Pain and Glory

DIGITAL NEWSBOOK INTRO PART 1 PAIN& GLORY PART 2 The most dangerous of rodeo events, bull

riding, is enjoying PART

unprecedented 3 popularity as America’s “original extreme sport.” But SURVEY for rodeo cowboys, the ride often comes with a heavy price.

SERIES WRITTEN BY KEVIN SIMPSON PHOTOS BY CYRUS McCRIMMON

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View THE DENVER POST ©2004 PAIN&GLORY INTRODUCTION 2 INTRO ABOUT THE COVER Jason Legler of Eaton rides Red Alert in last-day action at the PBR World Finals. An alternate at the finals, he did not expect to have an

opportunity to ride. PART

THE POST TEAM 1 Reporter: Kevin Simpson [email protected]

Photographer: PART Cyrus McCrimmon About the series

[email protected] he modern American rodeo blends traditional showmanship and 2 legendary machismo with the adrenaline-driven athleticism of PAIN&GLORY Textreme sport. The Denver Post’s three-part series (originally published Dec. 7-9, 2003) explores the world of the cowboy, where mere Copyright©2004 The Denver Post, seconds can mean the difference between death and life, pain and glory.

1560 Broadway, Denver, CO 80202 PART All rights reserved. No part of this Digital Newsbook may be used or CONTENTS 3 reproduced in any manner without INTRODUCTION 1 8 All the dirt they can eat written permission except in the 8 [GRAPHIC] case of brief quotations embodied Bull-riding injuries 8 Assistance Funds 8 [GRAPHIC] Eight seconds of in articles or reviews. SURVEY spins and bucks PART THREE 31 8 Riding into the big time ON THE WEB PART ONE 5 8 NASCAR shows the way You can find related stories and 8 A world of hurt 8 other special projects at: Cashing in on both circuits 8 Crashing to earth head-first www.denverpost.com 8 [GRAPHIC] On the road 8 ‘Don’t cry on my shoulder’ 8 A small bull bodes trouble 8 Lethal force vs. stubbornness DIGITAL NEWSBOOKS 8 No place for prima donnas 8 The rough trail to the top This Digital Newsbook was 8 Safety helmet as mind game 8 Launching a new life designed and produced for The 8 ‘He can’t feel anything’ Post at the Kent State University PART TWO 18 8 Praying and waiting Institute for CyberInformation. 8 8 ‘I won’t give up ’til it’s over’ More information about this Spurred by a dream project can be found at: 8 Giving up football for bulls SURVEY 44 8 www.ici.kent.edu Two years’ winnings: $40,000 8 Please let us know what you Designers: 8 Broken bones, unbroken pride think about this series and the Roger Fidler, Rekha Sharma 8 ‘I can’t sissy out now’ Digital Newsbook concept.

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View THE DENVER POST ©2004 PAIN&GLORY INTRODUCTION 3 INTRO Bull-riding injuries Top five Roughstock riders are more likely to get A injuries hurt than participants in any other rodeo 1. Head event — and about twice as likely to 2. Shoulder suffer injury as football players. Despite 3. Face its growing popularity, the sport has been B 4. Knee slow to develop and adopt protective 5. Elbow

equipment that can withstand its dangers, PART which pose particular risk of head injuries. Protective gear

C 1 Percentage of injuries per event A. The cowboy Although roughstock events — bareback, hat offers only saddle bronc and bull riding — account slight protection for nearly 90 percent of rodeo injuries, bull D for the skull. The riding alone produces nearly half of them. helmet gives better protection Calf roping PART Team roping 3.06% Steer for the head, 0.96% wrestling face and jaw, but 8.37% E remains optional 2 and controversial. Saddle B. Protective bronc riding vest shields the 15.58% torso and has Bull Bareback become standard PART PART riding riding equipment. 48.77% 15.58% C. Chaps offer a

layer of protection 3 Overall injuries against the bull’s The vast majority of rodeo injuries involve horns and hooves. trauma to the head. Still, the use of D. The glove helmets remains controversial for both protects the hand practical and cultural reasons. and fingers. SURVEY E. Boots have a Concussion 48.99% special heel to Shoulder injury 9.23% keep spurs in place. The spurs Chest/rib/lung injury 6.52% help the cowboy Ankle fracture 5.73% stay in position on the bull. Knee ligaments 3.82%

What causes a concussion Concussions are rated by how severely A blow to the head can cause the brain 3 they affect a person’s senses, memory to jerk, twist or bump the skull. There and thinking abilities. is about one-quarter inch of space 2 Grade one: Momentary confusion, no loss of between the brain and the skull. 1 consciousness, symptoms subside and mental 1. A blow is delivered to a rider’s status returns to normal in less than 15 minutes. head. Grade two: Momentary confusion, no loss of 2. The brain accelerates in the cranial vault. consciousness, mental status and symptoms 1 remain abnormal for more than 15 minutes. 3. Damage occurs when the brain strikes the skull and rotates. Grade three: Any loss of consciousness, from a few seconds to several minutes.

Source: Justin Sportsmedicine Team The Denver Post / Jonathon Moreno, AP Photo / Victoria Arocho

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View THE DENVER POST ©2004 PAIN&GLORY INTRODUCTION 4 INTRO Eight seconds of spins and bucks In a two-day PBR competition, the top 45 bull riders ride once the first night and once the second night. The 15 riders with the highest total score on two bulls qualify for a third round of competition that takes place after intermission on the second night. B The overall event winner is the bull rider A with the highest three-ride total. PART

Points 1 The total possible score for a bull ride is 100 points. Half of that total is based C Rules of the ride on the performance of A. The clock starts when the bull and how difficult the bull’s shoulder or hip he is to ride. The other half crosses the plane of the PART is determined by the rider’s bucking chute. ability to match the moves

B. The bull rider must 2 of the bull beneath him. maintain constant control and good body position. The bull C. Spurring the bull is not required, but extra “style Judges look for bulls with speed, power, points” are awarded for drop in the front end, direction changes and D doing so. PART body rolls. The more of these characteristics a bull displays during a ride, the higher the mark. D. The bull rider must hold

on with only one hand. 3 E. The clock stops when Disqualification the bull rider’s hand comes A bull rider can be disqualified and receive out of the rope or he no score even if he stays aboard his designated touches the ground. The bull for eight seconds. A bull rider is disqualified bull rider must stay aboard if he touches the bull or himself with his the bull for eight seconds SURVEY free hand during the ride or if his riding hand or he earns no score. comes free from the bull rope at any point.

Barrelmen and bull fighters The barrelman’s duty is to entertain the crowd during the “down time” when bulls are being loaded into E the chutes and the riders are getting ready. Bull fighters, formerly known as “rodeo clowns” because of their makeup and comic costumes, have in many events dropped the traditional trappings. Their job is to distract the bull and protect a rider who has been bucked off or has dismounted after a successful ride.

Source: Professional Bull Riders The Denver Post / Jonathon Moreno, Photos by John Epperson

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View PAIN&GLORY INTRO A DENVER POST SPECIAL REPORT: PART ONE

In dusty arenas across the country, bull riders test muscle and mettle, wagering their futures on an eight-second ride. PART But the odds favor the bull. 1

A world of hurt PART 2 PART PART 3 SURVEY

Jerome Davis’ wife, Tiffany, then his fiancée, was in the stands when he was paralyzed in a fall in 1998. Friends since childhood, they’d planned that year to fit a wedding and a one-day honeymoon between rodeo events. Though Jerome “tried to run her off,” he says, they married about seven months after his injury, and have not spent a night apart since.

he lights went out for INTRO Jerome Davis when the bull beneath him sud- Tdenly spun back, jerked him down hard and hammered his jaw with a head-butt. Davis’

gloved hand unraveled from the PART rope. The bull bucked again,

shucking the cowboy, who drifted 1 to an awkward landing on the dirt floor of the Fort Worth arena. He awoke on a stretcher behind the chutes and immediately sensed

something strange. He looked up PART at his buddy Tater Porter, another

pro bull rider, who stood leaning 2 over him. “Take my glove off,” Davis said. “I already did,” Porter replied. “I love bull riding. Even though it broke Eight seconds from glory and a my neck, and my wheelchair can be heartbeat from disaster. PART Bull riding has always been the aggravating as hell, I love it.” big draw at rodeos, the grand finale — Jerome Davis, former professional bull rider 3 in which a confluence of courage, danger and violent struggle thrilled rural American grandstands. greater than football, more than Consider the first law of bull

Now it rides a gathering wave six times greater than wrestling riding, often repeated by aficiona- SURVEY of popularity born of the collision and nearly 12 times greater than dos with obvious pride: It’s not a between the cowboy culture and ice hockey. And bull riding consis- question of whether you’ll get hurt contemporary influences. Mod- tently ranks as the riskiest of the — just when and how bad. ern marketing has melded icons roughstock events. “It’s unfortunate that the sport is of the American West with the hip But despite the well-documented so dangerous, but that’s what’s sell- — and profitable — demographic hazards of the sport, its organizers ing it,” says Randy Bernard, CEO of of extreme sport. have been slow to develop protec- Professional Bull Riders, the top- Television, rock ’n’ roll and big tive gear such as helmets and man- flight tour whose purses and pro- money have energized a Western date their use. motional genius have helped drive tradition, rebranded it and breath- Research has lagged on the forces the sport into the mainstream. lessly promoted it as “the most dan- at work in the arena — no one has The separate tours run by gerous eight seconds in sports.” calculated exactly how hard a bull PBR and the Professional Rodeo The claim rings as authentic as can stomp on a cowboy’s head, Cowboys Association have trans- the cowboys who ride. for instance — and so no one has formed the sport into a potentially The percentage of “exposures” developed a sport-specific, tried- lucrative career that already has resulting in injury for roughstock and-true headgear. But there’s an minted a handful of dusty million- events — bull riding, bareback even more imposing obstacle to aires. Cowboys chase the dream and saddle bronc — is five times protection: the culture. from all over.

A 10-year-old Colorado boy INTRO plasters his bedroom wall with posters of his heroes and clings to bulls with every ounce of his 57 pounds. A high school prodigy on the cusp of his 18th birthday

promises his girlfriend that, one PART day, he’ll ride them to riches.

Tough guys in the self-pro- 1 claimed “cowboy capital” of Ste- phenville, Texas, knock themselves out — literally — following the footsteps of the bull-riding

legends that live in their midst. PART A former Colorado high school

champion, now turned pro, criss- 2 crosses the country in a desperate attempt to reach the PBR’s World Finals. Along the way, all of them pay a price. PART Crashing to 3 earth head-first

Behind the wheel of his four- SURVEY wheel-drive utility cart, Jerome Davis peers out from beneath his black cowboy hat and points to an undersized black bull milling among several others on his hundred-acre spread. A smile creeps across his face. “He’s pushing 17 years old now,” Davis drawls, “but I ain’t ever gonna sell him. I used to get on him about every day after school. He was pretty bucky.” For a moment, nostalgia hangs in the North Carolina air with Davis’ recollection of himself as Two thousand pounds of angry bull dump Dan Henricks of Logan, Okla., a boy in love with that eight-sec- during the Professional Bull Riders World Finals in Las Vegas last month. The ond rodeo thrill ride, a sensation PBR circuit popularized bull riding as “the original extreme sport,” drawing a so wonderfully addictive that he new generation into its thrills, its mystique — and its risks.

