ProRodeo Sports News - April 3, 2020

CATCHING UP WITH ... WADE LESLIE

100-Point Cowboy

THE BULL #624 Wolfman raised by Don Kish • Descended from ProRodeo Hall of Fame bulls Red Rock (grandfather) and Oscar (father) • Bucked at the Wran- gler NFR in 1991-94 • 1991: Wrangler NFR Bucking Bull of the Finals, Sierra Circuit Bucking Bull of the Year • 1994: Sierra Circuit Bucking Bull of the Year • 1995: Retired • Lived until Jan. 25, 2004

PRCA ProRodeo file photo Wade Leslie taught himself through trial and error how to build modified wheelchairs that allow a paralyzed person to be active outdoors.

Leslie overcomes paralysis to help others enjoy life BY MATT NABER W hat do you do once you achieve perfection? That was the conundrum bull rider Wade Leslie faced after becoming the only ProRodeo athlete to make a perfect, 100-point ride. Leslie accomplished that on Growney’s Wolfman in Central Point, Ore., in 1991. The closest anyone else has come was Denny Flynn with his 98-point ride on Steiner’s Red Lightning in Palestine, Ill., in 1979, and Don Gay with a 97-point ride on RSC’s Oscar in San Francisco in 1977. Ten years after his perfect ride, Leslie faced a new

challenge when a vehicular accident left him paralyzed from the waist down. “I think with bull riders, things like that can happen, and we are taught all along to keep trying,” said Leslie, 56. “When something like this happens, we don’t give up and do the best we can with what we have been dealt.” Leslie’s perfect ride aboardWolfman was nearly disastrous. Instead, Leslie andWolfman are forever linked in ProRodeo history. “When you do it right it’s easy, but when you make mistakes, you start feeling the power,” Leslie said. “But when it goes right, it’s plumb easy. He (Wolfman) had reared up and almost smacked me in the face, so it almost didn’t happen, and then it was 900 mph.” The thrill of the ride didn’t last long as life went back to normal after Central Point. “It played with my head at the next one when they would announce it,” Leslie said. “You feel like you ACHIEVING PERFECTION

ProRodeo Sports News 4/3/2020

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