Billy Etbauer, A Rodeo Legend In The Making

In Re-ride at the Rodeo, my hero, Clay Tanner, is a saddle bronc rider and even though he’s a winner, he’s not looking to make it a career. If he looks at forty-five year old Billy Etbauer’s career earnings of over $2.5 million dollars he may want to reconsider.

Billy Etbauer is just about every saddle bronc riders role model. By all accounts a modest man, Billy has been to twenty National Finals Rodeos since he became a professional saddle bronc rider twenty years ago. He’s won the NFR champion title five times and for 2008, he’s well positioned to do it again given he is only $5000 off the current leader, Cody Wright.

The 5’5”,140 lb., Oklahoma bronc rider has three children. His brothers, Robert and Dan, are also rodeo cowboys. In fact, Robert, who no longer competes, will be a pick-up man for the first time at the rodeo, an honored spot voted on by rodeo cowboys.

Today, the first day of the NFR, Billy came in second with a score of 85.5--he's still in the hunt. And Bryce Miller came in first with a score of 89 and a ride that was classic saddle bronc riding--pure poetry in motion. Check it out on ESPN at midnight.