Looking out the front door beyond an American flag sticker, Davis was loading from his wheel chair into his 4-wheeler that he uses to navigate around his ranch. SURVEY

never imagined himself doing viding bucking bulls for pro com- Greensboro that once belonged to anything else. petition, but it’s a second career that his grandparents, he raises buck- There is different work now. arrived far sooner than he hoped. ing bulls for the next generation Davis fires up his cart, rattles At 25, he ranked among the best of riders. It’s his lifeline to a sport down a hill and onto the two-lane bull riders in the world — some that has always lured adrenaline blacktop road that leads to a cen- say among the best in decades junkies with its intrinsic rewards tury-old white ranch house with — before his 1998 wreck at Fort and now also offers millions in a green tin roof. He pulls into the Worth. He crashed to earth head- prize money. driveway and cruises past the first, with mixed results. The “I’m infected with it,” Davis bull-riding practice barrel sus- impact did no damage to his head says. “I love bull riding. Even pended by ropes near the garage beyond a slight concussion. But it though it broke my neck, and my and comes to a stop just a few feet fractured and dislocated two ver- wheelchair can be aggravating as from his back door. tebrae at the base of his neck, leav- hell, I love it.” He slides out of the cart and ing him paralyzed from the chest He arrived on the pro bull-rid- into his wheelchair. down and with limited use of his ing scene at a seminal moment in At 31, Davis has become one of hands. the early 1990s, just as the sport the leading stock contractors pro- Now, on the property south of recognized its stand-alone stay-

ing power and began its break The Justin database isn’t per- INTRO from traditional rodeo, which also Bull-riding injuries fect, as its collectors admit. includes roping, riding and steer- Roughstock riders are Early coverage among more wrestling events. more likely to get hurt than than 600 PRCA rodeos nationwide But some things haven’t participants in any other was spotty, although coverage changed. The redefined cowboy rodeo event — and about gradually increased to 32 percent

remains immersed in core tradi- twice as likely to suffer injury of rodeo performances in 2000. PART tional traits of his sport — perse- as football players. Generally speaking, the study

verance, independence, self-reli- covers the better performers at the 1 ance, faith and, perhaps most of Click here for an information better competitions. There’s no all, danger. graphic about bull-riding way to gauge injuries among less A 2,000-pound bull. A rider injuries. skilled cowboys at the thousands usually well under 6 feet and 3 of minor rodeos and informal

rarely heavier than 175. Force and “jackpot” events that spring up at PART 2 impact of hoof on human flesh so bars and arenas across the coun-

far has been measured mostly by 1 try. Also, Evans says, the reporting 2 the tally of concussions, broken didn’t isolate instances of paraly- bones and worse. sis or even list all deaths. Twenty-two years ago, some 1 “We were interested in things sports medicine pioneers backed that were positive, that we could by the Justin Boots company be- do something about,” he says. “We PART gan to treat rodeo injuries the were looking for trends to help way trainers long had been treat- prevent injuries and reduce the 3 ing athletes in more mainstream the hospital, the phone would numbers.” sports. They also began to count. ring, and it would be one of the Don Andrews, executive direc- The resulting database, virtu- guys saying, ‘I had two six- packs, tor of the Justin team, says that

ally the only extensive statistical and it still hurts. What do I do?”’ 14 cowboys died over the first 20 SURVEY analysis in American professional Bull riding has always account- years of the study at the selected rodeo, sketches a 20-year pattern ed for the highest percentage of PRCA events. Cervical spine frac- of the dangers. rodeo injuries, but that figure tures accounted for less than 3 J. Pat Evans, an orthopedic sur- jumped from 41 percent in the percent of major injuries over the geon and former Dallas Cowboys first five years of the study to 51 20 years. team doctor who helped launch the percent in the five-year stretch “It’s amazing to me we don’t have effort in 1981, remembers the early ending in 2000. One explanation a higher number of major injuries resistance from cowboys who had for the shift: These days, they and fatalities considering the risk no use for doctors — especially breed the bulls better than they and exposure,” Andrews says. those who counseled them to give breed the cowboys. Although severe spinal injury up their passion. Genetic advances over that and paralysis may result in a rela- But the Justin group gradually period have taken the breeding of tively small percentage of cases earned trust by convincing its bucking stock out of the trial-and- based on today’s available data- clientele that the goal was to help error stage and moved it toward bases, the potential for such cata- them return to action as quickly a more precise process for pro- strophic accidents was illustrated — and safely — as possible. ducing bulls that are increasingly in a 1996 report by the Centers for “It took about two years,” Evans “rank” — the cowboy term for Disease Control and Prevention. recalls. “Then, I’d get home from difficult to ride. The CDC examined bull-riding-

related brain and spinal cord inju- INTRO ries in Louisiana during 1994-95 and found five cases of central nervous system trauma. Three of the bull riders were age 17 or younger, and two others were in their 20s.

But the Justin numbers have PART remained the basis for many studies

on rodeo injuries, largely because 1 few researchers can find funding to do extensive original research. One who did is Michael Mey- ers, director of the Human Per-

formance Research Center at West PART Texas A&M University in Canyon,

Texas. In 1990, he studied 156 col- Jason Legler of Eaton, shown at the PBR event in Springfield, Mo., is among 2 lege rodeo athletes — many of a few pro cowboys who wear helmets — on occasion. whom already had obtained professional standing. Overall, Mey- ers and his colleagues found rodeo today’s bull riders use modern just come off broken ribs and a athletes faced an 89 percent prob- training techniques for condition- punctured lung to compete in Las PART ability of injury over the course of ing, Meyers’ results — and some Vegas. But he, too, laughs off the a 10-event season. telling anecdotal evidence at this idea that conditioning played a role 3 “Actually,” says Meyers, “that year’s PBR World Finals — suggest in his largely successful return. may be a little conservative. These that cowboys are slow to adopt the “You see a lot of young guys who athletes have ephemeral response ways of the finely tuned athlete. are more athlete than cowboy,”

to pain, so you’ve got to take into “A large percentage do abso- McBride says. “I’m a cowboy.” SURVEY account that some injuries are not lutely nothing to precondition for even reported.” rodeo,” Meyers says, capsulizing By comparison, college football his recent findings. “They believe ‘Don’t cry on reported a 47 percent probability in playing themselves into shape my shoulder’ of injury. like old baseball players coming to When Meyers’ findings are spring training.” Born in Colorado Springs, while compared with other NCAA injury Some top riders underscore his parents were stationed at Fort statistics, an even sharper con- that point. After winning the PBR Carson, but reared in NASCAR trast emerges. The percentage of event in Las Vegas, rookie rider country among his family’s deep athletic “exposures” resulting in Jody Newberry fields a question North Carolina roots, Jerome Davis injury is far greater for rough- about the new breed of bull rider nonetheless grew up all cowboy. stock events — bull riding, bare- who employs modern condition- On the rodeo circuit, he skirted back riding and saddle bronc riding methods. perceived anti-Eastern prejudice ing — than mainstream contact “True confession, right here,” from judges by claiming his home sports like football, wrestling and Newberry says with a sheepish as Odessa, Texas — where he ice hockey. smile. “I don’t exercise.” attended college on a rodeo schol- Although organizations like Justin McBride, one of the arship — until he’d established the PBR advance the notion that PBR’s top riders this season, has his reputation and a place in the

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View THE DENVER POST ©2004 PAIN&GLORY PART ONE 11 INTRO “I don’t think any mother wants her child to be a bull rider.” — Pam Simmons, mother of Jerome Davis

PRCA’s prestigious National Finals even a gentle twang when he a phenom. At 16, he won a com-

Rodeo. reminds his wife not to complain. petition in Cincinnati that earned PART Only then did he list his home- “Don’t cry on my shoulder,” he tells him $1,100 — which he promptly

town as Archdale, N.C., where his her. “You’ll rust my spurs.” invested in the materials to build 1 family raised cattle and quarter The qualities routinely attrib- his own practice pen. He cut horses and still lives clustered in uted to the American cowboy have cedar posts from raw timber on the tiny hamlet south of Greens- all surfaced in Davis’ life, a micro- the property and ran woven wire boro. In 1995, he became the first cosm of a Western ethos some- between them. He purchased his

bull rider from east of the Missis- times written off as myth. practice bull. PART sippi to become a world champion “He’s always been so inde- Davis progressed quickly

when he won the PRCA title. pendent,” says his father, Carson through local and regional com- 2 “I paid my dues like any kid,” Davis, who lives just across the petition and earned his scholar- Davis says. “If you go and ride the road from his son. “He’s probably ship to Odessa — the same school rank ones, before long they’ve got more Western than anybody in the where rodeo legends Ty Murray to pay you.” West. He’s everything you seen in and Jim Sharp had gone. He pros- Bull riding paid Davis well as he those cowboy movies.” pered there, too. PART became a dominant force on the From the time he was 5 and told After winning the 1992 colle- PRCA circuit and then helped launch his kindergarten teacher his intent giate bull-riding championship, 3 the PBR, which has since become to become a bull rider, Davis never he moved on to a competition in the sport’s most lucrative tour. wavered — much to the chagrin of Reno, Nev. But in March 1998, bull riding his mother, Pam Simmons. Carson Davis remembers get-

took something back when he was She put him off, promised he ting the phone call that night. SURVEY thrown off the aptly named bull could try bull riding when he A bull named Orange Pop had Knock ’Em Out John. turned 12 and secretly hoped the stepped on Jerome, breaking six The resulting paralysis robbed infatuation would subside. ribs and puncturing his lung. him of a blossoming career, stripped He called her bluff. Climbed Blood seeped in and made breath- him of the ability to do what he loved aboard his first bull a few months ing even harder. most and, perhaps worst of all, com- early. Got thrown off. Loved it. “How bad?” Carson asked. promised the rugged independence “I don’t think any mother wants The voice on the line told him that had carried him so far. her child to be a bull rider,” Pam it didn’t look good, that Jerome He never blamed the bull, never says. “I thought it would pass, and it might not last the night. second-guessed the way he rode didn’t. Should I have just put my foot Carson hung up the phone him, never complained. down and said, ‘I’m your mother, — and threw up. Distraught as “The way I approached him, it you’re not riding?’ It was Jerome’s he was, he still had to call Pam. just worked out that the way that love, and when he turned 18 he was The two had been divorced for 15 bull bucked and my riding style going to do it. He had a passion for years by then, but remained close clashed,” he says. “I never ana- it. At least he was successful at what friends. He struggled to compose lyzed it.” he did, and doesn’t have to ques- himself so he could deliver the Like most cowboys, he admits to tion, ‘Could I have made it?”’ news as calmly as possible. a low tolerance for whining. There’s On bucking animals, he proved “Jerome had this thing,” he

says, “that no matter how bad he INTRO got hurt, you better not be hol- lerin’ or actin’ stupid. So I called Pam and told her I had it all under control. You can’t tell her that her young’un is gettin’ ready to die.”

Carson told her they needed to PART fly to Reno immediately. But Pam

knew she’d be beside herself until 1 she spoke with a doctor directly. She recalls telling someone at the hospital to let Jerome know she was on her way, then fishing

for reassurance that he’d be OK. PART “No, ma’am,” said the voice on

the line. “I can’t tell you that. All I 2 can tell you is to get here as quickly as possible.” Chance Tate, 17, of Cortez, straps on a protective vest before a ride in Craig.

Lethal force vs. PART it was that dangerous,” says Rich- National Finals in 1993, he took a

stubbornness 3 ard “Tuff” Hedeman, the now- horn to the chest that broke the fin- Horns and hooves have dogged retired rider who hosts the Fort ish on the leather, but nothing else. bull riders forever. Worth invitational that bears his That night, he took his first four Their blunt force has bruised, name. “In hindsight, you’ve got orders from Cody Custer, Ty Mur-

battered and shattered bone. It to bull - - - - yourself that it’s not ray, Ted Nuce and Hedeman — a SURVEY has punctured lungs and damaged that bad. Well, it is that bad. What hall-of-fame lineup of bull riders. internal organs. Applied to the surprises me is that more people At the next year’s finals, 14 of 15 head, it has caused concussions don’t die.” riders wore them. and death. Bull riders may be stubborn, The vests proved an easy sell Despite the obvious danger, the but they’ll listen to reason. because they looked Western. The concept of protective equipment A protective vest came on the same couldn’t be said for helmets, has gained traction only in the last scene in 1993, when respected which made a cowboy look … well, 10 years in a sport that revels in cowboy Cody Lambert introduced not like a cowboy. the toughness of its athletes. The pro riders to the idea. He pro- There was at least some science attitude comes rooted in Western ceeded from the notion that a vest to back up the bull riders’ reti- tradition that brooks no whining could eliminate many debilitating cence. What protection the hel- among cowboys and rationalizes injuries, enable riders to ride with mets provided against concussion bull riding as lethally dangerous less pain and, ultimately, make could literally be outweighed by only to those who fail to focus on more money. the additional strain to the neck. their task — or run into the same He wound up reconfiguring a But newer versions of the hel- sort of hard luck as falling off a protective vest worn by jockeys met, still basically variations on bicycle. until it looked and fit like a West- a hockey theme, now are much “In all honesty, I didn’t realize ern-style vest. During the PRCA lighter, reducing that risk.

Many experts, including some surgeon who has worked with the being stomped on. But helmets INTRO pro riders who rode helmetless Justin Sportsmedicine Team and help with all the other head things their entire careers, recommend the HealthSouth team that serves — knocking into the bull’s head, headgear for young cowboys. But the PBR, estimates that concus- or a gatepost. What we can do is sanctioning groups generally sions account for 12 percent of the reduce the severity of concussions stop short of a mandate, reason- injuries he sees in bull riders. for 90 percent of the contact.”

ing that not enough research has He doesn’t need to see more Wiley Petersen, one of the top PART been done to determine whether research. riderson the PBR circuit, wore a

helmets really help and that no “Helmets make a difference,” helmet for the first time as a pro 1 definitive bull-riding helmet has he says flatly. “Maybe you need in December 2002. He came to the been developed beyond converted to prove that to the cowboys, but conclusion that there was no good hockey gear. not to me. If a bull steps on your reason not to wear one. Tandy Freeman, an orthopedic head, a helmet will not withstand “You can hang on to tradition PART PART 2 PART PART 3 SURVEY

Davis leaves the PBR World Finals in Las Vegas, preceded by barrelman Flint Rasmussen, who entertains the crowd during “down time.” Davis was an initial investor in the PBR, the organization largely responsible for bull riding’s rise.

