ProRodeo Sports News - May 27, 2022

IN MEMORIAM SWEET PRO’S BRUISER Gone Too Soon

has earnings more than $1 million and his offspring are starting to show out now. We are just scratching the surface of what his offspring will do. His toughness, physically and mentally along with his athletic ability, all those things are inheritable. As long as there is rodeo and bull riding, you never run out of SweetPro’s Bruiser. That will be part of the game from now on.” Bruiser’s talent isn’t lost on the PRCA’s best bull riders – like world champion Sage Kimzey. Kimzey, a seven-time world champ – 2014-19 and 2021 – made the most memorable ride of his career aboard Bruiser. In Round 8, of the 2019Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. Kimzey had a 94-point ride on SweetPro’s Bruiser. SweetPro’s Bruiser was voted bull of the night for Round 8, and it is a ride Kimzey will never forget. “As a bull rider, Bruiser is one you dream to get on and I’m glad it happened,” Kimzey said to the ProRodeo Sports News about his lone ride on the rank bull following Bruiser’s retirement. “In my opinion, he’s probably the coolest bucking bull of all time. He’s a pet in the back pen. You can go love on

him and scratch him. He was a fair competitor. He stands good in the box and he’s all you can ask for. He’s super athletic and super fair and honest every trip. He has the wow factor.” J.W. Harris won back-to-back-to-back world titles from 2008-10 and added his fourth in 2013. He won the 2019 San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo with a 92.5-point ride on SweetPro’s Bruiser in the finals. Harris gushed about Bruiser’s ability. “I wish every bull was like Bruiser,” said Harris, who retired from competition in May of 2021. “Don’t get me wrong, the bull bucked. But he was the kind you wanted to get on every time you went somewhere because you know if you ride him, you’re going to win. But shoot, you stub your toe on him once and he would throw you off. “He’s just a cool animal. He’s gentle and you can walk up and scratch him, yet he will probably go down as one of the greatest bucking bulls ever. He just moved so fluid. Whenever you watch him, it looked like he did things with ease. I was a fan of him.”

PRCA ProRodeo file photos by Clay Guardipee Powder River’s SweetPro’s Bruiser, above, jogs down the pen at the 2019 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. At right, Sage Kimzey had a 94-point ride on SweetPro’s Bruiser to win Round 8 of the 2019 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas.

Superstar bull SweetPro’s Bruiser passes away at 11 BY TRACY RENCK P owder River Rodeo’s SweetPro’s Bruiser, a superstar award-winning bull in the PRCA, passed away May 17. He was 11. SweetPro’s Bruiser was the 2017 PRCA Bull of the Year and was second in 2018. Bruiser also was top bull of the NFR in 2015 and 2017, and 2019. He retired in October of 2021. had him back here (at the ranch for three weeks) trying to get him back going and I finally decided to let him go. I buried (Bruiser) right there with Shepherd Hills Tested, Long John and Mossy Oak Mudslinger.” Page was coming to grips with the loss of Bruiser. “He was a great bull as far as bucking goes,” Page said. “That’s no

secret. Everybody knew how talented he was, but a lot of people didn’t know him personally like I did. He was part of my daily grind. Bruiser had quite the personality. He wouldn’t walk past a post without scratching on it and he would holler at you every time he would see you walk by, and he would holler until you went over there and gave him a scratch. He was one of-a-kind. “He’s done more for my family probably more than any bull ever. He

H.D. Page, who owned Bruiser, said Bruiser was turned out on cows and broke his pelvis around a month ago while at Page’s D&HCattle Company in Dickson, Okla. “He tore a ligament two years ago (in his leg) and that ligament was weak,” Page said. “I also think that pelvis might have pinched a nerve. I

ProRodeo Sports News 5/27/2022

ProRodeo Sports News 5/27/2022

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