PRORODEO Sports News - September 5, 2025

I t's rare to see Bobby Kerr without a smile on his face in and around a PRORODEO arena. It's what he lives for. It's the air he likes to breathe. Entertaining rodeo fans is something he has done for more than two decades, and since 2014 in the PRCA. He's faced many bouts with adversity, but his current fight has prov en to be his toughest. "We've basically done all we can do," Kerr said. "I've got rodeos booked as long as we are able. Some days I'm better than others." Kerr was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2021. He underwent chemotherapy treat ment, which proved to be successful as the tumor shrunk. But in 2023, it was discovered the tumor had spread to his stomach, liver, chest and lungs. At that point, Kerr said it seemed like doctors wanted to throw in the towel. Chemotherapy would only slow the spread. Experimental drugs were out of the question as he didn't want to be a guinea pig. He was offered hos pice care with the intention of it simply being used for pain management. He decided to manage the pain himself and go back on the road to perform at rodeos. Scans showed no further spreading, so doc tors gave him the go-ahead to continue doing what he loves. "We do whatever we can do for pain," Kerr said. "We usually try to time it so it's kicked in so I can do my performance. I've tweaked my performance a bit, doing stuff I know I can do." Rodeo has always been a way of life for Kerr. He has trained horses for more than 50 years and is well-known pairing his equine part ners with dogs in his act. One act, which he utilized while in Spanish Fork, Utah, involves a horse sitting in an old automobile with two dogs on the hood. It's one of his original acts that helped him earn

Bobby Kerr isn’t letting his battle with cancer sway him from doing what he loves at rodeos. PRCA photo by Steve Gray

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