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View THE DENVER POST ©2004 PAIN&GLORY PART ONE 14 INTRO “This isn’t traditional Western rodeo. This is extreme sport, and it’s moving away from the cowboy feel to it.” — Wiley Petersen, one of the top riders on the PBR circuit PART and lose your teeth, or lose some In the waiting room, Pam sport as it ventured away from tra-

tradition and keep your teeth,” thought hard about what to say. ditional rodeo. 1 he figures. “This isn’t traditional She could continue to obsess Buy-in was $1,000. Jerome told Western rodeo. This is extreme about the dangers of bull riding them he had $500 and a chance sport, and it’s moving away from or stand firmly behind him. When to earn the rest on a good bull the the cowboy feel to it.” Jerome had improved enough to next weekend.

And the slowly growing num- listen to her, Pam made her choice He covered his investment. PART bers of top-flight pros who wear and returned to his room. Then, as the PBR rose to promi-

helmets regularly could literally “It’ll take more than any ol’ nence, he began to make his mark 2 change the face of the sport. But at Orange Pop to keep you down,” in the newer circuit where he could its core, the elemental dangers of she told him. He smiled. make more money in far fewer bull riding remain, even beneath a Once the tube had been removed events than traditional rodeo. veneer of safety. and he could talk, he said some- In the early months of 1998, he “No matter how many spon- thing his mother would never for- tore through the competition. PART sors you have, no matter who your get. He told her he realized that bull “It was really the first year I agent is, how many endorsements riding wasn’t everyone’s dream, focused on the PBR title,” Davis 3 you have or how articulate you are but it was his dream. Whatever recalls. “I’d been on 33 bulls and talking to the media,” says Lam- might happen to him in the arena, only got throwed off three. I was bert, “when the gate opens, you’re he’d be doing something he loved. having a heck of a good year, but

on your own. “It was simple,” Pam recalls as it turned out, that all came to SURVEY “And the bulls do not care.” now, “but it gave me a peace.” an end.” It would be six years and a heady At the Tuff Hedeman Champi- string of successes before the les- onship Challenge in Fort Worth, The rough trail son of Reno would hit home. he got on the last bull he would to the top After traveling with legend- ever ride. ary rider Cody Custer in 1992, Davis knew he needed to stay For Jerome Davis’ family, Reno the year Custer won the National over Knock ‘Em Out John, close changed their lives, and in a sense Finals, Davis felt he’d been shown to the head, so the bull couldn’t laid an emotional foundation for a map that could lead him to the slingshot him to the dirt. the ordeal that lay ahead. top. Three years later, he captured He was riding him well when For about a week after Orange the PRCA title. He would qualify the bull turned back and yanked Pop stomped his ribs, Davis as one of the top 15 bull riders for Davis down into a violent head-to- couldn’t speak because of the five straight years. head collision. tube snaking down his throat. Meanwhile, a group of veteran His fiancée, Tiffany, sat in the But his mother looked at his face riders invited him to invest in the stands and watched Jerome get and recognized distress — not fledgling Professional Bull Riders smacked in the jaw and fall to the over his own condition, but over organization that sought to bring ground. Then, as always, she wor- worrying her. order, and bigger payoffs, to their ried about one thing — the bull

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View THE DENVER POST ©2004 PAIN&GLORY PART ONE 15 INTRO “He’s paralyzed, but they didn’t say nothin’ about dyin’.” — Tiffany Davis describing Jerome’s injuries to his father

stomping him before he could got a phone call telling him that interrupted. “But they don’t score

scramble to safety. Jerome had been hurt badly. you very well with your mama PART When Jerome’s bull danced “How bad this time?” Carson hanging on your back.”

clear of him, Tiffany thought asked. When the doctor came into his 1 everything would be all right. She “He’s paralyzed,” Tiffany an- room, Jerome tried to pin him waited for him to rise and dust swered, “but they didn’t say noth- down on the chances, tried to put himself off. in’ about dyin’.” a number to the likelihood that he She waited a little longer. Carson sighed with relief. would walk again. Fifty percent?

“And I kept waiting, ‘cause you When he arrived at the hospi- Twenty-five? Ten? PART don’t run down there when they tal the next day, he was joined by The doctor paused for a mo-

get hurt, unless you’re trying to his ex-wife Pam, Jerome’s mother. ment. “One percent,” he said. “Be- 2 get attention for yourself,” she He noticed two people among the cause I never say never.” says. “You kind of just wait.” many from the cowboy community “That’s all I need,” Jerome Once emergency personnel had who had joined their vigil — Clyde replied. loaded Jerome onto a stretcher and Elsie Frost, whose son Lane and carried him out of the arena, had been killed riding bulls almost PART she headed down to an alleyway a decade earlier. The poignancy of Launching a behind the chutes. Her thoughts their presence didn’t immediately new life 3 raced ahead to . . . tomorrow. She register with Carson until after imagined how ticked off Jerome he’d engaged Clyde in small talk Tiffany comes breezing into the would be if he couldn’t ride the about farming and cattle. kitchen from the adjacent room

next day. Then it struck him hard. that serves as the office for the SURVEY As he lay on a stretcher, Jerome “Here I am all worried,” says family business. She carries sev- came to and realized right away Carson, “and this man would give eral photographs of Jerome in full that something about him had everything in the world to be in my form astride a bull named Straw- changed, but he didn’t know shoes, to have his son paralyzed berry Wine and sets them before exactly what until he asked Tater instead of dead. You see him and him. Porter to take off the riding glove realize what he went through, and He closes his hand around a that already had been removed. our situation was a piece of cake.” felt-tipped marker and removes The look in Jerome’s eyes told Pam Simmons remembers the cap with his teeth. His grip Tiffany something was seriously praying on her way to the Greens- appears awkward, but his cursive wrong. Then he said he couldn’t boro airport to catch her flight to script flows easily across the pic- move his legs. Texas: “Let him have his mind and ture. God Bless, Jerome Davis. Back in North Carolina, his par- his life, and we’ll take whatever He signs each picture personally ents reacted to the accident with else comes.” and includes one with every mer- obvious concern, but with fear When she saw him, Jerome chandise order — vests, chaps, tempered by the Reno experience. appeared to broach the idea of license plate holders, bandanas Carson Davis had been an- returning to competition. — that comes in via his website, nouncing an amateur bull riding “When I get well …” he began. www.JeromeDavis.com . But this event in a nearby town when he “You may ride,” his mother amounts to a small fraction of the

At his ranch near Greensboro, N.C., former pro bull rider Jerome Davis maintains a connection to the sport despite the horrific accident in 1998 that paralyzed him. Davis contracts to provide bulls to rodeos, and hosts one of the stops 3 on the Professional Bull Riders Challenger Tour at his arena. Grazing on his hundred-acre spread is a 17-year-old bull Davis rode as a schoolkid. “I ain’t ever gonna sell him,” he says. SURVEY business that consumes his life behind the microphone, where his she was the one. She knew from these days. down-home drawl and unabashed way back that he was “the perfect There’s the PBR event that he enthusiasm find an outlet as a guy” and envisioned one day mar- hosts every year at the Davis Rodeo rodeo announcer. rying someone just like him. Arena, the 5,000-seat venue he has Wherever he is, Tiffany won’t With benefit of hindsight, she constructed just a short ride from be far away. now calls him her soul mate. his house, and a variety of other They were supposed to get mar- When Jerome was paralyzed at events from high school rodeos to ried in May 1998 somewhere in Fort Worth, it changed everything a Halloween maze he set up with Tennessee on a Wednesday, to fit — and it changed nothing. He was the livestock fencing for a local the wedding and a one-day honey- alive. He was still Jerome. And church. moon between a jackpot event one while he says he “tried to run her When he’s not on the phone weekend and more bull riding in off” in the aftermath of his crash, or on the road with his stock or Louisville the next. Tiffany wasn’t going anywhere. cruising the rolling hills of his Jerome and Tiffany grew up Five months after their origi- property in his cart, he might be together around Archdale, have nal date, the couple slipped away behind the hand controls of heavy been friends so long that neither from Archdale with a small reti- equipment preparing the arena can remember when they first nue of friends and tied the knot in for competition. Or he could be met. He knew for a long time that Gatlinburg, Tenn.

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View THE DENVER POST ©2004 PAIN&GLORY PART ONE 17 INTRO “It’s part of the sport you have to accept. If it wasn’t for that, there wouldn’t be guys winning a million bucks.” — Jerome Davis talking about the danger and sacrifice involved in bull riding PART When the sixth anniversary of At one benefit auction, Jerome morning singing,” Tiffany insists

Jerome’s crash arrives in March, it met businessman Tom Teague, a — lies an equally persistent desire 1 will mark another milestone: six North Carolina trucking magnate to rise out of his wheelchair. years that the two of them have whose contacts and expertise in He has tried both conventional never been apart for a single night. the world of television and finance and experimental therapies, but At the hospital, they taught her eventually landed Teague on the has learned that some offer false

everything. How to help him do PBR’s board of directors. hope. Given the domestic poli- PART the stretches for physical therapy. Later, when Davis had a line on tics of cutting-edge possibilities

How to change his position in bed a good bull and was looking for an like stem cell research, Davis fig- 2 to prevent pressure sores. For a investor, he called Teague, and a ures he’ll probably wind up seek- month, she would wake up every partnership was born. ing treatment outside the United 30 minutes to turn him. For Davis, the alliance provides States. Surgery restored some of the the financial wherewithal to be a “I always think that I’ll walk feeling and movement to his hands, player in a roughstock business again,” he says. “I went through PART but certain fine motor tasks, such that more and more resembles the stages where I prayed about it, as buttoning a shirt, still require thoroughbred horse business. and found peace of mind through 3 assistance. Although the bull-riding uni- my relationship with God. I don’t “That bothers me more than verse now features stars like Chris mope, bitch and complain to peo- anything, having to ask people for Shivers, Justin McBride, Luke Sny- ple. They don’t want to hear it. I

help,” Jerome says. “That’s some- der and Adriano Moraes, Jerome try to stay positive about every- SURVEY thing I didn’t have to do before still answers his door to find kids thing I do.” very much at all. I was pretty eager to learn about bull riding, He has maintained his connec- independent, I could make things and he helps them any way he can. tion to the indescribable high of happen on my own. Hopefully, one One, a boy in his early teens, bull riding and, as one of the orig- day I can get back on my feet and was so moved by the down-to- inal PBR stockholders, continues pay everybody back.” earth kindness from a man of to have a stake in the sport’s devel- Ultimately, a succession of ben- such stature that, unknown to opment. He understands well the efit events covered the medical Davis, he successfully petitioned danger and sacrifice involved, and bills and let the couple preserve to have a portion of two-lane road how those double-edged elements their savings to help launch a new near the Davis ranch christened also form the basis of bull riding’s life as stock contractors. the “Jerome C. Davis Highway.” growing appeal as an extreme “I knew as soon as he got hurt, In a line that is more jest than sport. he’s going to have to change some- truth, some folks claim that “It’s part of the sport you have thing,” Tiffany says. “We’d already mile-and-a-half stretch is bumpy to accept,” he says. “If it wasn’t for gotten into stock contracting a enough to make motorists feel like that, there wouldn’t be guys win- little bit, not big. I thought, we’ll they’re riding a bull. ning a million bucks. just focus on that. I never really Behind Davis’ relentless opti- “It’s just the way it works, I thought it would be this good.” mism — “He wakes up in the guess.”

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View PAIN&GLORY INTRO A DENVER POST SPECIAL REPORT: PART TWO

As early as age 10, bull riders embrace a leather-tough world where injured athletes ‘cowboy up’ and climb back on, PART chasing thrills, fame and prize money. 1

Spurred by a dream PART 2 PART PART 3 SURVEY

Bull rider Garrett Norby — everybody calls him “G-man,” including his parents — tapes up as older riders doff their hats before the national anthem at an informal “jackpot” rodeo in Pueblo, one of many such events. Garrett, 10, is nurturing his bull-riding dream in rural southern Colorado.

he dream begins in the handful of trophies that testify to single, gloved hand, and ride the INTRO back bedroom of a ranch- his emerging talent. wave of bucks, spins and adrena- style house that seems Outside his window, the land- line for eight indescribable sec- Tto have dropped from scape undulates to the horizon onds. To roam cross-country the the sky into the starkly beautiful in all directions without human cowboy way, independent and grasslands and meandering draws interruption. Ken and Mary Norby self-reliant, get dirt on his boots,

of southern Colorado. traded their small parcel in the take his lumps without complaint PART Garrett Norby awakens in a twin foothills near Denver for this 720- then acknowledge his glory with

bed tucked into a corner of the acre, century-old family home- aw-shucks humility. 1 room, wrapped in rumpled sheets stead near Walsenburg. Here, they And get paid for it. imprinted with cowboy images. raise assorted horses, goats, sheep, Along the way, he’ll have to On one side of a framed baptismal pigs, dogs, cats, a long-haired, navigate a world where injury certificate, five weathered cowboy overweight bovine named Red comes more easily than success.

hats have been retired to pegs. On Bull and three kids — 16-year-old Where peer pressure and devotion PART the other, autographed posters Steven, 13-year-old Stephanie and to Western toughness often stand

show men in full, glorious form a slight, brown-eyed cowboy with between young competitors and 2 riding angry, muscular beasts. a smile like sunup. safety equipment. Garrett, age 10, lives surrounded They call him — as everyone Already, Garrett is learning the by evidence of his passion for bull does — “G-man.” most basic tenet of bull riding: You riding. On a table beside the bed His dream: to climb on the will get hurt. The relatively minor lie more than a dozen shiny belt backs of the rankest bulls in cre- injuries G-man has endured so far PART buckles, arranged in rows before a ation, cinch a rope tight around a are just a down payment on the future. 3 “I know people say, ‘It’s a dangerous sport. How can you let your kids do that?”’ Mary Norby says.

