ProRodeo Sports News, June 1, 2018

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ...

Motivation helps bull rider overcome injuries Mike Moore

Mike Moore was on a roll in 2003. He won the Xtreme Bulls Tour and qualified for his third of four trips to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. PRCA ProRodeo file photo by Mike Copeman

BY MATT NABER A n appetite for gold kept bull rider Mike Moore trucking through injuries as he qualified for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo four times. Although the cowboy fromKankakee, Ill., never won the gold, he won plenty of green. From 1998-2010 he claimed $765,174 in prize money and a lifetime of memories. “I kept going because I wanted the buckle so bad,” Moore said. “When I was rodeoing, that was my only focus, that was it, nothing else mattered to me but my family and rodeo. Those were what kept me going.” Now he’s leading a life more satisfying than winning the world. Moore

got married five years ago to his longtime girlfriend, Jeanette, who has two sons from her previous marriage: Grant, 19, and Ty, 16. “I am happier than I ever have been,” Moore said. At 45, Moore is living in the Houston area while working as a lift operator for Goodman Manufacturing – which makes air conditioners and heaters. “I’m an average working man now, living as a civilian,” Moore laughed. ANYTHING BUTAVERAGE Moore narrowly missed Rookie of the Year in 1998, but he made his first of four Wrangler NFR qualifications in 1999 – one year earlier than his goal. “I was pretty proud of that,” Moore said, crediting his family’s support.

ProRodeo Sports News 6/1/2018

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