gave him a card, and he immediately said, ‘You need to help me figure out how I can finish my degree.’”
Pecha told Proctor to contact him after the rodeo. Shortly before Christmas break, Proctor called Pecha, who looked up his student record. Dr. James Bell, who was then the university’s dean of faculty, agreed to be Proctor’s adviser. After Pecha and Bell helped Proctor line up a schedule, Proctor was a student once again.
LEARNING ON THE ROAD
Online learning rose in popularity as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, and students across the nation took advantage of newfound remote learning opportunities. Proctor was one.
Proctor, who lives in Pryor, took online classes during the spring, summer and fall of 2022. He carried 12 hours in the spring and spread the remaining credits out.
But in spite of his full-time student status, nothing else in Proctor’s life eased up. He still had a rodeo career, ranching operation and family obligations. He couldn’t come to campus regularly. So, with the help of his family and friends, he made the open road his classroom as he traveled around the country to attend rodeos.
“Fortunately, I’ve got a nice motor home,” Proctor said. “We’d be driving, and I’d be in the back in the booth. I might be trying to write a paper. I had a lot of journals and stuff to write for my psychology classes, and I had my printer with me all the time … so I could print off notes, highlight and go over stuff.”
The onslaught of classwork continued all year whether he was on the road or at the ranch – and even in Las Vegas. He took some of his final exams while at the NFR.
“It was hectic, but I had a lot of great people help cover for me in other areas so I could focus on school when I needed to,” he said.
Pecha and others at the university were aware of his workload.
“It took an effort on his part,” Pecha said. “Going through those classes wasn’t easy. I know he had to make a sacrifice over those 12 months, whether it was sleep or something, in order to get this goal fulfilled that he set for himself.”
After the year’s worth of work, Proctor’s dream finally came true: He earned his degree. All he had to do was receive it.
SURPRISE VISIT
On Dec. 7, Proctor was cohosting the Purina Pre-Game Show on Facebook before the day’s events. A few minutes into the show, cohost Luke Branquinho made an announcement.
“We have something here for you,” Branquinho said to Proctor.
Pecha stepped onto the stage and stood next to Proctor, who flashed a wide smile. Pecha told the story of meeting Proctor a year prior and his journey to finish his degree. Then, he handed Proctor his diploma cover. The crowd clapped and cheered as Proctor and Pecha posed for a photo on the front of the stage.
“When they called him up there, I thought, ‘Oh, no. Are you kidding me?’” Proctor said with a laugh. “It kind of just blew my mind.”
Proctor didn’t know his wife had worked with Pecha, Purina officials and others to coordinate his personalized graduation. Most of Proctor’s family was in attendance at the pre-game show. Pecha, a regular NFR attendee, was already planning to go to Las Vegas. All he had to do was bring along a special piece of cargo.
“Once she threw the idea out there, I said, ‘We need to figure out a way to make this happen,’” Pecha said. “The timing of it was just too perfect not to do some kind of unique presentation. The fact that he had the connection and the sponsorship with Purina made it even more doable on somewhat of a national platform.
“It was a complete surprise to him.”
That wasn’t all that was in store for Proctor or Pecha. The next night, Proctor won a round in team-roping. He went to the South Point Hotel Casino for the winner’s belt buckle presentation, which is broadcast on the Cowboy Channel. Proctor invited Pecha on stage and recognized him and the university for helping him.
“I had some great teachers that were very patient with me,” Proctor told the News in an interview. “That’s what I was very thankful for was the great faculty there at Northwestern. They want you to succeed.”
‘IF YOU SET YOUR MIND TO IT, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE’
With his college career behind him, Proctor said he plans to keep up his rodeo and ranching careers. He doesn’t have any immediate plans to put his degree to use, but he’s aware that, like all good things, a rodeo career will one day come to an end because of time, age and health. Maybe then, he said, will his degree come in handy.
“Now I can look my girls in the eye and say, ‘You need to get your degree. Daddy had to work hard to get his and had to come back later. Take care of business when you’re young and you don’t have as much going on,’” Proctor said.
Pecha said he hopes other people who are close to finishing their degrees will do what Proctor did, Pecha said. A large number of Oklahomans have college credit but have yet to complete their degrees.
“As an administrator, what I can reflect from that is, if there are other students out there that want to finish their degree that are close, it’s possible to do it,” Pecha said. “He’s a walking testimony that it can be done. That’s the inspiring piece of what Coleman was able to do, and do successfully.”
Proctor said he, too, hopes his story will inspire others to pursue or finish their degrees. It can be done, he said, by remembering one bit of wisdom: “If you set your mind to it, anything is possible.”
“Never be afraid to go back and try to finish,” he said. “Anything that bothers you, that doesn’t allow you to sleep peacefully at times, go back and see what you can do to make that right.
“If rodeo ended tomorrow, I’m very happy with what I’ve accomplished, and now I’m even more proud that I have a bachelor’s degree to go with it.”
So, just what will his rodeo future hold?
“I’m just kind of leaving that up in the air,” Proctor said. “Right now, my goal is to make the finals, win a world title and be another world champion Northwestern alumnus.”