“But I know my kids know what SURVEY they’re doing. It’s really not that dangerous if they’ve been taught what to do.” For G-man, the cowboy life came with the territory when the family moved here six years ago, renewing a rural lifestyle Mary Norby had left 15 years earlier. Stephanie took up barrel racing. Steven gravitated to the danger and exhilaration of bull riding — long the marquee rodeo event but now a competition that, with increased TV coverage and savvy To reach the elite level of professional bull riding, 10-year-old Garrett Norby marketing, has carved out a sport- can expect to spend years in youth, high school and informal “jackpot” ing niche of its own. rodeos. He runs the risk of being injured far more frequently than his G-man followed his brother’s football-playing peers. lead, although at age 4 he began by

Astride a spring-loaded gizmo called “Mighty Bucky” that he bought with his rodeo winnings, Garrett “G-man” Norby SURVEY practices his moves as Jesse Jackson, right, replicates an angry bull’s twists and bucks and Justin Noga looks on at the Norby family’s ranch. Garrett started in youth rodeo competitions at age 4, where he clung to the backs of sheep.

clinging to sheep in “mutton bus- his age group, usually just defrays hurt bad, he recalls, just about as tin”’ competitions. Then he moved his $40 entry fee. bad as when a bull threw him onto on to calves, steers and, incongru- Stock contractor Vickie Lynn, his tailbone in June and he had to ous as it seems for a 57-pound who hosts this series of youth miss three weeks of riding. fifth-grader, young bulls nearly 20 events, also serves as G-man’s Thinking the leg could be bro- times his weight. bull-riding guru, sometimes ana- ken, Mary Norby took her son to He competes regularly at Pueb- lyzing video of his rides and fine- the hospital, where X-rays came lo’s Saddle Saloon, site of just one tuning his technique. back negative. So G-man went of the innumerable, informal But other times, like today, the home, elevated and iced the leg, “jackpot” events that take place in tape comes out at home. which also had a nasty gash along Colorado and across the country. On a slow-motion replay, G-man the shin, and then gamely limped At the Saddle, G-man often walks watches his legs splay apart as he to school the next day, even away with a small cash prize that, falls to the dirt, just as a bull’s rear though the doctor said he could because of the few competitors in hoof drives into his right leg. It stay home to rest.

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View THE DENVER POST ©2004 PAIN&GLORY PART TWO 21 INTRO “He’s a tough kid. I tried to talk him into being a roper like I was. But he said ropin’ is for sissies.” — Steve Atencio, talking about his stepson Dustin Baker PART Both G-man and Steven took in- grandparents settled the home- Atencio wasn’t wild about

struction at the nationally known stead where they now live, soon Dustin getting on bulls, but the 1 bull-riding school in Denver run found that her agricultural roots boy joins a growing segment of by Larry Lancaster, whose Western struck a chord with her sons. bull riders attracted to the sport wear and equipment business spon- “If there’s a bull bucking some- without background in family tra- sors cowboys on the pro circuits. At where,” she says, “we’re there.” dition or the ranching life. Dustin,

home, they have a full training reg- who grew up in the city of Pueblo, PART imen right outside their back door. has been drawn to bull riding by

The boys have propped a 50- Giving up an even more powerful force. 2 gallon drum at an angle on two- football for bulls “He watches too much TV,” says by-fours and covered it with a Atencio. scrap of old carpet so they can As evening falls, young men fil- Televised bull riding has climb aboard and run through ter through the Saddle Saloon, pay enjoyed widespread success, some- their moves. A spring-loaded their entry fee and sign an injury times drawing a viewing audience PART contraption called Mighty Bucky, waiver. Then they head out the greater than more mainstream which G-man bought with part of back door, through the arena and sports like baseball or hockey. 3 the $1,600 he won during a sum- gather behind the chutes. And though Dustin also played mer of competition, stands nearby In this open-air dressing room, football, he gave up the sport to to simulate actual rides. the guys strip down to their boxers, pursue the cowboy life. Already,

Farther from the house, a large pull on their riding jeans and trade he has been stepped on — twice. SURVEY fence loops around two bulls and short-sleeve shirts for the long- “He’s a tough kid,” Atencio says. a heifer and connects to two buck- sleeve Western attire that’s manda- “I tried to talk him into being a ing chutes. Here, G-man, Steven tory in virtually all rodeo events. roper like I was. But he said ropin’ and their bull-riding buddies get Both G-man and his brother is for sissies.” some practice on the real thing wear helmets — ice hockey gear Until he climbs aboard his bull, — even in cold weather when the converted, mostly with decorative G-man wears a black cowboy hat ground freezes hard and the only stickers, for use as bull-riding gear. with a red “PBR” on the side — warmth comes from the fire kept Steven shrugs when asked if the the logo of the Professional Bull alive in a nearby barrel. helmets are a parental mandate. Riders, the bulls-only circuit that Virtually every week, Mary “Kind of,” he says. “I just don’t spun off from the Professional Norby loads her sons in the car want to get my head smashed.” Rodeo Cowboys Association and, and takes the show on the road. G-man’s 10-year-old buddy, in only 10 years, has become the Her husband, Ken — a Wisconsin Dustin Baker, has a similar hel- gold standard in the sport. native who favors hockey — backs met. His stepfather, Steve Atencio, Behind the chutes, G-man be- the boys’ bull-riding endeavors, points to a spot on the wire cage gins the ritual preparation. He but often works odd hours at the where a bull’s horn gouged the wraps his rope around the metal Pueblo Chemical Depot and can’t metal instead of taking a chunk crossbar of a holding pen and see them compete. Mary, whose out of Dustin’s face. pulls it taut. He rubs it down

with granular rosin, then snaps disappoint. He stays on for the full tificate. Dustin, who continued to INTRO the rope to get rid of the excess. six seconds required of kids in his compete while G-man was laid up He slides his gloved hand repeat- division — he “covers,” in bull- with injuries during the summer, edly along the portion he’ll grip riding parlance — and racks up a takes home his first oversized belt aboard the bull to warm the rosin score of 75. It’s three points better buckle, for the overall title, and a and make it even tackier. than his buddy Dustin. saddle.

Shortly before the start of the At the end of the evening, G- In their triumph, they taste the PART competition, one of the older rid- man will leave with $28 cash. But sweetness of their rewards. In the

ers calls the boys together, and they the boys, pitted head-to-head in dust, they taste the future. 1 remove their hats and take a knee. this laid-back competition, make “Lord, just come out here and no mention of victory or defeat. let us be safe, let us show every- The bull measures a rider’s perfor- Two years’ body our talents,” he says. “Please mance. A cowboy simply does the

let us bear down. Amen.” best he can. No excuses. winnings: PART G-man climbs aboard a bull “Me and G are best friends,” $40,000 named Black Magic, amid a cho- says Dustin. 2 rus of chatter from the other boys. “Yeah, I don’t care if he takes The woman behind the counter “Find your point ...” first or second,” adds G-man. at the Moffat County Fairgrounds “Don’t be poppin’ your chin ...” “Well, we might be mad at each in Craig takes Kody Lostroh’s reg- “Stick your chest out and have other for a few seconds.” istration for the last high school fun and ride ...” “I don’t get mad at you.” rodeo event of the fall. PART “One-ten, G-man!” yells another “Remember last year?” “Morning,” she smiles, recog- rider, urging him to give more than “Well, now I know you better.” nizing the two-time state bull-rid- 3 just 100 percent. Two weeks later, after a final ing champion. “How’s the foot?” The encouragement and advice season-ending event at the Saddle, “Sore.” come rapid-fire, and G-man doesn’t G-man wins a jacket and a gift cer- Lostroh still hobbles from last

week’s rodeo in Gunnison, where SURVEY his bull careened against a fence and turned his lower left leg and foot into a purplish mass of bruises that nearly knocked him out of the competition. But he’s back this crisp September weekend, and hands the woman a check for $76 to cover his entry in both Satur- day’s and Sunday’s events. He scans a list posted on the wall to see which bull he’s drawn, then finds the animal in one of the holding pens. It’s white, with horns that curl back from its head toward the rider. “That white bull have any direc- Floyd Arena in Stephenville, Texas, draws top bull riders and greenhorns. Drew tion?” Lostroh asks anyone within Jenkins, 19, of Merkel, Texas, had his fill of injuries; he now works as a barrelman. earshot.

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View THE DENVER POST ©2004 PAIN&GLORY PART TWO 23 INTRO “I’d be an ugly sucker now. There’s a point where you have to be smart.” — Kody Lostroh, telling how his headgear saved him from serious injury PART “Yeah, left,” one kid replies, indi- hard into the wire cage on Los- wrestling and bareback riding

cating the bull likes to spin that way troh’s adapted hockey headgear. open the competition. But as the 1 when he breaks out of the chute. “I’d be an ugly sucker now,” he morning wears on, someone be- “I like left,” Lostroh says, crack- laughs. “There’s a point where you hind the chutes gives notice to the ing a confident smile. have to be smart.” bull riders. The whole bull-riding world In between high school sea- “Time to get nervous!”

seems to be spinning and bucking sons, he has been traveling with a One of the early riders, 16-year- PART in perfect harmony with the best few buddies, sleeping in tents or in old Jared Collins of Elizabeth,

high school rider in Colorado. He the car to cut expenses, and riding lasts only a few seconds on his ride 2 has arrived from Longmont just at jackpot events around the West- before tumbling to the dirt. in time for his 18th birthday and ern United States. Recently, he Collins rises to one knee. But checked into the local Holiday Inn. added up his winnings from the before he can scramble away, the Normally, he bunks in a camper, last two years and realized he’d bull’s hooves slam him in the back. but this time he wanted to throw made $40,000. His protective vest shields his torso, PART himself a little Saturday night He’s not sure where it all went, but his right leg buckles horribly. birthday bash. except that the red Ford Mustang “My knee,” he groans as he’s 3 The date marks the beginning he drove to Craig from his home in helped off. of a new phase in his bull-riding Longmont is his third car, and he Two paramedics arrive where career. At 18, he becomes eligible likes to spoil his girlfriend. Collins sits on a wooden platform

for his PBR and PRCA permits — On the high school circuit, he’s behind the chutes. One probes his SURVEY the first step in pursuing the big been building an imposing lead right leg. money on the pro circuit. over his nearest rivals. And while “Doesn’t seem like any broken Lostroh, whose personal style some kids describe him as cocky, bones.” runs more toward ball caps and no one disputes the talent that Still, the paramedic tells the sneakers than cowboy hats and seems destined to carry him far. boy he needs to get to the hospital. boots, counts himself among a The mingling aromas of coffee An ambulance is waiting. Collins growing number of young riders and hot dogs seep from the conces- shakes his head. who wear helmets. Bull riders have sion area beneath the grandstand as No way he’s leaving in what he worn protective vests for several teens on horseback canter into the calls a “meat wagon.” Instead, his years now, and they clench rubber arena with a succession of flags. father helps him to their truck mouthpieces with regularity. But The opening ceremony, a rodeo and drives him to Craig Memorial helmets remain optional, and only fanfare to Americana, culminates Hospital. about half the high school riders with a prayer and the national Meanwhile, Lostroh finds some in Craig wear them to compete. anthem. free space along the fence behind In fact, three weeks earlier, Los- Small knots of spectators the chutes and begins his prepara- troh thought about ditching his — mostly family — settle into tion in earnest. He loops his rope helmet. But then a bull flung his bleacher seats and mill about the around the fence and applies his massive head backward, crashing grounds while calf roping, steer rosin.

