PRORODEO Sports News - July 12, 2024

LIVESTOCK BULL

Mr. T Burns Rodeo Company bull was one of best ever BY TRACY RENCK W hen Hal Burns bought Mr. T, the bull just seemed like another run-of-the mill roughstock animal. Little did the Burns know the purchase he made at Jim Shoulder’s Bucking Sale in Oklahoma City at the 1983 Nationals Finals Rodeo would change the lives of he and his father Pete Burns, co-owners of Burns Rodeo Company. Mr. T, who failed as a Wrangler fighting bull for Jim Sutton, blossomed into a superstar for Burns Rodeo Company, winning 1986 PRCA Bull of the Year and the top bull of the NFR in 1986 and 1989. “Having Mr. T brought us from just being a small Wyoming outfit to being a small Wyoming outfit with a famous bull,” Hal Burns said. “He was just extremely athletic. He went to the NFR six years in a row, and it takes a special type of bull to have that sort of longevity in the sport of rodeo.” The black-and-white 1,700-pound bull with the massive rack of horns, known respectfully among PRCA bull riders as “Old Spot,” bucked at every NFR from 1985-90. Mr. T was a rank bull that left his mark in the PRCA by bucking off his share of ProRodeo Hall of Famers. In 1985 alone, Mr. T bucked off Lane Frost

James Fain photo

“He was just extremely athletic. He went to the NFR six years in a row, and it takes a special type of bull to have that sort of longevity in the sport of rodeo.” – HAL BURNS, owner

in Casper, Wyo., at the Winston Tour event and he followed that up by tossing Charles Sampson in Laramie. At the 1989 NFR, Mr. T had one of his most memorable outs. Jim Sharp, a future ProRodeo Hall of Famer and 1988 PRCA World Champion, was the first cowboy ever to ride 10 bulls at the NFR that year. Fast-forward to Round 10 of the 1989 NFR. Sharp was 9-for-9 making the whistle – then he drew Mr. T, who at that point had only been ridden once in 187 trips. Sharp nodded his head and Mr. T made three jumps, and Sharp tumbled over the beast’s head. With the fall, Sharp’s streak of 23 successful NFR rides over three years ended and Tuff Hedeman won the world title. “That was one of the most exciting moments in rodeo history,” the late Pete Burns said in the Feb. 6, 1991, edition of the ProRodeo Sports News . Burns retired Mr. T, who was 14, after the 1990 NFR, where the bull was one-for-one eliminating 1985 world champ Ted Nuce. Mr. T was sent

to the Growney Ranch in Red Bluff, Calif., where he shared a pasture with fellow ProRodeo Hall of Fame bull Red Rock. According to PRCA archives, Mr. T was ridden just three times in his career. Marty Staneart had a 93-point trip on him July 30, 1989, in the short round of the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo. That ride was overshadowed because during the same performance, Lane Frost was killed in a bull riding wreck. Ty Murray rode Mr. T in the spring of 1990 in Rapid City, S.D., and Raymond Wessel rode him at the 1990 Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo. “In my opinion, he was the greatest bucking bull who ever lived,” Pete Burns said.

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