ADA, Okla. – Tahonta’s Shadow got the better of Cord McCoy in Oklahoma City during the Feb. 13 first round of the Express Classic, dropping the bull rider to the Ford Center dirt.
Then the bull really let the veteran cowboy have it.
“He hit me with the horn right in the front of my chest,” said McCoy, who on May 29-30 will host the Cord McCoy Invitational at the Pontonoc County Agri-Plex in Ada, just a stone’s throw from his home in Tupelo.
The original diagnosis was likely a broken rib, but that’s been downgraded to a separated or misplaced rib.
“Basically, where the bull’s horn went in, it separated,” said McCoy, who’s dealt with his fair share of injuries in his career. “The good news is, it’s just going to be pain. I don’t have to worry about a part of my rib doing some other damage like puncturing a lung or anything.”
The pain’s fairly substantial, just a week after the wreck. So McCoy wasn’t able to make the Feb. 20-21 event in Anaheim, Calif., and the Feb. 22 event in Glendale, Ariz. He expects to return to action Feb. 27-March 1 for the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Invitational in St. Louis and the following weekend at the Kansas City Invitational.
“If it’s just pain, I can deal with that,” said McCoy, a five-time International Professional Rodeo Association champion – including two coveted all-around titles.
He has gone from being a favorite son to his home state of Oklahoma to being a fan favorite worldwide. His smile comes easy, whether he rides for 90 points or is bucked off at the buzzer. That’s why so many fans have fallen for the red-headed wonder.
The Cord McCoy Invitational will be part of the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Tour, and money won in Ada will count toward qualification to the PBR World Finals, which take place each fall in Las Vegas. The top 45 cowboys on the money list at the end of the regular season qualify for the year-end championship, and McCoy has played on the PBR’s biggest stage each of the last three years.
In addition to the Cord McCoy Invitational featuring the best bull riders in the sport, the event is part of the Extreme Bull Sports and will also feature the top cowboys in the Professional Bullfighters Daisy Protection Bullfight Tour, a competition that focuses on the basics of good protection bullfighting.
Tickets will go on sale toward the end of April, first of May. The Pontotoc County Agri-Plex will seat about 5,000 fans, so it will be imperative for those interested in seeing some of the greatest cowboys battling the toughest bulls in the business to get their tickets in advance.
“I’ve got some deep bruising, and it’s a little sore,” McCoy said, downplaying the injury some. “I think I’ll be OK in a week or so. But, shoot, I can hold my breath for eight seconds, through the pain. If that’s all it takes, I’ll be alright.”