His jeans come off and com- INTRO pression shorts go on, followed by a 6-inch bandage that he care- fully wraps around his right thigh — concession to a badly pulled groin muscle suffered weeks ear-

lier. He lifts his shirt to extend the PART wrap around his waist, exposing a

washboard stomach hardened by 1 thousands of sit-ups. For all the weight lifting to pump the upper body, the sit-ups to chisel the abdominals and the leg work to

strengthen groin muscles that help PART the rider cling to the back of the

beast, for all the practice on barrels 2 and bulls, any cowboy will tell you it’s a mental game. Control your fear, control your actions. “You just don’t see many kids PART like Kody, who don’t get bucked off,” high school rider Clay Cul- 3 breath says with admiration. “I’ll bet you fifty bucks right now that he’ll cover.”

Lostroh stretches, removes his SURVEY hat, takes a knee and whispers a prayer. He climbs the chute, trades his straw cowboy hat for his helmet. He cinches his rope around the white bull named John Wayne, and pulls it snug into his left hand. He winds it once around his glove and then tucks it between his ring finger and his pinky in what riders call a “suicide wrap” — a tac- tic that affords all the advantages, and dangers, of a hard-to-release grip. Lostroh nods, and the chute Chance Tate, 17, of Cortez hangs on to his animal, wearing the cowboy boss flings open the gate. True to hat that about half of high school bull riders prefer to a protective helmet. form, the bull immediately spins Seconds later, this bull dumped Tate in the dirt and stomped his neck and to the left and bucks hard. Two head, rendering him unconscious.

more spins to the left and dirt flies INTRO as it strains to throw its rider. But by the time the whistle sig- nals eight seconds, John Wayne has been thoroughly defeated. He stops — stands stock still — in a

posture of total acquiescence. PART Because the bull utterly quit,

and half a rider’s points derive 1 from the animal’s performance, judges give Lostroh the option of a re-ride to possibly improve his score. Even with a bad bull,

Lostroh has scored 73. It seems PART unlikely any of the few remaining

riders will match that. 2 Plus, he’s hurting, as one of the Paramedics stabilize high school bull rider Chance Tate. The teen suffered a metal bells on his bull rope flung concussion but went to a dance later that night — and rode a bull the next day. up and smacked him. “Since I’m winning it, and I can’t hardly stand the pain in my As they examine Tate at the Slowly, they move him into posi- PART foot, I’ll let it stand,” he says. ambulance, his stepmother, Dee tion on the gurney to be loaded Meanwhile, the last contestant Ann Dennison, holds one hand, into the ambulance, then strap him 3 of the day, Chance Tate, also draws stroking it, patting it as the 17- down for the ride to the hospital. a bull whose performance moves year-old Tate sits unresponsive, “This is gonna be tight, Chance. the judges to offer him a re-ride. upright on the gurney with his You still with us?”

Tate accepts. neck in a brace. His face mottled SURVEY The tall, fair-haired kid from with arena dirt, his eyelids nearly Cortez climbs aboard his second closed, his lips slightly parted, his Broken bones, bull wearing his traditional cow- right arm shaking, he looks to be unbroken pride boy hat — no helmet. He nods to in serious trouble. the chute boss and begins his ride. The words of the paramedics Later that afternoon at the Holi- It doesn’t last long. He’s thrown and others around the boy strain day Inn, Jared Collins stands pool- quickly to the dirt, where the bull with urgency. side, propped up by crutches. goes after him, stomps on his neck, “Breathe, Chance, breathe!” After being kicked in the back tears away his protective vest and “Chance, can you feel your legs, by a bull and grotesquely twist- pulls it up and over his head. The buddy? You know where you’re at ing his leg during that afternoon’s bull stomps again, slamming the now, Chance?” competition, he now knows two boy’s head, before the bull fight- His lips barely move. Blood things. His right knee is a mess, ers — formerly known as rodeo hangs from one nostril like a red the ligaments seriously damaged. clowns — can coax it away. icicle. The paramedics stabilizing And his football season at Eliza- Moments later, the public his neck call out for anyone in the beth High School, where he plays address announcer sends out an small crowd who might be able to middle linebacker and offensive urgent call. “We need the para- assist them with cardiopulmonary line when he’s not off bull riding, medics over here, ASAP!” resuscitation. is finished.

Collins already has broken more aware, conscious of his vul- INTRO three ribs on one side, two ribs on Eight seconds of nerability and consequently able another, his wrist, his back, his to react quicker to the danger. leg. And now, the knee has turned spins and bucks Collins was on his way out of the to mush — all in only three years Click here for an information emergency room at Craig Memorial of bull riding. With obvious pride, graphic about bull-riding when paramedics wheeled in the

he slides out of his shirt to reveal competitions and the rules gurney bearing Chance Tate, who PART the raspberry on his left shoul- of the ride. also competes without a helmet.

der blade where the bull’s hoof “He was all strapped up,” Collins 1 stomped him to the ground just says somberly. “He looked bad.” hours earlier. But as the sun dips behind Still, his vision of heaven on the silhouetted hills and the heat earth would be to wake up every of late summer gives way to an

morning, run bulls into a chute autumn chill, Collins warms him- PART and ride, ride, ride. self with a comforting thought as

Officials at the National High he gathers his crutches and limps 2 School Rodeo Association esti- back to his room. mate that only about 2 percent of “I’m thinking of hanging young riders will wind up mak- around at the dance tonight,” he ing a living in the sport, and even says with a sly grin, “and getting those who do won’t be making that sympathy from the girls.” PART living very long. Protective gear in bull riding 3 has gained acceptance slowly, officials say that while helmets are ‘I can’t sissy having to overcome the hurdles of encouraged, the fact that they’re out now’ Western tradition. High-tech vests mostly converted hockey or foot-

have become standard equipment ball gear, and not specifically Pickup trucks cluster around SURVEY largely because they don’t limit designed for riding, has kept the the meeting hall at the Moffat movement and — in the larger national body from making them County Fairgrounds, and teenag- scheme of rodeo culture — they mandatory. ers stand in knots outside double look Western. They point out that more kids doors flung open to the night. But both youth and professional would wear helmets if more of the It’s a shade past 9 p.m., and some riders have been much slower to pro riders wore them. But some of the rodeo contestants already embrace helmets, despite over- experts say that the trend toward have paid their $5 admission to line whelming evidence that concus- mandatory helmets must begin the walls of the dance hall while a sion is the most likely injury a bull with young riders, much as hel- DJ spins everything from country- rider will face. mets eventually became standard and-western to hip-hop. A 20-year study of rodeo injuries among National Hockey League Beneath the brim of a white by a sports medicine group found players years after they were cowboy hat, a tall, lean, light- that rodeo participants were five required in the youth ranks. haired kid peers out at a sudden times more likely to suffer concus- Collins didn’t wear a helmet surge of teens high-stepping in a sions than the next most common when he started riding bulls three line dance to “Cotton-Eyed Joe.” injury, shoulder fractures and dis- years ago, and he doesn’t like Chance Tate, who just a few hours locations. the idea of wearing one now. His earlier had been loaded barely con- Still, national high school rodeo rationale: Riding without one, he’s scious into an ambulance after a

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View THE DENVER POST ©2004 PAIN&GLORY PART TWO 27 INTRO “I rode with a broke pelvis before. A concussion ain’t gonna hurt much. I plan on making pro.” — Chance Tate, after a bull stepped on his neck and head PART bull kicked him in the neck and we were all concerned about him. he’d rather die on a bull than any-

head, now makes the party scene. But talk about a tough cowboy — where else. We kept close watch 1 “The doctor told me to stay here he is, back today. He deserves over him all night. There’s no awake as long as I can,” he says. to win a check today for all the hard rules that say you can’t ride when Tate also says he was told he luck he had yesterday.” it gets too tough. suffered a concussion when the One man, whose son also com- “You go to the end. You stick with

bull kicked him. He remembers petes in bull riding, shakes his something and see it through.” PART almost nothing between the time head and says there’s no way he’d However admirable Tate’s cour-

he lay in the dirt and the moment let his boy compete after a concus- age, and however well-intentioned 2 he regained his bearings in the sion. But it happens. All the time. the life lessons behind his parents’ ambulance. It’s the cowboy way. decision to allow him to ride, the “If I get that same bull tomor- Tate’s bull comes tearing out of question remains: Why would row,” Tate vows, “I’m gonna spur the chute spinning and bucking, high school rodeo authorities per- his guts out.” but it can’t throw him. The whistle mit an athlete to ride so soon after PART Ride tomorrow? He says the blows at eight seconds, and Tate such an injury? doctor told him he shouldn’t ride smoothly flings himself off the bull The mostly volunteer Colorado 3 on Sunday. The American Acad- and lands squarely on his feet. State High School Rodeo Associa- emy of Neurology recommends The judges give him a 66 — tion says it doesn’t have the author- that anyone who suffers even a which for the moment leaves him ity — or the will — to tangle with

momentary loss of consciousness tied for first place. parents who don’t think anyone SURVEY wait a week before returning to At the far end of the arena, Den- should tell them what’s best for competitive sports. nison, Tate’s stepmother, applauds their kids. But Tate, raised in a true cow- his ride. A day earlier she had feared “As soon as we start telling peo- boy family that spends its winters the worst. “I was just praying, to be ple they can’t compete, it usually rounding up wild cattle in New honest,” says Dennison, recalling becomes a big ol’ deal with the par- Mexico, knows what he has to do. the ordeal. “He didn’t look good at ents,” says Bill Kennedy, president Right now he’s just tired and sore. all. I was scared to death.” of the sanctioning body. And so It’s no time to go soft. But once Tate started coming the organization leaves such calls “I rode with a broke pelvis around on the ride to the hospital, — except in the case of clearly vis- before,” Tate figures. “A concussion once he remembered what town ible injuries, such as those involv- ain’t gonna hurt much. I plan on he was in, she exhaled. Hospital X- ing casts — to the parents. making pro. I can’t sissy out now.” rays came up negative, and Denni- What Chance Tate does in Craig Sure enough, on Sunday morn- son knew that Chance would want is “cowboy up,” shake off adversity, ing Tate climbs aboard his bull to get right back on a bull as soon do what he came to do and reinforce and pulls his rope tight. as possible — despite the doctor’s the image of toughness surround- “This cowboy had some tough recommendation. ing the rodeo athlete. That he fights luck yesterday,” says the P.A. “It’s what they’re going to do,” through the danger and covers his announcer. “He got stepped on, and she says. “Chance said before, bull provides a happy ending to a

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View THE DENVER POST ©2004 PAIN&GLORY PART TWO 28 INTRO “You can’t be scared of bulls. If you’re scared, they’re gonna hurt you.” — Kody Lostroh, after successfully riding the same bull that threw him earlier PART dicey decision and only adds to the Lostroh wins the event by a launching streams of tobacco juice

lore of the cowboy way. wide margin and takes home or draining cans of Tecate. 1 “Answered prayers is all it is,” about $250 for winning both days Geographically, he’s at the cen- says his stepmother. “A few guardian — enough to cover his hotel bill ter of the cowboy universe. angels on the fencepost for him.” and then some. Stephenville, Texas. Meanwhile, Kody Lostroh gets “You can’t be scared of bulls,” If you live here, about 90 min-

ready to ride. he says. “If you’re scared, they’re utes southwest of Fort Worth, you PART Candace Gerke has been going gonna hurt you.” are serious about rodeo. You wear

with Lostroh for six months, has an ornate, oversized belt buckle 2 seen him in and out of the arena, and likely have brushed shoulders and can point to a single quality All the dirt with the likes of Ty Murray, Tuff that sets him apart from other they can eat Hedeman or Jim Sharp among a guys — on or off a bull. who’s-who of rodeo tradition that “He’s not scared of anything,” In a pool of light amid the has settled within a lasso’s radius. PART she says. “He’s weird like that. cool darkness, a cowboy named And on an autumn Tuesday I’ve never seen him negative. I’ve Michael Dillon comes bursting out night that has erased the rolling 3 seen him fall off a bull maybe of the chute on the back of some- Texas landscape except for this three times, but he just doesn’t let thing more wild and furious than brilliant cowboy oasis, it means things get to him. I’ve never seen he has ever encountered. Less than you are likely to find yourself prac-

anybody ride like he does.” three seconds later, his bull has ticing the bull-riding craft among SURVEY Lostroh has plans to go to col- yanked him down hard, clocked riders gifted and god-awful, but lege — probably at a good rodeo him in the head and sent him fly- game beyond all reason. school in Wyoming — but it’s ing, already unconscious in mid- The earthen parking lot is clear he sees his future on the pro air, to a nasty landing in the dirt. crowded with pickup trucks, girl- bull-riding circuit. “Knocked out his running friends watch from the bleachers, “He says we’re going to be rich,” lights,” says one rider matter- and the high-pitched hum of cicadas Gerke says. “He talks about it all of-factly, watching from behind provides the soundtrack to the bull- the time. He’s not arrogant — he the arena fence. “Dashboarded,” riding bonanza one rider describes just knows he can do it.” observes another. as “two dollars, all you can eat.” Lostroh draws the same bull Dillon quickly comes to, but Stock contractors bring high- he rode on Saturday. With a smile for several moments doesn’t quite quality bucking bulls out here for visible through the wire cage of know where he is. exercise, and cowboys bring their his helmet, Lostroh showboats, In a bull-riding sense, he’s machismo for a workout. Some waving to his buddies behind the somewhere between dreamy high hone their abilities. Some search chutes — three times, between school aspiration and harsh real- for them. bucks. ity, trying on the cowboy way at Dillon, 24, is still searching. “Crazy nut!” a tiny, two-bleacher arena where He played football in high school “God-dang!” bull riders perch atop the fences, because his parents made him

