ProRodeo Sports News - April 29, 2022

Photos courtesy Myron Duarte Myron Duarte, left, sits in the driver’s seat in one of the big rigs he owns. When Duarte first retired from bull riding in 2013, he transitioned into running his Duarte Trucking, LLC, company, a livestock hauling business.

behind PRCAWorld Champ Blue Stone. In his long career, Duarte has earned $1,053,845 . . . and counting. At the young age of 54, Duarte decided to jump back into the arena in the fall of 2021, entering his first ProRodeos in eight years. “It’s kind of like when I started,” he joked of teasing the “kids” riding today. “I said, bull riding ain’t that hard.” Duarte has been busy in recent years with Duarte Trucking, LLC, a livestock hauling business that keeps him on the road as much as rodeoing used to. Since he also hauls rodeo livestock, he was finding himself at many of the California rodeos. “I figured since I was there anyway, I might as well enter,” he said. Without any practice, he jumped in cold turkey at Bakersfield in October. He not only rode his first bull—a bull called Bamboozled—in years, but he also won the rodeo and $1,577, enough to land him sixth in the current California Circuit standings and knocking on the door to another circuit finals rodeo qualification. But business comes first, and Duarte didn’t enter the just completed big California spring rodeos in Red Bluff and Clovis. “This is a busy time for me, hauling cattle,” Duarte said. “I’m not going to set my trucking business aside to go play rodeo like I used to.” That doesn’t mean last fall’s three rodeo run was the second end for Duarte’s career though. “I’ll enter a little bit, see what happens,” he said. “We used to try to enter for the right perf, the right pen to draw at . . . now it’s whatever. Now, I’m just entering to have fun.”

Duarte compares the success of his trucking business now with his start in rodeo on the mainland. “You start out with the hope of making something out of it,” he said. “Like when I came here, I was just hoping to land in the top 50, I figured that would be a big achievement for a guy fromHawaii.” Back then, Duarte said not many Hawaiian cowboys believed they could compete in ProRodeo, a trend he helped break with his long and successful career. “I see more coming over now, seeing that it’s not impossible,” he said, pointing to fellowHawaiian Cody Cabral, who made the NFR in steer wrestling in 2016, as well as other cowboys currently competing. Over the course of his career, Duarte won nearly every major rodeo, from Reno to Houston, fromGreeley to the RAMNational Circuit Finals Rodeo. The Reno win came thanks to a 94-point trip aboard Big Bend’s Tahonta in the short go, one of just a handful of qualified rides ever given up by the bull. Another favorite memory was riding Andrews Rodeo’s Skat Kat. “Those stand out in my mind because of who those bulls were at that time,” Duarte said. While Duarte is throwing his hat back in the ring, literally, he notes that his job hauling livestock has helped him stay in the sport too. “All I did was rodeo, so all my friends were rodeo people,” he said. “This keeps me tied to rodeo, to my friends, my family. I think that’s the saddest part of rodeo, when you’re done, you’re done, and you lose those connections.” Luckily, Duarte has found a way to stay connected, both in work and in ribbing a whole new generation about how easy it is to ride bulls.

ProRodeo Sports News 4/29/2022

ProRodeo.com

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