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Charles "Charlie" Sampson (born July 2, 1957) is an American former professional rodeo cowboy who specialized in bull riding. He was the 1982 Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) World Champion bull rider. [1] He is the first African American cowboy to win a world championship in professional rodeo. He was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1996.
Sampson was born in Los Angeles, California, on July 2, 1957. To avoid the violence that surrounded him as a boy, he took a job at a riding stables near Gardena, California. There he sparked an interest in horses and rodeo. He was a fan of the famous African-American bull rider, Myrtis Dightman, who was known as the "Jackie Robinson of Rodeo". [2]
Sampson stands 5 feet, 4 inches tall. He was a ground breaking rodeo cowboy. He was the first African American to win a world title in the PRCA. [3] In 1983, there were only six black members of the PRCA. Sampson was competing on a national level. Sampson very rarely mentioned race as an issue, even though he was competing in a sport dominated by white competitors. Sampson once said in The New York Times , "I haven't encountered discrimination as much as ignorance. Some people still don't realize that something like a quarter of all the cowboys back in the old West were black." [4] Currently he works at "The Cody Dude Ranch" in Cody, Wyoming.
He is known for his many injuries as well. Sampson's left calf has 17 pins and two metal plates. In the New York Times Magazine, Sampson noted, "In 1983, a bull jerked me down and cracked my skull--I broke every bone in my face except my nose. I broke my ankle, my leg, my sternum, my wrist. In '88, I had an ear ripped off when a bull ran over me and his foot caught my hat." [5] The 1983 ordeal was when his face was shattered at the 1983 PRCA Presidential Command Performance Rodeo in Landover, Maryland, with then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan witnessing the wreck. Sampson's PRCA career lasted almost 20 years, with 11 National Finals Rodeo (NFR) trips.
He retired after the National Circuit Finals Rodeo in Pocatello, Idaho, in 1994. [6] He spent his retirement doing ads for companies like Wrangler Jeans and Timex. In 1996, he was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. [6]
Sampson attended Central Arizona College. He married Marilyn Casmon in 1984. Casmon hailed from Big Spring, Texas. The Sampsons had two sons: Laurence Charles who was born in 1984, and Daniel Carl who was born in 1988. They made their home in Aurora, Colorado. [13]
Lane Clyde Frost was an American professional rodeo cowboy who specialized in bull riding, and competed in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). He was the 1987 PRCA World Champion bull rider. He was also the only rider to score qualified rides on Red Rock, the 1987 PRCA Bucking Bull of the Year. Frost sustained severe injuries at the 1989 Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo when the bull Takin' Care of Business struck him after the ride, and he was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Bodacious #J-31 was an American bucking bull. He was known throughout the rodeo world as "the world's most dangerous bull". He was also known as "the greatest bull ever to buck". During his rodeo career, he was the 1994 and 1995 Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association (PRCA) Bucking Bull of the Year, as well as the 1995 Professional Bull Riders (PBR) World Champion Bull. He and Bruiser are the only bulls who have won bucking bull world championship titles in both organizations. Bodacious is most well known for his serious injury to bull riding icon Tuff Hedeman. Not long after, Bodacious also seriously injured Scott Breding. His owner, Sammy Andrews, then retired Bodacious. In 1999, Bodacious was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame, and in 2017 into the Bull Riding Hall of Fame. In 2019, the PBR inducted Bodacious into the Brand of Honor, which is part of the PBR's Heroes and Legends Celebration, the PBR's unique way of honoring outstanding individuals and livestock in the sport of rodeo.
The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) is the largest rodeo organization in the world. It sanctions events in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, with members from said countries, as well as others. Its championship event is the National Finals Rodeo (NFR). The PRCA is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States.
The ProRodeo Hall of Fame and Museum of the American Cowboy was opened in August 1979 as a museum designed to "preserve the legacy of the cowboy contests, the heritage and culture of those original competitions, and the champions of the past, present and future." It is located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and only inducts Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and Women's Professional Rodeo Association members. It is the "only museum in the world devoted exclusively to the sport of professional rodeo."
Robert Edward "Rob" Smets, known professionally as The Kamikaze Kid, is an American former professional rodeo bullfighter.
Larry Mahan was an American professional rodeo cowboy. He won six all-around world championships and two bull riding world championships in the Rodeo Cowboys Association circuit at the National Finals Rodeo.
James A. Shoulders, also known as Jim Shoulders, was an American professional rodeo cowboy and rancher. He is commemorated at the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. At the time of his death, he was one of the most successful contestants in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA), having won 16 World Championships, which was the most of any performer at that time. He was known as the 'Babe Ruth of rodeo'.