A bull carrying Deric Parks lunges into the October night at Floyd Arena in Stephenville, Texas, where it costs $2 to watch and a signature on a waiver to ride as many bulls as you dare. SURVEY choose, and back then his foot- sas in January 1996. Although he’d He has come out to the all-you- ball career seemed a now-or-never broken horses since his early teens, can-eat bull-riding session just proposition. Then he got a job with he didn’t ride a bull until he was 24 to watch. There’s no use risking a construction finance company — an uncommonly late start. injury by practicing when the PBR for a few years before he resur- When he realized he was good World Finals, and the possibility rected his passion for bull riding. at it — really good at it — there of a major payday, loom less than “I’m out here to see if I got seemed only one logical place to go. two weeks away. what it takes,” says Dillon, once “I always wanted to see why Still, Samsel’s very presence his senses have finally returned. everybody was from here,” says reminds the aspiring riders why “My boss, everybody I work with, Samsel, now 32 and more than half they’re here. But another cowboy they got the belt buckle. You ain’t a million dollars richer from rid- perched on the chutes illustrates got the belt buckle, you ain’t in it ing the PBR circuit. “In Kansas, if the sport’s darker flip side. at all. The passions down here are you tell somebody you rodeo, they Kent Cox watches rider after rider football and rodeo. say, ‘What are you gonna do when get dumped by their bulls in a jack- “Everybody understands it.” you grow up?’ Here, they don’t ask pot event that nobody wins. He’s a Dave Samsel understands. what you really do. It’s more an former PBR performer who, at only Now one of the top 20 riders in accepted way of life. Up there in 32, has retired after five surgeries to the PBR, he arrived here from Kan- Kansas, it was a phase.” implant 13 metal plates in his face.

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View THE DENVER POST ©2004 PAIN&GLORY PART TWO 30 INTRO “In a weird way, it was a blessing in disguise that I lost the sight in my right eye.” — Kent Cox, a former PBR bull rider PART But that’s not the reason he quit the small PBR accident policy, he at individual events that not so long

riding 18 months ago. says he was lucky he had medical ago would have been a good year’s 1 “The reason I quit,” he says insurance he got by claiming his earnings all by themselves. softly, “is that I didn’t crave them occupation as ranching. It’s not that the hard-core riders bad bulls anymore, those yankin’, And then there was one other rising through the ranks in rural jerk-you-down bulls. I didn’t have policy that bailed him out: a America wouldn’t be doing the

the eye of the tiger. I remember I $12,500 dismemberment plan that same thing for a silver buckle and PART used to wake up in the morning kicked in because his injury half- 50 bucks. But now there’s something

and crave bulls. But the last year I blinded him. more to shoot for — big money, 2 got on, it was just because I didn’t “In a weird way, it was a bless- international fame, television expo- know what else to do.” ing in disguise that I lost the sight sure and sponsorships in the hun- Like so many others, Cox in my right eye,” Cox says, reveal- dreds of thousands of dollars. migrated to Stephenville. He came ing a quirk of cowboy accounting. Now it’s more than the cowboy from the Panhandle, north of Ama- “That probably kept me from being way. It’s the American way. PART rillo, to run with the rodeo crowd. in debt for the rest of my life.” “Tuff’s home is like a monu- His pro career ran from 1992 until Now he does day work mend- ment to us,” says novice rider Dil- 3 he gave it up in 2001, a span inter- ing fences and doing odd ranch- lon, recovered from his knockout rupted by a year-and-a-half break ing jobs. Nights he comes here to experience. “You come driving to recover from his facial injuries. watch the bull riders and wonder past it down the highway, and

His best year, money-wise, was where the craving went. you think, ‘One of these days, that SURVEY about $70,000. “Every now and then, I’m not could be mine.”’ “The big reason I rode bulls was totally convinced I won’t get on that I was gifted enough to make one again,” he says. “Since I quit, a living doing it,” says Cox. “And money damn sure got tight.” TO HELP | Assistance funds it beat working for somebody else. The growing popularity of bull The Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund, Some days, there’s nothing to it. riding has put new stars in the 101 Pro Rodeo Drive, Colorado And some days it’s so frustrating eyes of aspiring cowboys — here Springs, CO 80919, can be reached that you don’t make any money for and across the country. Tuff Hede- at 888-662-5223. More information a while.” man, considered one of the best on the fund, associated with the Pro- The physical toll: broken legs bull riders in history, lives on a fessional Rodeo Cowboys Associa- tion, is at www.prorodeo.org/jccf and arms, reconstructive surgery picturesque property just north of on both knees, a bone graft on his town, near a wide spot in the road The Resistol Relief Fund can be wrist, torn elbow tendons he never called Morgan Mill. reached at Resistol Relief Resources did get fixed. When a bull smashed He and 19 other riders launched Inc., 6 S. Tejon St., Suite 700, Colo- his face, requiring the extensive the PBR tour 10 years ago, and rado Springs, CO 80903, or call 719- 471-3008, ext. 3128. More informa- surgeries, his share of the doctor for the first time this season they tion about the fund, associated with bills ran close to $40,000. offered the circuit’s top rider a $1 the Professional Bull Riders, is at To pay what wasn’t covered by million bonus, in addition to purses www.pbrnow.com/RRF

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View PAIN&GLORY INTRO A DENVER POST SPECIAL REPORT: PART THREE

Pro bull riders scratch out a living, hoping for a break. The miles, bruises and expenses pile up. But at the PBR World PART Finals in Las Vegas, even a last chance can pay off. 1

Riding into the big time PART 2 PART PART 3 SURVEY

Glitz, pyrotechnics and a million-dollar first prize accompany announcement of the top four bull riders at the 2003 PBR World Finals in Las Vegas. But the long road leading to that high-profile contest is paved in grit, pain and dust.

rom the easy chair in INTRO his living room, Richard “Tuff” Hedeman tinkers Fwith his VCR, searching for the moment. He slows the tape to the point

where he has just exited the chute PART on the back of a Brahman-Cha-

rolais mix named Bodacious in 1 the 1995 Professional Bull Riders World Finals in Las Vegas. The animal thrusts its back legs impossibly high into the air, yank-

ing Hedeman down hard and then, PART powering upward, shattering his

face against its own boulder-size “[Fans] like to see a little blood and guts. They 2 head. The first blow makes the don’t want to see anybody killed or maimed, cowboy’s body go limp. The second sends him hurtling but if it happens, they don’t want to miss it.” to the dirt. — Richard “Tuff” Hedeman, retired champion bull rider Hedeman, now 40 and a retired PART champion, watches the young man killed or maimed, but if it happens, being gored in the back at Chey- on the screen somehow pick him- they don’t want to miss it.” enne Frontier Days, saw what this 3 self up and stagger out of the arena. Both the decade-old PBR and the bull had done to his father’s face He sees a face bloodied beyond rec- rival Professional Rodeo Cowboys and minced no words: “Dad, if ognition. He chuckles and offers a Association, with its new Xtreme you get Bodacious again, you got

one-word commentary. “Ugly.” Bulls tour carried on cable tele- to chicken out.” SURVEY But now, viewing the tape in vision, have staked their futures Hedeman reluctantly agreed. the stone house he built on his 75 on eight seconds of life-or-death To try again would be “beyond acres just off a two-lane highway tension. Each of those moments the line of stupidity,” he admitted, in Morgan Mill, Texas, he also rec- attracts TV audiences, followed by and so he hoped he and Bodacious ognizes a beautiful irony. advertisers and sponsors. never crossed paths again. Flashed live before a national TV For Hedeman, a founding inves- Naturally, they did. audience, the horrific wreck sent tor in PBR, the “wreck” on Boda- But this time, Hedeman “turned the fledgling PBR crashing into the cious made a mark far beyond his him out” — the bull-riding equiv- public consciousness. It provided a financial portfolio. It took two alent of a forfeit. Although the defining moment in the way only surgeries to reconstruct his face decision ran counter to every cow- breathtaking violence can. into something he says never quite boy instinct and nearly made him “I’ll see people you wouldn’t duplicated the original. He lost 25 physically ill, it was basically a no- expect to have a clue what bull rid- pounds. The crash also jarred his brainer. He had nothing to prove. ing is,” Hedeman says, “and they’ll senses. Chocolate never tasted the Riding Bodacious in his weakened tell me they seen me ride Bodacious. same. Neither did hamburger. post-surgical condition easily But that’s human nature — they His then-3-year-old son, Lane, could have been suicidal. like to see a little blood and guts. named in memory of bull rider Bodacious’ owner, stock con- They don’t want to see anybody Lane Frost, who died in 1989 after tractor Sammy Andrews, realized

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View THE DENVER POST ©2004 PAIN&GLORY PART THREE 33 INTRO “People ask me, ‘How many guys did he kill?’ I tell them none, and they’re disappointed.” — Sammy Andrews, talking about Bodacious, one of his prize bulls PART that if one of the toughest riders in right on the heels of a NASCAR According to the PBR’s market

history turned out his best bull, race on the TNN cable network research, 70 percent of its fans also 1 others would surely follow suit. — drew a 2.4 rating, which means love NASCAR. Only 12 percent So he retired Bodacious from the spectacle of the wreck beamed identify with traditional rodeo. competition — but not from the into more than 2 million homes. A Market research and focus public eye. If anything, the bull’s business model was born. groups also have guided the PBR’s

stock rose in his retirement. Under The PBR had come bucking into concoction of original music PART the guidance of rodeo announcer the world just three years earlier, to wrap around its live shows

Bob Tallman, who became the when 20 cowboys each kicked in — a country-rock mix that leans 2 animal’s business manager, Boda- $1,000 to create an organization toward the latter — and influ- cious’ seed was sold far and wide, they hoped would bring some enced its decision to more aggres- as were T-shirts and videos. His sense of order to a sport recently sively market its bulls as athletes. likeness appeared with Hedeman’s spun off from traditional rodeo That idea, which pays homage on Bud Light advertisements, and competition. to the post-retirement success of PART he made countless public appear- Bernard made it rock ’n’ roll. Bodacious, has produced a line of ances to open car dealerships and Then only 28, Bernard led the plush, stuffed bulls straight from 3 Western-wear stores. charge toward an audience demo- the tour, as well as a series of min- A perfume bore his name. In an graphic that veers away from iature “CollectiBulls.” unauthorized venture the bull’s Western roots and buys into bull Women, Bernard says, listed the

handlers unsuccessfully tried to riding under a hipper, more hap- beasts above the cowboys among SURVEY squelch, so did a line of condoms. pening description: the original their favorite things about bull “People ask me, ‘How many extreme sport. riding. And PBR research shows guys did he kill?’ ” says owner Elaborate introductions, lasers, its market is 37 percent female. Andrews, whose favorite bull died pyrotechnics and an emphasis on “We never want to get away from three years ago and was buried on the dangers faced by its tough- our roots — chaps and cowboys his ranch near the Texas-Okla- ened competitors — all this was hats,” says Bernard, 36. “But we can homa border. “I tell them none, melded with appealing strains of capitalize both in the city and the and they’re disappointed.” Americana and patriotic fervor. country and make fans by imple- In a marketing sense, the PBR menting rock ’n’ roll, pyrotechnics, has followed squarely in NAS- lasers and make it a great show. We NASCAR CAR’s footsteps. It aims for a can make these guys heroes.” shows the way remarkably similar demographic, Like NASCAR in its early days, tries to piggyback its broadcasts the PBR has nurtured a television Randy Bernard accepted the on the televised auto races and following through cable — cur- job as CEO of the Professional Bull understands the axiom that many rently, the Outdoor Life Network Riders just weeks before Bodacious fans — of either sport — show up — and gradually bulled its way cold-cocked Hedeman on live TV. in the hope of witnessing a spec- onto network TV with NBC, which That broadcast — which came tacular crash. broadcast seven events in 2003.

Jubilant fans of rookie bull rider Jody Newberry of Ada, Okla., thrill to his score of 94.5 at the PBR World Finals in Las 3 Vegas. Newberry’s fans had waited long, tense minutes for judges to make certain Newberry rode for a full eight seconds.

