ProRodeo Sports News - March 23, 2018

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ...

“My first year at the Finals, I went to 125 rounds in the bullfights,” Donny said. “You’re trying to make a living and get that money while you could. I was probably the reason they put a limit.” Their signature move was jumping a bull. “People liked it and it won a lot of bullfights and won a lot of fans, but it never got me a gold buckle and that really hurt,” Donny said. With notoriety came endorsements and money. “I would include him because without him I wouldn’t be there, and I wouldn’t have kept going,” Ronny said. “Wrangler was great to us, I will brag on them all day, and Justin Sportsmedicine. If it wasn’t for them, there were a bunch of NFRs I wouldn’t have gone to.” TAKING LICKS When it comes to injuries, it might be easier to list what they haven’t broken, Ronny said. Donny broke his back once and his neck once. Ronny broke his back twice and neck once. While the twins have identical scars on their shoulders and knees from surgeries, Ronny is about an inch shorter than Donny. “We figured our sophomore or junior year when he broke his back, he quit growing,” Donny said. “Ronny has an X (shaped scar) between his eyes from when a cow was in the squeeze chute. He got it between the eyes and it split like a watermelon and knocked him coo-coo.” On one occasion, Donny found himself having trouble breathing after a bullfight and was told to come to the Justin Sportsmedicine trailer once his adrenaline rush wore off. The Justin Sportsmedicine crew determined Donny broke some ribs and might have punctured his lungs, so he was sent to the hospital for X-rays. He found out his seventh and eighth ribs were broken and his lungs were bruised, but not fully punctured. He went on to win three rounds of freestyle bullfighting the next day. “These kids today want to do drugs and get high, but they have no idea the best high in the world is adrenaline. It’s a life saver,” Donny said. Ronny broke his back in 1982 and again in 1986. He was hospitalized for two weeks in 1992 and slept flat on his back for a year without a pillow and had to wear a brace. “Being hurt sucked,” Ronny said. “But we were so motivated on competing.” Ronny broke his ankle and suffered a ruptured ligament six weeks before the 1993 NFR. Initially, he was told he wouldn’t be able to compete. But he came back and tied the arena record of 89 points. Twelve years later, Ronny broke his neck in 2005. That’s when his wife said she’d had enough, it was time for Ronny to retire. “My words then, as many times before, were, ‘I fought them before I married you,’” Ronny laughed. NEVER REALLY RETIRED Now, the brothers work regular jobs in the Texarkana, Texas, area, but they remain connected to rodeo as bullfighting judges and coaches. “My head is still in it and my heart, but my body can’t take the shots,” Donny said. “I didn’t want to cause someone to get hurt. It’s like a vacation every day you go to a rodeo, you see great people and the world.” Ronny retired from bullfighting in 2005, Donny retired in August 2008. “You’d brush it off even though it hurt like you never hurt before,” Donny said. “I wish I could do it all over again, it’s the best life ever.” Donny was presented with a rifle after his final bullfight in Cody, Wyo. “I said, if you come out of retirement, you will have to give that gun back,” Ronny said. “There’s been thoughts of doing it again because your heart was just so much in it and it’s like we could do it again, and your body is like, ‘The hell with you.’” Ronny has a farm in Red River Bottoms, where he hosts Wednesday night “choir practice” – also known as relaxing with friends. “A lot of their wives, if someone asks where they are, instead of saying he’s drinking beer at Sparks’, he was at choir practice,” Ronny laughed. “Now I’mwaiting for a call fromHall,” Ronny said, noting that he’d had some letters written to have him inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.

DONNY SPARKS FAMILY: wife, Stephanie, and sons Landon Wil and Brecken Ames OCCUPATION: Foreman for the Texarkana street department PRCA MEMBERSHIP: 1988-2008 INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENTS: Three-time Wrangler reserve champion bullfighter (1989, ’90, ’92); competed at the Wrangler

Bullfight Tour Finals (1989-92, 1995-96); two-time Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo bullfighter; fought bulls at the Southeastern and Prairie Circuit Finals Rodeos. Ben Johnson pro/celebrity bullfighting champion (1988). Fought bulls on TV series “Dallas” in 1985, stunt double for Don Johnson in “Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man” and

for Dwight Yoakam in “Painted Hero.” RONNY SPARKS FAMILY: Wife, Dayla; son, Cash; daughter-in-law, Jessica; grandsons Cooper, 8, and Owen, born March 14, 2018; and granddaughter, Addison, 7 OCCUPATION: Manager of the fertilizer division of Miller Bowie Farmers Co-op PRCA MEMBERSHIP: 1988-2005 INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENTS: Three-

time Wrangler World Champion Bullfighter (1992-93, ’95); reserve world champion bullfighter (1994); fought bulls at the Texas, Prairie and Great Lakes Circuit Finals Rodeos.

Even though they didn’t get to work together often on protecting bull riders, Donny said Ronny was his favorite partner inside the arena. “When fighting bulls and saving cowboys, it’s a game of centimeters and if you have to stop and think you are late,” Donny said. “You can’t think about where you need to be, just have to react to an instinct like a sixth sense.” That sixth sense is active today while the twins live about a half-hour apart, Donny in De Kalb, Texas, and Ronny in Redwater, Texas. “We’re 54 years old, and this is scary as hell,” Ronny said, “the wives will plan something like going out to eat and he’ll show up at the house and we’d have the same shirt on.” GOING BIG Ronny was the world champion freestyle bullfighter in 1992-93 and 1995. Donny was the reserve world champion in 1989, 1990 and 1992. “I didn’t think I would do it ahead of Donny,” Ronny said. “If anyone deserved it, it was him. Winning the first one in 1992 and beating him like I did, it hurt both of us.” During Donny’s first two years on the Wrangler bullfighting tour, he had a bullfight every weekend with 60 stops on the tour. After his third year, a limit of 32 competitions was implemented.

ProRodeo Sports News 3/23/18

ProRodeo.com

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