The Wright brothers rodeo family tree of southern Utah

Bill Wright and Evelyn Wright married in 1975. Over the next 23 years they had thirteen children, six daughters and seven sons.² The family ranch on Smith Mesa overlooks Zion National Park, on land their pioneer ancestors homesteaded in the 1850s. In 1993 the family moved the hundred miles from Hurricane to Milford, Utah.²

By 2021 the Deseret News counted 42 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.³ Most press up to 2022 gives the family’s home as Milford. The National Finals Rodeo and Sports Illustrated gave Beaver, Utah, as the hometown of Stetson and Statler in 2025.^8,12

Cody Wright was born in Toquerville, Utah, on 1 April 1977, the eldest son of Bill and Evelyn. He started competing after he found some of his father’s old gear in the attic.¹ He qualified for the first of thirteen National Finals Rodeos in 2003, twelve of them in a row, and won the saddle bronc world title in 2008 and 2010. The ProRodeo Hall of Fame inducted him in 2023.¹

The Hall of Fame credits Cody with bringing his six brothers and four sons into the same event.¹ Calvin and Alex are named among the riding brothers by 60 Minutes.⁴ The twins Jake and Jesse are twelve years younger than Cody, and Spencer is two years younger than the twins.² Jesse won the saddle bronc world title in 2012 and Spencer in 2014. Stuart, the youngest son, is a year younger than his nephew Rusty.²

In December 2014 four of the brothers reached the fifteen-man saddle bronc field at the National Finals Rodeo. Spencer won the world title, Jake finished fifth, Jesse eighth and Cody ninth.² The Hall of Fame records that this broke the record of three brothers in one event, held by the Etbauer family.¹

The NFR Experience gives Rusty a birth year of 1995 and Ryder 1997, and the Hall of Fame calls them Cody’s oldest sons.^5,1 In 2016 five Wrights qualified for the saddle bronc at the National Finals Rodeo, the brothers Cody, Jake and Jesse with Rusty and Ryder.¹ Ryder won the saddle bronc world title in 2017 and 2020 and a third in 2024.^6,7

Stetson rides both saddle broncs and bulls. By the end of 2025 he held ten PRCA world titles, six all-around titles, three in bull riding and one in saddle bronc riding.^8,13 Statler, whom 60 Minutes called Cody’s youngest son in 2019, won the saddle bronc world title and the NFR average in 2025, at his second National Finals.^4,9

In the 2025 saddle bronc standings Statler finished first, 346 dollars ahead of Ryder.¹² The Hall of Fame counts four sons of Cody in the event, and a September 2025 story in Sports Illustrated speaks of five. The fifth is not named, so the chart draws the four whom the sources name.^1,11

The National Finals Rodeo wrote in December 2025 that the family on the Wright brothers rodeo family tree held eighteen PRCA world championships, which matches the table.¹⁰ The same story lists the bull riding titles of Stetson as 2020, 2022 and 2023. The 2023 bull riding title went to Ky Hamilton, and the 2025 title to Stetson, so the table follows the PRCA list of champions.^13,8 In 2019, before most of these titles, 60 Minutes counted nine professional cowboys in the family with five world titles among them.⁴

Searches for the Wright brothers rodeo family tree return pages that join this family to Wilbur and Orville Wright, the aviators. None of the rodeo bodies or newspapers cited here makes that link. Wilbur and Orville never married and had no children, as the Orville Wright family tree sets out, so no rider descends from either of them.

The Utah family traces its own roots to pioneer settlers of the 1850s around Zion.² The name Wright brothers fits them for a plainer reason, since Cody and his six brothers all took up the same event.¹