As television interest has grown, more than 60,000 that have spun reap a financial bonanza of more SURVEY so has the prize money — about his odometer this year — roll by to than a quarter-million dollars. $10 million this season. Cowboys the tunes of classic country, rock For Legler, Springfield is a from as far away as Brazil and Aus- ‘n’ roll and, when fatigue sets in, a quick stop. After riding there, he’ll tralia now pursue the rising finan- quick station change to a comedy hop back in his car and drive late cial incentive, chasing down a living channel on the satellite radio his into the night to Tulsa, where he’ll and feeding their hunger for bulls. wife gave him for his birthday. catch a 5:30 a.m. flight to Califor- But the crucial calculation here nia for another PRCA rodeo. Like isn’t mileage; it’s dollars. After many of the cowboys, he works Cashing in on walking away from a PRCA event both tours, dips into both pots to both circuits in Omaha with nothing to show tough out a living. for it, Legler sees the PBR stop in “You got to rodeo a little harder,” On a Friday afternoon in Sep- Springfield as an opportunity too says the 25-year-old Eaton, Colo., tember, Jason Legler points his good to pass up. resident. “But it’s worth it in the white Chevy Lumina along the Even more important than the end.” highway from Omaha southeast to prize money, it could move Legler In a sport in which everyone Kansas City, then south to Joplin closer to qualifying for the PBR seems to be coming off some sort and east again to Springfield, Mo. World Finals — the Las Vegas of injury, Legler has been coming These 400 miles — among the season finale where a rider could to grips with a fractured eye socket

suffered in a head-butt with a bull SEPTEMBER 2003 On the road INTRO last March. S M T W T F S From Aug. 31 to Nov. 17, Jason Legler He’d broken bones before, but 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 traveled 37,902 miles to participate this was different. The pain made 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 in 23 rodeo events in 17 states. He him sick to his stomach, and when 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 successfully rode 29 bulls for the eight he blew his nose, the skin around 28 29 30 seconds and was bucked off 11 times.

his eye puffed up like some fleshy OCTOBER 2003 PART He was on the road for 53 days and at balloon, hinting at damage to his S M T W T F S home 25. He suffered 2 injuries that nasal cavity. 1 2 3 4 1 sidelined him (back and groin) for short His doctor determined Legler 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 periods. For the whole year, he earned didn’t need surgery, but advised 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 $57,000 from Professional Rodeo against riding for a while. That’s 26 27 28 29 30 31 Cowboys Association events, $24,000 when Legler picked up his first hel- NOVEMBER 2003 from Professional Bull Riders rodeos met — a modified hockey helmet PART S M T W T F S and $8,000 in endorsements. His custom-fit with a titanium cage. 1 expenses were $43,000. When the dust Against his doctor’s recommen- 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 2 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 settled, he had cleared $46,000. dation, Legler rode three times in 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 three cities over the next 72 hours. 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Days when Jason Legler was on the road He’d never worn a helmet much 30 or bull riding before, but right off the bat he took second place at an event in Austin, A group prayer usually unfolds PART Texas, and just stayed with it. somewhere behind the chutes. A small bull Although the physical effects of In hotel rooms on the road, Bible bodes trouble 3 his injury have passed, Legler faces studies spur discussion that spills mental obstacles as well. It’s the into the early-morning hours. And “Here are 45 of the bravest men ability to focus totally on the bull in an extension of the time-hon- in sports today …”

— to block out fear and self-doubt ored tradition of “cowboy church,” When the house lights go down SURVEY and just perform — that often some pro riders and fans gather in at the Hammons Center on the means the difference between arenas for informal worship. campus of Southwest Missouri recovery and the easy slip-slide to Behind the chutes in Springfield, State University, the coupling of anonymity. a young cowboy named Nick Mor- traditional Western Americana So perhaps it’s not surprising rison gathers contestants who’d and 21st-century hype begins. that bull riding has drawn many like to pray — and almost everyone A fog machine adds to the riders closer to God, or at the very at least removes his hat and keeps a introduction of the top cowboys, least caused them to consider mor- respectful silence — and quickly while rock music blares in the tality at a point in their lives when gets to the heart of the matter. background. Then comes the they are most full of themselves. “If you were to die tonight and Pledge of Allegiance and the “I probably wasn’t near as spiri- don’t know where you’d go,” the national anthem. Four projec- tual before bull riding,” Legler fresh-faced, 21-year-old Morri- tion screens suspended above the says, “but then I didn’t have near son says on bended knee, launch- arena replay every bull ride, while the danger. Guys on the road bring ing into more of a sermon than a announcers deliver a running the Lord’s word to you. It’s like a prayer, “well, don’t leave here with- commentary. guardian angel. Everyone hopes to out knowing. I don’t want to get to Jason Legler wears a black shirt have one. It’s too rough of a sport heaven and see none of you guys embroidered with the logo for Sad- not to have one.” there. That would break my heart.” dle Barn, a Roswell, N.M., retailer

that furnishes his equipment and modern marketing efforts to mint INTRO pays some modest performance a new breed of hero. bonuses. But even heroes get hurt. The cost of the equipment isn’t The PBR reached a sponsor- chump change: Chaps run $300 to ship agreement with HealthSouth, $500, the protective vest $200, a which offers riders some help with

good rope another $200. rehabilitation and other medical PART Legler has drawn Locust Creek care at the company’s facilities.

Flash, a relatively small bull but But that’s not always a realistic 1 one that bodes trouble. At 5-foot- option for far-flung cowboys. 10, Legler stands taller than most And the $500 deductible and riders, and smaller bulls — with $20,000 cap on accident insur- less girth on which to balance — ance provided by the PBR — set

can prove more difficult to keep to increase to a cap of $50,000 in PART beneath him. 2004 — barely begins to cover

Sure enough, just a few sec- medical expenses for a serious 2 onds out of the chute, the bull injury. turns back, sends Legler flying Bernard, the PBR’s chief execu- and then punctuates the ride tive, says the organization may with a head-butt to the rider’s eventually self-insure once it’s chest. Legler’s not hurt, but, with financially secure enough to PART dirt caked on his shirt, he walks absorb a $2 million to $3 million off with nothing to show for the hit in a given year. But for now, 3 long miles and long hours that riders find it next to impossible to brought him here. get their own health insurance. The show over, he signs an auto- Jason Legler of Eaton, shown at the Some find a friend willing to PBR event in Springfield, Mo., is

graph for a young boy in a white hire them for a more traditional SURVEY straw hat and ambles toward the among a few pro cowboys who wear off-season job, like framing exit. On the arena concourse, he helmets — on occasion. houses, so they can claim that as drops his dusty equipment bag their occupation on an insurance outside the public men’s room, No place for application. Filling in “bull rider” removes a plastic bag containing or “rodeo performer” brings noth- some clean clothes and goes inside prima donnas ing but rejection. to change. He emerges a few min- Other riders on both the PRCA utes later, slings his bag over one There’s little in the way of a and PBR tours place their faith in shoulder and heads for the park- financial safety net for the cow- the stopgap relief funds sponsored ing lot. boys. No guaranteed contracts, no by Justin boots and Resistol hats, “Me, I just move on,” Legler appearance money, no pay if you created to help injured competitors says. “What happens, happens. don’t play. pay expenses while they recover. No point thinking about it. A lot That makes it tough to grind out Some cowboys, recognizing the of guys look back at the year and a living, but it also enhances the high risk and short career span, regret how much time they spent, riders’ appeal among sports fans have hired agents to maximize and how many miles they drove. jaded by prima donna millionaires. their earning potential. “I think you should never look Like bull riding’s inherent danger, Mark Nestlen of Yukon, Okla.- back.” the rodeo work ethic fits well into based Cowboy Sports Agents Inc.,

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View THE DENVER POST ©2004 PAIN&GLORY PART THREE 37 INTRO “You’ve got cowboys out there who are going to ride, and they don’t care ... how many doctors tell them you can’t.” — Mark Nestlen, a sports agent representing rodeo performers PART has about two dozen rodeo per- Although the PBR offers more his recent hard luck. He quit rid-

formers in his stable. enticing money, PRCA rodeos offer ing with the headgear right after 1 “It’s such a short career, such a many bull riders more opportuni- getting dumped by his bull in small window of opportunity to ties to turn their passion into a Springfield, then took first place at make a living and establish some- viable career. Rodeos coast to coast a PRCA rodeo in Kissimmee, Fla. thing for their families, they’ve got pay the persistent cowboy enough It’s a dangerous head game, a

to get the most out of it,” Nestlen to feed both the adrenaline crav- change of strategy that exposes PART says. “They weren’t necessarily ing and the family. him to greater risk, but so far it has

getting that before.” But there’s another twist to the worked out. Still, it was a tough sell 2 In the five years that he’s been bottom line: With more dollars to his wife, Kari, who responded representing cowboys, mostly bull at stake, riders become willing to not with pleading or argument, riders, Nestlen has seen endorse- take even greater risks. but only a terse reminder: “You ment deals mushroom. One top “You’ve got cowboys out there know what I think.” client, he says, made close to who are going to ride, and they “I guess she don’t want me PART $60,000 in ancillary income five don’t care … how many doc- getting any uglier,” Legler says. years ago. Today, he makes closer tors tell them you can’t,” Nestlen “Sometimes, you got to do things 3 to $400,000. says. “You shake your head some- to get your mind back on track. It’s all about television. Nestlen times.” Next time, I might change the says network ratings drive the color of my chaps. You never know.

dollars his riders can command I might have (the helmet) back on SURVEY in sponsorship deals. Top 10 rid- Safety helmet as tomorrow. Stupid mind games ers can hit $100,000 or more. mind game guys play.” Those ranked between 10 and 20 Behind the chutes at Columbus’ in the PBR can pull in up to half In the middle of Ohio, Jason Nationwide Arena, Tandy Freeman that from makers of boots, booze, Legler rolls the dice. — the orthopedic surgeon whose jeans, riding apparel and from The road to the PBR World word is gospel to rodeo athletes assorted other companies. Finals passes through Colum- — presides over a small training Prize money alone has bus, the last stop on the top-flight room. Freeman wears blue jeans increased dramatically in the past tour. And for Legler, a rider on the and a cowboy hat and an easy, decade. The 29 top-flight PBR bubble, it’s a last-ditch effort to unflappable Texas demeanor that events each offer total purses of make the big show, to put together has contributed to his reputation. about $120,000, with $24,000 up enough quality rides to finish He and his assistants, trainers for grabs in the “Challenger” sat- among the top 45 competitors. Rich Blyn and Peter Wang, have ellite tour stops. The winner of the So he has scrapped the helmet. unpacked three trunks full of sup- World Finals weekend can make He considers this a “back to plies that follow them throughout more than $250,000, and the top basics” move, a decision grounded the tour. Crutches, gauze, ban- rider in a season-long points sys- more in superstition than safety, a dages, moleskin, back supports tem earns a $1 million bonus. what-the-heck attempt to reverse and a small pharmacy spill into

the room, where cowboys have It began two decades ago, when a letes in sports that demand more INTRO come to take pre-competition group of sports medicine experts mobility. treatment. Some pedal a stationary began tending to cowboys at PRCA “Some trainers ask, ‘Why is bike in their boots, strip off shirts rodeos across the country and that guy competing with a torn and drop jeans to have arms, ribs compiling a database of the inju- ACL?”’ says Blyn. “Well, because and legs taped and wrapped for ries they encountered. you can. You have to endure the

their rides. Freeman and the rest of his team pain for eight seconds, but it’s PART It’s a uniquely challenging area take a nonjudgmental approach something you can get away with.

of sports medicine, a service that that respects the cowboy mental- They know they’re going to be in 1 took years to gain the trust of ity, the inherent risks of the sport pain, so they don’t say anything cowboys weary of hearing doc- and the reality that riders often until an injury bugs them enough. tors respond to their injuries with choose to withstand the pain of They know when they’re hurt and a simple admonition: stop riding. injuries that would sideline ath- when they’re not.” PART PART 2 PART PART 3 SURVEY

In a training room at Las Vegas’ Thomas and Mack Center, Rich Blyn tapes the leg of bull rider Gilbert Carrillo while Cody Hart rides an inflatable medicine ball, awaiting an X-ray of his lungs. Most rodeo athletes once shunned doctors’ help, but when sports-medicine pros began treating bull riders as athletes with a need to perform, resistance began to fade.

