ProRodeo Sports News - June 23, 2023

STEER WRESTLING

Luke Branquinho

Bob Click photo

Steer wrestler qualified for Wrangler NFR 14 times BY TRACY RENCK

the goal. You just try and go out there and win as much as you can and support your family and hopefully at the end of the day you are called a great champion and to be put in the Hall of Fame, that means you accomplished all that and more.” Although Branquinho had countless memorable rodeo moments – he pinpointed living the life of a PRCA cowboy as what he enjoyed most. “The memories going down the road is something I will never forget,” Branquinho said. “When you’re rodeoing, the people you meet, and the friends you are traveling with they become your family. No matter what part of the country you are in you can pick up a phone and get help if you need it. Running in the Thomas & Mack and looking up and seeing the family that supported you 365 days out of the year to try and achieve those goals and being able wave to them after the 10th round knowing you just accomplished something very few people do.” As for the origin of the booty shake, Branquinho thought it was going to be a one-off deal. “(ProRodeo Hall of Fame announcer) Bob Tallman at Omaha was trying to get some crowd engagement and they thought if I did a silly dance it might help,” Branquinho said. “I just figured if I did (the booty shake) they would never ask me again and it backfired. If I did do it at least it meant I won something.”

S teer wrestler Luke Branquinho, a five-time PRCA World Champion, heads up a star-studded 2023 induction class for the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. “I don’t even know if words can describe it,” Branquinho said. “A guy starts his rodeo career just wanting to be the best that he can and win a world championship and to win five is pretty special. Then to be able to consider myself as one of the greatest with what you guys are saying being inducted into the Hall, I don’t have words to describe it. Some of my heroes are in there obviously, John W. Jones Jr. and John W. Jones Sr., and a lot of the California cowboys that helped put ProRodeo on the map and to be able to be in that Hall with them is very special.” Branquinho, who was known for his booty shake, qualified for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo 14 times – 2001-04, 2006-15 – and won world titles in 2004, 2008, 2011-12 and 2014. He has the record for most NFR rounds won by a steer wrestler at 25. “It still hasn’t sunk in that I’m going to be a Hall of Famer,” Branquinho said. “To be in the same building as the legends of the sport is still a little bit surreal that I’m going to be in there with them. When a person starts this journey of rodeo, being a hall of famer is not necessarily

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