'Growing our sport one brick at a time'

By Keith Ryan Cartwright
Posted Friday, May 21, 2010

STEPHENVILLE, Texas (May 21, 2010) - Elite athletes don’t settle for anything short of winning.

In 1993, during the fifth round of the National Finals Rodeo, Ty Murray rode his bull for a disappointing 65 points. He was guaranteed a $3,500 check and a respectable fourth-place finish if he declined the re-ride option.

He didn’t.

Instead, he took his chances on the back of unridden bull named Edward Scissorhands.

While nearly everyone in the Thomas & Mack Center that day cringed, his parents and close friends all knew that he wanted a chance to win the round.

Murray rode the second bull for 80 points, finished second in the round, and five days later won his first world title in bull riding—by a margin of $95.

That year, Murray easily won the bareback and all-round titles by what he recalled as “healthy margins.” But he’s a consummate competitor, and 1993 was about winning a title he hadn’t yet claimed. It was about becoming a World Champion bull rider.

After that fifth round, Jim Shoulders introduced himself to Murray’s father, Butch, and famously said, “Tonight showed me why Ty is the best cowboy that’s ever been.”

Thursday night, the PBR lost out to the NFL for the honor of Professional Sports League of the Year at the 2010 Sports Business Awards ceremony in New York. The PBR was nominated for the award along with the NFL, NBA and MLB.

Afterward, Murray was quoted as saying, “We are growing our sport one brick at a time.”

What is the next brick Murray would like to see put in place? An ESPY nomination.

“Sports are measured by what they provide for their fans,” he said. “Professional bull riding provides its fans with well-trained, disciplined athletes competing in difficult circumstances in a sport that they are passionate about.

“The same could be said for players in the NFL, MLB and NBA, and sports like fighting, tennis, golf and others; all of which are recognized by ESPN with their own ESPY category. We at the PBR and our 44 million fans believe we’ve earned that same right.”

The sport has clearly grown by leaps and bounds.

A little more than 17 years ago, the PBR was a dream. Twenty riders each invested $1,000 to start their own organization. Later this summer, that organization will surpass $100 million in prize money paid out to bull riders.

World Champions are rewarded with a $1 million bonus. The Built Ford Tough Series drew 46,000 fans – the largest crowd in North American western sports history – to Cowboys Stadium in February. Cord McCoy and Murray each gained mainstream exposure on network television reality shows.

“Throughout my career I’ve gotten to meet a lot of other professional athletes, from John Elway and Jimmie Johnson to Laird Hamilton and Roy Jones Jr.,” Murray explained. “I watched and saw firsthand as each of them began to follow and understand our sport, and I noticed that they gained a true appreciation for our athletes and competition.

“I would be willing to compare the training regimen of Austin Meier or McKennon Wimberly, who aside from being a professional bull rider is a Golden Gloves boxer, with any athlete in the world.”

With the mainstream spotlight increasingly focused on the PBR, Murray thinks it’s important for the sport to establish its personalities not just as easily recognizable celebrities, but as elite athletes of the highest order.

“Every sport is difficult when you have the pressure of winning and losing on the line, especially when you’re talking about the highest level of competition,” Murray said, “but professional bull riding becomes all the more difficult when you factor in the extreme consequences. For me, as an athlete, that’s where the bar on this sport is really raised.

“What changes the game is split-second decision-making in very adverse conditions. You’re talking about a sport that takes a lot of understanding and a lot of knowledge and a lot of practice to get the mechanics down, but it also takes a special athlete – mentally – because you face the constant pressure of losing more than the competition.”

It’s that same competitive drive that motivates Murray, and other founders like Cody Lambert, to continue pushing the sport and striving to accomplish the next feat.

After all, Lambert said a long time ago that he and the others formed the PBR as a way of “reaching for the stars.”