PUEBLO, Colo. – Kansas City Outlaws head coach J.W. Hart can distinctly remember the countless hours he spent as a kid with his father out in the oilfields near his hometown of Henrietta, Oklahoma, attempting to help work his family out of poverty.
Those hot and humid Oklahoma days certainly played a factor in Hart developing the work ethic, toughness, and no-quit attitude that became a pillar of who the “Iron Man” was during his legendary career.
The 2002 World Finals event winner-turned-stock contractor has not lost those characteristics since stepping away from the arena 14 years ago.
“I have been a grinder ever since I was a kid working with my daddy in the oilfields,” Hart told PBR.com earlier this year after being named coach of the Outlaws. “I know what it is like to get in there and hustle, and you can’t wipe your face when the sweat gets in it, and you can’t wipe your eyes, and it burns.”
Hart knows there are plenty of other hardworking Americans living in the Midwest with a similar lunch-pail, hard-hat-wearing mentality like himself. He is well aware that many of the people attending the PBR Caterpillar Classic, presented by Union Home Mortgage, on Friday and Saturday at T-Mobile Center are true men and women of character. People who know the power of a handshake and looking each other in the eye.
The 46-year-old coach will make sure whoever the Outlaws select in the upcoming PBR Team Series draft will be a group that Kansas City and the American Midwest will be proud of.
“This is our town, and we take pride in it,” Hart said. “We will stand up, and we are going to fight for Kansas City. I like it because we are a Midwest city. That is where I come from. The history that is there. The stockyards and the beef industry used to be so big here, and it still is. The trains that come through. The trade on cattle that went on so many years here means so much to me because I am a rancher and a cattleman. The history that is behind Kansas City makes me proud, and it gives me something to stand up and fight for.
“At the end of the day, we will be in it to win a championship, but I am glad to represent Kansas City, and mid-America is where we call home.”
The Outlaws currently hold the No. 4 pick for the May 23 PBR Team Series draft in Arlington, Texas, at Texas Live!
Much can change in the next two months, but Hart has been keeping his eyes on who may be a good fit for what he and the Outlaws want to build.
“I am looking for the best guy available,” Hart said. “We are in the No. 4 spot with the snake draft. We will be fourth pick in every round. We may not get the best guy in the world, but on average, we will be the hardest team to beat.”
According to Hart, Kansas City was the first team to approach him about filling their coaching vacancy, and he quickly knew he could relate to team owners Phil Pulley and Lennie Foree.
“Phil and the guys started like I did,” Hart said. “I wasn’t a rich kid. I didn’t come from money. I come from absolutely nothing. Them guys all did the same thing. From starting a fireworks company and turning into a big company, then they got into mowers and potato chips, to be a big enough entity to play this game. We both know what hard work is. That is one of the big things that pulled us together. We had that in common. We both started small and worked our tails off, and came to something.
“That is what excites me. They have the same vision I do when it comes to taking a team, whether it was from the firework stands in the early days to me riding steers in the early days. We both came down our separate paths, but we both have the same vision. We think our work ethic will shine the brightest.”
Pulley is no stranger to sports, and he teamed with sports agent Jay Franklin in 2010 to form the sports agency BBI Sports Group. The Outlaws will certainly lean on various contacts in the baseball industry to help grow their bull riding franchise in the coming months.
Hart is excited to have the expertise of Pulley, Foree, and general manager Jim Smith, who also has a slew of sports marketing, sponsorship, and agency experience, to lean upon.
“We are all seeing eye to eye on it, management and front office,” Hart said. “It is going to be cool. We all have like minds, and we all come from success, so we don’t expect anything less.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Andre Silva/Bull Stock Media