A Pinch of Rodeo

By Joe R. Nichols

CP #11-Part 3

Big Randy drew 11 at the Oklahoma City Night Rodeo.

Because of his wild bucking style, 11 would sometimes lose control of himself and stumble or fall. It didn’t happen often, but if man was sticking a ride on him, he would do anything he could to shed himself of the cowboy. As a result, he might forget where the ground was.

11 could have bucked his own tail off sooner than he could have gotten rid of Big Randy. In a final effort to shake his rider loose, he made a high twist in the air, but landed broad side flat. Randy landed on his feet, straddling the bull. He instantly jerked his hand from the rope and scampered to the fence. It was only a short distance to the fence, maybe 12 or 15 feet, and 11 was facing the opposite direction laying on his side. Randy made it, but just barely. 11 got up, swapped ends, and gave chase, nearly getting there in time to help Randy over the top rail.

In my personal knowledge, this was the only time a man escaped the wrath of this bull. In part one, I mentioned that he hooked everyone that ever I saw get on him, and this is true. You might not want to believe the rest of this story, but you’ll never convince Big Randy that this bull wasn’t haunted.

The next week we went to the Justin Spencer Memorial Rodeo in Cedarvail, Kansas. 11 was there too. As a friendly gesture, Randy offered some information about the bull to the cowboy that drew him. He explained how he bucked, but most of all, he emphasized how hard it was to get away from him. “This son-of-a-gun can come from a long ways off and still gather you up,” Randy said.

Apparently, the warning didn’t sound any different to this guy than any other tale about a bull that would hook. He soon found out, 11 was special.

11 took the rider out to the middle of the arena, and then turned inside out. He bucked his man off. The bullfighter made a perfect pass, leading the bull away, and the rider hurried to his feet. He ran for his life, but he made the mistake of assuming he had put himself out of the bulls’ range. He was only 20 feet from the chutes when he looked back. 11 was coming. Covering three times the distance, the bull freight-trained the cowboy and smashed him against the chutes.

11 made his way down the line, but all the cowboys were up high on the fence. There must have been 20 guys side by side trying to avoid the bull. Right in the middle of all these cowboys, 11 squared himself to the fence, plucked a guy off the top board with his horns, and flipped him out in the arena. He then put his head down, and ran over him.

Who was this unlucky soul? That’s right, the only man that ever got a way from him, just one week earlier. Out of all the people in and around that arena, he found Randy. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

Neither does Big Randy.