PRORODEO Sports News | Roy Cooper 1955-2025 | May 2, 2025

SHORT ROUND

ERNIE COURSON ON MEND AFTER INJURY SUSTAINED AT RED BLUFF ROUND-UP

E rnie Courson faced an injury set back on April 19 during the Red Bluff (Calif.) Round-Up. The 31-year-old bull rider got hung up during a ride and took a horn to the midsection. The blow resulted in bro ken fifth and sixth ribs and a severely bruised lung that was completely collapsed. "They couldn't really hear anything at the rodeo, so they immediately put me in the ambulance and closed the door," Courson said. "Then they were able to listen and couldn't hear any sounds from my lung. Then, within a few seconds, I had a chest tube in, and they got me to the hospital." Courson was in the intensive care unit at a local hospital in Red Bluff on April 19 until early morning of April 22, when he was moved to a regular room. The Okeechobee, Fla., native credits the paramedics on the scene for sav ing his life by relieving the pressure in his chest cavity on the way to the hospital. "If the paramedic wouldn't have re acted as fast as he did with the needle decompression, they said I probably wouldn't have made it to the hospital," Courson said. Courson hopes to be back on the ro deo road after two months of recov ery. He's earned nearly $30,000 so

far this season and sits in the top 25 of the PRCA | Bill Fick Ford World Standings. "Once I get released from the hos

pital, I will come up with a new plan," Courson said.

"I think we've still got enough time to make the NFR." Courson attended the final per for mance of the Clovis

(Calif.) Rodeo on April 27. He

told the PRORODEO Sports News he hoped to return home to Florida in the coming days after being released from the hospital.

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