ProRodeo Sports News - March 3, 2023

PRORODEO HISTORY

Dan Hubbell photo Saddle bronc rider Billy Etbauer smiles while taking a victory lap after his Wrangler NFR record-setting 93-point ride on Kesler Championship Rodeo’s Cool Alley Dip in 2003.

BY ALEX RILEY Special to ProRodeo Sports News B illy Etbauer is hanging on for dear life. The sun has set in Edmond, Okla., dropping temperatures after an unseasonably warm February day. From his recliner, Etbauer needs to get a grip quickly before something breaks loose. After 20 years, legend Etbauer still atop NFR record book Still on Top

with grandfatherly pride, discussing his two grandsons, both of whom are less than two years old. It doesn’t seem like that long ago that Etbauer, a five-time Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association World Champion, was on the back of a horse, gripping a rein and hoping to hear a buzzer before hitting dirt. It’s even harder to believe that it’s been nearly two full decades since one of the biggest rides of his life.

Back in 2003, Etbauer was looking to cap a solid season with a strong showing at the National Finals Rodeo. For his fifth-round go, Etbauer had drawn Cool Alley Dip fromKesler Championship Rodeo, a horse he hadn’t personally seen over the course of the season. With the ease of instant highlights and internet video searches still years away, Etbauer turned to some fellow competitors who had experience with the animal to gather some intel. To be fair, it might not have helped.

Not that long ago, his hands would’ve been firmly clasped around the rein needed to make eight seconds as part of the saddle bronc riding competition he was about to take part in. Now, he’s holding tight to a phone in one hand and a squirming one year old grandchild in the other. “We’re starting to have all the fun with these little guys,” Etbauer said

ProRodeo Sports News 3/3/2023

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