Utah bull riders keeping on bucking

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2009, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Starting with Blue Stone of Ogden in 2001, Utah bull riders have won three of the past eight PRCA world championships.

Last December, Steve Woolsey, Wesley Silcox and Shawn Proctor qualified for the National Finals Rodeo, meaning Utah cowboys comprised 20 percent of the best-in-the-business field.

So what gives?

Why does Utah produce such a high number of championship-caliber bull riders?

"That's hard to say, exactly," said Woolsey. "But I think a lot of it has to do with starting early and having the right stock available when you do get started. ...

"I remember our bulls in high school -- those same ones were taken from our rodeos on the weekend to the pro rodeos during the week. So we've been getting on good stock for a long time."

Proctor agrees: "If you ride bulls like that when you're a kid, you can't help but get better."

Woolsey and Proctor credit Ben German of West Point for providing bulls that challenge young cowboys and propel careers.

A vice president on the Utah High School Rodeo Board, German is also a stock contractor. He has provided bulls to high school rodeos in Utah since the mid-1990s.

"My goal is to find and purchase the best [bulls] I can, so I can help these guys become as good as they can be," said German. "If you ride bulls that don't buck, you're not going to get as good as you can be."

German takes pride when bull riders who graduated from Utah's high school ranks -- like Stone, Woolsey, Silcox and Proctor -- succeed on rodeo's biggest stages.

"For me," he said, "it's cool to turn on the TV or go to the National Finals and see the kids who I've watched grow up."

Just as the cowboys credit German for his contribution to their success, he credits the bull riders.

"They are all very good people and they take their sport very seriously," German said. "The reason they do well is because they want to do well and they have never been afraid. Ever since they were kids, they wanted to get on the best bulls you had."

Since representing Utah in last year's National Finals Rodeo, Woolsey, Silcox and Proctor have continued their careers under a variety of circumstances and with different levels of success.

Woosley comes off a $22,000 payday at Cloverdale, B.C., although those earnings don't count toward the world standings because Canada's richest rodeo is not a PRCA-sanctioned event.

Still, Woolsey's official money total of $54,284 ranks him third heading into the Memorial Day weekend, meaning he's well-positioned for another trip to the National Finals, because the top 15 money leaders qualify.

"It's going pretty well," Woolsey said. "Everywhere I go, I'm staying on and at least placing, it seems like."

Except for some "bumps and bruises," Woolsey has managed to stay healthy, a key to any bull rider's season.

"I just try to keep my head in the right place, stay positive and take 'em one at a time," he said. "I try not to get ahead of myself."

Silcox continues an arduous comeback from a broken leg, which has contributed to a slow start this year.

Silcox fractured his leg in August during an Xtreme Bulls Tour event in Bremerton, Wash. He underwent immediate surgery.

He had amassed $111,018 in earnings before the injury, so even though he was sidelined for three months, he qualified for the National Finals.

At the NFR in December, Silcox was unable to duplicate his performance from 2007, when he rode seven of 10 bulls and claimed his first world title. But he did win the fifth round.

This season, Silcox has earned $16,571, putting him 24th on the PRCA money list and leaving him with work to do in his attempt to qualify for another National Finals.

"It's not that he's riding bad," said Woolsey, who travels with Silcox. "He just hasn't drawn the bulls he needs to. [But] I don't think his leg is bothering him too much any more. He told me last week he was feeling a lot better."

Injuries have also hampered Proctor, who won't compete again until at least October.

In the fourth round of last year's National Finals, Proctor's bull stepped on his shoulder. He kept competing, however, and ended up winning two later rounds. He finished fifth in the final standings.

The shoulder injury lingered, however, and Proctor earned only $12,502 through the first 4½ weeks of the new season.

Ranked only 34th on the money list, Proctor elected to have surgery last Tuesday to repair torn shoulder ligaments. He will be sidelined at least five months.

"I just wasn't performing as well as I should and decided it was time get it fixed," said Proctor, who plans to return at Billings in late October.

"This will be the first time I've ever sat out. ... I took that money I made at the National Finals and bought some land, so I've got plenty to do. But it's still frustrating. I'd rather be out there rodeoing."