Hermiston steer wrestler Dalton Massey continues remarkable assent in rodeo world

“Never giving up. Finally coming together. I guess, feel like all my hard work’s kind of paid off,” said the 32-year-old steer wrestler.

Massey began riding professionally in 2018, but it took him a bit to break through.

In 2022, he finished 17^th in the world standings, just two spots away and the closest he’d ever got to making the National Finals Rodeo.

A year later, he skyrocketed to the top spot at the end of the regular season. He hasn’t left the top 10 ever since.

“Shoot, it’s just kind of a dream come true, I guess. You work for it your whole life and you finally realize it’s everything you ever wanted,” said Massey.

The Hermiston native didn’t just take that first NFR as a learning experience, finishing second.

Last year, he bested the steer wrestling regular-season earnings record he set from the year prior finishing with $199,263, nearly $6,000 more than the 2023 season.

“By the end of the Finals, I was planning on winning the world and when I didn’t, it really lit the fire for last year,” said Massey. “Then I broke the season earnings record again. I didn’t have a great finals last winter, and that kind of lit my fire again, and here we are.”

Massey finished last year after the NFR in eighth, which is also where he sits right now at just over $66,000 earned with three months left in the regular season.

Massey travels the country making a living, but he still resides in Hermiston when he’s not on the road. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I’m really proud to be from there. That was what I kind of dreamed about when I started bull-dogging. As a kid, (I) was being able to represent my hometown,” said Massey. “I got to watch all those great cowboys represent their little hometowns and put them on the map and not that Hermiston’s little or I’m putting them on the map, but I’m glad to be a part of it.”

One thing’s for certain: He’ll be more than a part of it if he ever lands that elusive world title.

“I mean, yeah. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted,” said Massey. “That’s everything I want.”