ProRodeo Sports News - Oct.4, 2019

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that,’ and they said I’d die if they didn’t,” Ford said. About the same time, he also lost his house to a flood. “It’s been a tough ride for me,” Ford laughed. Riding was the first thing he wanted to get back into after his leg was amputated. “The man who made my prosthetic leg in October asked if I had any goals and I said it was to ride a horse again,” Ford said. By Christmas Eve he was back in the saddle, alongside the man who made his prosthetic leg. Shortly after losing his leg, Ford started writing about his ProRodeo experiences. By the end of 2015 he published his first book, “Walk Like AMan.” One year later, Ford returned to the Wrangler NFR as an honored guest. “I walked out there with my prosthetic leg and they had films of me at my last Finals I’d won in 1987,” Ford said. “The crowd was oohing and aahing.” FATE STEPS IN Liz Rawls didn’t like Bruce Ford when they first met 44 years ago. Eventually, Rawls became a diabetes nurse in Barrow, Alaska, while remaining in touch with her college roommate, Jane, who married Bruce’s brother, Glen. “I was standing there listening to them and I said, ‘This (Bruce) is the cockiest guy,’” Rawls laughed. “I would have nothing to do with him.” Last year, fate dealt them an unexpected hand over the Fourth of July when Rawls flew down to visit Jane and Glen and to check on Bruce. “What kind of person would I be if I let this person die on me, so I flew back to Jane and Glen’s, and a voice said to me that I needed to go,” Rawls said. “They gave me his address, and I found his house. When I got there, nobody answered the door. I walked in and Bruce was halfway to the floor. He was sweaty and his blood sugar was 35.” A little more than a year since Rawls found Ford and got him to the ER, the acquaintances are now a couple. “He’s counting his carbs and made a 180-degree turn,” Rawls said. “We’re extremely proud of him, and his doctor is amazed. He tapped Bruce on the leg and said, ‘I wrote you off as a dead man two years ago, and I’m proud of you for making this turnaround.’ He (Ford) never says, ‘Why did this happen to me? He’s always upbeat. Maybe this is how a winner is defined.” EYES ON THE HORIZON Ford and Rawls are working toward providing a place for Christian Cowboy retreats as a way to give back. “The rodeo family is awfully wonderful, but a guy humbles himself bad when he knows he’s getting close to the end of it, but it isn’t hard to say, ‘Lord, I need your help,’” Ford said. Ford continues to get calls from old friends. “You won’t believe the reach-outs I get, and that’s what makes rodeo so good,” Ford said, mentioning Donnie Gay and Sid Steiner. “There are a lot of world champions, and I feel bad if you win the world (once), but if you win it five times, they take notice. I can go anywhere in the world and someone will know me, and that’s a wonderful deal, more so than the gold buckles.” With his 67th birthday approaching, Ford can’t imagine a life without rodeo. “I probably would have been in Cañon City,” Ford laughed, referring to the supermax prison in Colorado. “I was too lazy to work and too nervous to steal, so I had to rodeo.”

Photos courtesy Bruce Ford About five years ago, Bruce Ford was outfitted with a prosthetic leg in October and by Christmas Eve, above, he achieved his goal of getting back in the saddle. Below, aspiring young cowboys with diabetes look to Ford as a role model.

ProRodeo Sports News 10/4/2019

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