Richard Neale "Tuff" Hedeman is an American former professional rodeo cowboy who specializes in bull riding. He won the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) bull riding world championship three times, as well as the 1995 Professional Bull Riders (PBR) world championship. He also won the 1993 world championship for the now-defunct Bull Riders Only (BRO) organization. He is also one of the co-founders of the PBR and is known for having been one of rodeo icons Lane Frost's closest friends. Hedeman and the infamous bucking bull Bodacious had a few historic clashes. He later served as the President of the PBR and then the President and Ambassador of Championship Bull Riding (CBR). In 2018, he formed his own bull riding organization: the Tuff Hedeman Bull Riding Tour (THBRT).
Adriano Silva Morães is a Brazilian former professional rodeo cowboy who specialized in bull riding. He was one of the leading bull riders in the world from the mid-1990s to 2000s, with two titles at the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) and three Professional Bull Riders (PBR) world titles to his credit.
DonaldGay is an American former professional rodeo cowboy who specialized in bull riding. He won eight Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) bull riding world championships, a record as of 2022. His father, Neal Gay, was a well-known rodeo competitor and later rodeo producer and stock contractor. Don was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1979; Neal was inducted in 1993, becoming the only father and son to receive that honor. In 2015, Don was inducted into the Bull Riding Hall of Fame.
Myrtis Dightman is an American former professional rodeo cowboy who specialized in bull riding. He is a ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductee. Known as the "Jackie Robinson of Rodeo", Dightman was the first African-American to compete at the National Finals Rodeo.
Ted Nuce is an American former professional rodeo cowboy who specialized in bull riding. He was the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) World Champion bull rider in 1985. He also won the Professional Bull Riders (PBR)'s inaugural World Finals event in 1994. He was also a co-founder of the PBR. He qualified 14 times for the NFR (1982-1995) and qualified for the first two PBR World Finals (1994-1995).
James Sharp also known as Jim "Razor" Sharp is an American former professional rodeo cowboy who specialized in bull riding. In 1988, he became the first bull rider in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA)’s National Finals Rodeo history to successfully ride each of his 10 bulls during the champion-crowning event. The record-breaking performance earned Sharp his first of two PRCA World Champion Bull Rider titles. He rode professionally for nearly 20 years, and was a co-founder of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR). He is considered among the most talented bull riders in history.
Scott Mendes is an American former professional rodeo cowboy who specialized in bull riding. He won the 1997 Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) bull riding world championship, and is the inventor of Rodeo Judge, the original rodeo card game. He was also a co-founder of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR). In 2022, he was inducted into the Bull Riding Hall of Fame.
Skoal Pacific Bell #14 was an American bucking bull best known for being the only three-time consecutive Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) Bucking Bull of the Year and for only being ridden 5 times in 150 attempts. In 2007, he was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. As of 2016, he was the seventh and most recent bull so honored. The PRCA said in an official YouTube induction video that "Skoal Pacific Bell was a crowd pleaser and a cowboy challenger."
The Professional Bull Riders Heroes and Legends celebration honors five divisions in the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) and Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA), including the best bucking bulls.
The Bull Riding Hall of Fame, located at Cowtown Coliseum in the Fort Worth Stockyards in Fort Worth, Texas, United States, is a hall of fame for the sport of bull riding. It is incorporated as a non-profit organization in the State of Texas, and created to "recognize, memorialize, and applaud the bull riders, bullfighters, bulls, stock contractors, events, and individuals who have made a historic contribution and attained stellar performance in the sport." Membership is open to fans worldwide.
Phil Lyne is an American former professional rodeo cowboy who competed in the Rodeo Cowboys Association (RCA)/Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). Lyne was the RCA Rookie of the Year in 1969. Two seasons later at the National Finals Rodeo (NFR), in 1971, he won the all-around cowboy world championship and the tie-down roping world championship. At the NFR in 1972, he repeated as the all-around world champion cowboy and added a second tie-down roping world championship. Lyne won his first and only steer roping world championship at the National Finals Steer Roping (NFSR) in 1990. He was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1979.
Sage Steele Kimzey is an American professional rodeo cowboy who specializes in bull riding. He competes on the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) and Professional Bull Riders (PBR) circuits, and has won seven PRCA bull riding world championships. He was also a three-time world champion of the now-defunct Championship Bull Riding (CBR) organization. As of 2023, he rides for the Carolina Cowboys during the PBR Team Series season.
Cody Snyder is a Canadian former professional rodeo cowboy who specialized in bull riding and is a current bull riding event producer. In 1983, Snyder became the first Canadian to win the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) bull riding world championship at the National Finals Rodeo (NFR). He holds the highest-scored ride in Canadian Professional Rodeo Association (CPRA) history, scoring 95 points in 1983. He is an inductee of the Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame, Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Ring of Honor, Alberta Sports Hall of Fame and most recently the Bull Riding Hall of Fame. Since his retirement in 1993, Snyder has produced over 400 bull riding events across North America under his company Bullbustin' Inc. He has also appeared as a color commentator for rodeo events on ESPN, OLN, Sportsnet, TSN, and CBC.
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