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View THE DENVER POST ©2004 PAIN&GLORY PART THREE 39 INTRO “They know they’re going to be in pain, so they don’t say anything until an injury bugs them enough.” — Rich Blyn, a trainer commenting on the cowboy mentally PART Television monitors in the lies on a training table, bags of ice dler had been getting his diaper

training room flash the broad- stuffed inside his purple shorts to changed. 1 cast feed of the event on cable’s soothe a chronically aching right Caminhas winces from the Outdoor Life Network. One pro- hip. pain while Blyn and another rider motional feature urges viewers to “You want a bag of ice for the remove his boots and help peel “vote for your favorite rides and hotel?” Freeman offers. “Yessir.” off his blue jeans, revealing heav-

wrecks,” and proceeds to show ily taped and bandaged legs. His PART clips of remarkable ability — and protective vest deflected the blow,

savage accidents. ‘He can’t feel but the bull was among the heavi- 2 One of the crashes, barely a week anything’ est of the night and still caught old, shows rider Justin McBride Caminhas flush enough to do getting stomped by his bull — an Tony Mendes, a curly haired, some damage. injury that punctured his lung, bespectacled and contagiously Caminhas lies on his stomach, sent him to the hospital and has enthusiastic rider from Utah, ice on his back, grimacing at the PART kept him out of the Columbus stands at the end of a training TV monitor, where the competi- competition. table and changes the diaper of his tion rolls on. And where, for the 3 “Shoot, he’s just out of the hos- 1-year-old son, Klay. second night in a row, Legler has pital and they’re putting him on “What’s a horse say?” Mendes been bucked off his bull, all but the vote,” Freeman says, shaking prompts, and Klay delivers a pass- ending his hope of riding in the

his head. able whinny on cue. World Finals. SURVEY On this first night of competition Nearby, another cowboy holds The next contestant, a 29-year- in Columbus, the training room his nose. “Whew! That’s ranker old Arizona cowboy named Beau does a steady business tending to than the bulls,” he says, watching Lindley, also gets bucked off, and aches, bruises and rung bells. Mendes complete the change. lands awkwardly on his head. The All in all, it’s a typical evening There is laughter on this second fallen rider doesn’t stir. of hard luck and hard knocks. night of the Columbus competi- Suddenly, Blyn bursts into the Legler gets bucked off his bull tion, and the training room has training room. at 7.9 seconds — a hair from a been uncommonly quiet. “Can I move you?” he says to “marked ride,” but scored a fat But the mood changes quickly. Caminhas, and the urgency in his zero nonetheless — and his hopes In the arena, rider Ednei voice prompts the injured rider to of riding in Las Vegas dim. The Caminhas lands face-first in the slide to a table farther from the headline news, though, is that dirt, and his bull compounds the door. tour leader Chris Shivers scores an rough landing by stomping on his A stretcher bearing Lindley 89 that extends his lead over the back. The crowd falls silent as the enters. Freeman clears the room, injured McBride in the race for the trainers load Caminhas onto a closes the door. A few minutes million-dollar points title. stretcher, carry him to the train- later, it swings open again and Shivers ends the evening tending room and lay him on the table paramedics hustle Lindley toward ing to an injury of his own. He where, moments earlier, a tod- the loading dock.

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View THE DENVER POST ©2004 PAIN&GLORY PART THREE 40 INTRO “I prayed with him; we were shooting the breeze. And then I didn’t see him again.” — Cody Custer, remembering when fellow bull rider Glen Keeley died from severe internal injuries PART “He can’t feel anything from lyzed below the chest. Across the hall, Todd Pierce,

here down,” Freeman says sol- Custer also had been there three the former bareback rider who 1 emnly, holding his hand to his years ago, when Glen Keeley got has turned his attention full-time chest. stomped by his bull in Albuquer- to Christian ministry, also speaks The competition goes on, but que and suffered severe internal softly to a bull rider who has called the air has gone out of the arena as injuries. He talked to Keeley soon his cellphone.

word of the early symptoms circu- after but didn’t know at the time “He’s doing a lot better. … The PART lates among the riders. They greet how badly that would turn out, spinal cord’s intact …”

the news with grim expressions or either. Lindley has been wheeled to an- 2 weak assurances that he’ll come “I prayed with him; we were other part of the hospital for tests, out of it, he’ll be OK. shooting the breeze,” Custer but finally, a nurse approaches the Meanwhile, an ambulance recalls. “And then I didn’t see him cowboys and plants the seeds of rushes Lindley toward an uncer- again.” hope. tain future. Keeley later died from his inju- “He’s got some feeling in his PART ries. feet,” she reports. But this latest crash cuts partic- “Praise God,” says Pierce. 3 Praying and ularly deep. Custer taught Lindley Just minutes after Lindley went waiting at his Arizona bull-riding school down in the arena and the cow- years ago and knows the fam- boys learned the frightful early

Past midnight, cowboys are ily well. He ranks Lindley as his diagnosis, an envelope circulated. SURVEY strewn along the seventh-floor most talented student, a teenager Now, it has $1,500 inside for what- hallway of Columbus’ Grant Hospi- who, by the third day of lessons, ever Lindley’s family needs — a tal, backs to the wall, blue-jeaned was getting on the rankest bulls typical, heartfelt show of fraternal legs angling across the floor, hats he had. generosity. in their laps. Waiting for news. Lindley, he explains, also Suddenly, a gurney wheels Cody Custer, the former cham- understood the price of his pas- around the corner en route to the pion winding down a legendary sion more keenly than most. His ICU. It’s Lindley, lying with his career, has plugged his cellphone younger brother died in a bull-rid- neck in a brace. When the cow- into a wall outlet to handle the ing accident as a teen. boys leap to their feet and follow, stream of calls. At 38, he knows Custer made the first call to the attendants stop so Custer and too well the danger and heartbreak Lindley’s wife, Jaime, to give her Pierce can say a quick hello to of his sport. the news before it swung around their friend. Back in 1998, Custer had been on the cowboy grapevine. Now, he They tell him that Jaime is fly- next to ride when young sensation urges all the others who ring his ing out in the morning, and not to Jerome Davis fell off and broke cellphone to keep the faith. worry about money. The PBR will his neck in Fort Worth. He hadn’t “I think he’ll be good,” he tells pick up her travel and hotel costs, immediately realized the extent of the latest caller. “We just got to leaving the $1,500 in the envelope Davis’ injury, which left him para- keep praying for him.” for miscellaneous expenses.

Even at a dark hour, Pierce INTRO injects some cowboy levity. “You land on your head,” he jokes, “and you still get a check.” By 3 a.m., the nurses have settled Lindley into a bed next to

the window in an ICU room. They PART lead Custer and Pierce back to see

him. The cowboys stand on either 1 side of the bed, close to his head so Lindley — still in the neck brace that limits his field of vision — can see them.

They talk about … bull riding. PART Lindley has choice words for the

animal that flung him awkwardly 2 to the dirt. He asks who won and what bull he rode. Moments later, a doctor comes by on his rounds. He begins with Lindley’s feet and tests him for PART sensation, gradually moving up his leg and then to his arm and 3 hand. Lindley answers “yes” to every touch. He has some limited movement in his arms and

hands. SURVEY But he does not move his legs. “So he could just walk out of here with a neck brace in a couple days?” Pierce asks hopefully. “Possible,” says the doctor, who tempers any optimism with a disclaimer. The extent of Lind- ley’s further recovery remains unknown. He adds, in a resigned tone that suggests he knows something about cowboys, that perhaps Lindley should quit riding bulls. “We’ll see,” Lindley says. Custer pulls out his cellphone and dials Jaime. He holds the At a PBR event at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, bull phone to Lindley’s ear, so that rider Jason Legler joins other cowboys in a prayer behind the chutes. “I back in Arizona his wife can hear probably wasn’t near as spiritual before bull riding,” he says, “but then I his voice. didn’t have near the danger.”

Close Print Back 7 DIGITAL NEWSBOOK 8 Contents Search View THE DENVER POST ©2004 PAIN&GLORY PART THREE 42 INTRO “When you get that one shot, you don’t want to fall off.” — Jason Legler, commenting on the lure and risk of bull riding PART “Don’t be upset,” Lindley says, down the Strip — where, he says, grabs his bag of gear and heads for

the words sticking on dry lips. “I’m “they let me whoop and holler the door. On the way out, he runs 1 OK … don’t worry … I’ll be OK.” while I’m playing blackjack.” into a couple of buddies who drive Before they leave, Custer and For four days, he will relax and him to the arena. Pierce lay their hands on Lindley play the tables, have cocktails He punches his wife’s number and pray. and watch the bull riding. He sat into his cellphone, tells Kari the

in the stands to watch the open- news, and asks her to call his par- PART ing round, but the rest he plans ents and let them know he’s riding

‘I won’t give up to view on the hotel’s big-screen on national television. 2 ’til it’s over’ television. In the darkened Thomas and “I probably won’t be in it at all Mack Center, Legler bounds down Two weeks later, Jason Legler — a spectator for once,” he says. a long ramp beneath the glare of a stands in line at a designer coffee “Last night, I got a ticket and spotlight and raises his hat to the shop at the Mandalay Bay hotel in didn’t know where to go.” cheers that greet his name. Pyro- PART Las Vegas, wondering what in the After a tough season, he could technics flash across the arena. world “mocha” is and inquiring use the rest: just a few blessed The faint smell of sulfur mingles 3 about the definition of “latté.” weeks to try to heal a nagging with the musty aroma of the “Do you have regular coffee?” lower-back injury that has had bulls. he asks. him popping ibuprofen regularly About 90 minutes into the

After getting bucked off both — three in the morning, like vita- show, Legler straddles Black Jack, SURVEY his bulls in Columbus, Legler mins, and three more after com- who stumbles right out of the gate knew his chance of qualifying for petition. Still … and gives an awkward perfor- the PBR finale had been stomped “I knew (a ride in the Finals) mance, though Legler rides him into the arena dust. Only the top was pretty much impossible,” he capably. 45 riders make the cut. But the says, “but I won’t give up ‘til it’s The drama comes after the inevitability of injuries — such as over. eight-second buzzer, when Legler the one that struck Lindley, who At the last possible moment, tumbles off the bull and careens easily would have qualified for the Legler’s phone rings. head-first into the metal chutes. finals — means that a handful of He has been sitting in a res- The impact stuns him, but it’s alternates must be available. taurant at the Gold Coast, sipping the next couple of seconds that Seven are invited based on sea- coffee after ordering bacon and send a gasp through the crowd. son rankings. Legler is seventh on eggs for breakfast. The news stuns Black Jack dodges the bull fight- the list. him: Veteran Jim Sharp can’t ride ers’ distractions and charges the A long shot. because of a bruised rotator cuff downed cowboy. He cashed in some of his fre- from the previous night. The bull’s head and horns crash quent-flier miles and booked a Legler doesn’t wait for breakfast into the chute with a heavy, dull flight to Vegas and a hotel room to arrive. He tosses a $20 bill on thud, just inches from Legler’s at the less-ritzy Gold Coast farther the table and hustles to his room, unprotected head. The dazed rider

remains blissfully unaware. The INTRO bull fighters help him to safety. His score is relatively low, 81.5 points, owing not to Legler’s effort but the bull’s poor performance. The judges grant him the option of

a re-ride. PART At first, he’s too woozy to

respond. Blood fills his nostrils, 1 though he feels no pain in his nose. Slowly, the world swims back into focus. Re-ride? You bet.

This time Legler draws a bull PART named Red Alert. It bucks and

spins but can’t loosen the cowboy’s 2 grip. It’s a fine ride, scored a very respectable 88.5, and Legler pulls off his hat and sends it spinning, saucerlike, into the air. In a difficult season fraught PART with injuries, he salvages more In Las Vegas, Legler and stock contractor Nick Kallsen of Fort Morgan blow than a measure of pride. Although off steam at the Gold Coast Hotel’s blackjack tables. 3 Legler figures his finish — eighth best among the day’s rides — will leave him out of the money, he’s him roughly half that in travel stakes jackpots where roughstock

dead wrong. expenses. meets rough-hewn courage. And SURVEY When the competition’s final Bull riding’s revolving door it won’t keep them from seeking tally comes out, Legler has a num- of injuries, including the wreck their sport’s grandest stages. ber beside his name: $2,250. that eliminated Beau Lindley “When you get that one shot,” It’s a minor windfall, certainly from competition, contributed to Legler says, clutching a long-neck more than he expected. He does Legler’s chance for a turn in the bottle of celebratory beer, “you not even learn of the prize money national spotlight. It’s a fact of life don’t want to fall off.” until later, well after Chris Shiv- riders understand and accept. He retreats to the Gold Coast, ers has been handed an oversized For Lindley, now recuperating antes up at the blackjack table and check for $1 million and the week- in a Phoenix rehabilitation center, plays the cards he’s dealt. Ace and end champion, rookie Jody New- surgery has improved the sensa- jack. A winner. berry, accepts a check for more tion in his legs and feet. That has “Whoa, Nellie!” he shouts. than $250,000. fueled optimism about his recov- That kind of money is the pot ery, though the prognosis remains of gold at the end of a cowboy’s uncertain. ON THE WEB rainbow. But for Legler, the long Risk has never kept cowboys season ends with about $80,000 out of the dusty, flood-lit arenas in You can find related stories and in total winnings between the PBR the Texas hinterlands, the honky other special projects at: and PRCA. The cowboy life cost tonks of rural America, the small- www.denverpost.com

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