ProRodeo Sports News - October 2, 2020

rodeo. Curry was a bit of a late bloomer by ProRodeo bull riding standards. “I didn’t rodeo hard until I was 26,” Curry said. That was the year he made his NFR debut, and Holland was on hand for all 10 rounds. “It was the most incredible sporting accomplishment I’ve seen in person,” said Holland, now president of the Panola County Cattlemen’s Association, the group behind the ProRodeo in Carthage, Texas. During the Finals, Holland and Curry didn’t talk about him riding all 10 bulls, just the bull he’d drawn for the next round. “He just took it one bull at a time, and everyone says they do that, but Norman really did it,” Holland said. “He approached it as, ‘I just need to ride this one bull.’” Curry knew he was on a hot streak by the seventh round, since he had the average title in the bag. “I just had to hang on to three more,” Curry said. “I felt like it was my job to ride them, so I did.” Curry drew Beutler &Gaylord Rodeo Company Inc.’s Black Mamba Skoal for the final round. “I had a really good bull on the last round, and he was a spinner, but if you stubbed your toe you would get bucked off,” Curry said. Curry didn’t do any celebrating after, but he returned for the 1991 NFR and felt no pressure to repeat the feat. “I never planned to get bucked off any of them, but

pay the bills,” Curry said. “I drive a semitruck, but right now it’s a dump truck.” Curry lives in De Berry, Texas, about 30 miles southwest of Shreveport, La. He has four adult children, daughters Kalli, Kenze and Taylor, and Taylor’s twin brother, Tyler. He also has three grandchildren, Caston, 8, Paxton, 4, and Jaxton, 1. “I know it doesn’t take much to make him happy,” Holland said. “He won $63,000 at the Finals, and it was a lot of money back then, but it didn’t make him any happier than when he

Curry in 1991

didn’t have it. He’s just as happy driving a dump truck.” A lot of cowboys like to jokingly say they compete for a living because they’re too nervous to steal and too lazy to work, but Curry isn’t like that. “He’d tell me he loves to work; he’d say he would rather work than rodeo, but he was good at rodeoing,” Holland laughed. “He doesn’t need fancy stuff, and he is a hard worker. He wasn’t like anyone else.” Curry won $213,457 during his ProRodeo career that lasted from 1986- 92. He finished second in the world in 1990 with $118,735 and 14th in 1991 with $49,411. He was also the 1990 RAMCircuit Finals Rodeo bull riding champion. “I miss the riding, but not the traveling,” Curry laughed.

it happens,” Curry said. “I guess riding them all is what you’re supposed to do, so I didn’t think much of it.” Black Mamba Skoal got the better of Curry at the 1991 NFR, bucking him off and knocking him out of competition in the sixth round. “What he has is a quality that I wish I had more of, that rodeo’s not what he is, it’s just what he does,” Holland said. “His life didn’t depend on it, and he loves other things like hunting and fishing. He was just really good at it (bull riding), and he was rare in that he’s not a bragger.” Replacing the adrenaline rush of ProRodeo competition is a common struggle, and Curry found an outlet in flying small planes. But flying became more like bull riding when he crashed an Ultralight aircraft in June 2017. Curry was attempting to land in his pasture, but some horses were in the way, so he tried to run them off and throttle back up. “I got to about 80 feet up and hit a tall pine tree,” Curry said. Aside from needing three surgeries, Curry was fine. “My life has been pretty boring,” Curry laughed. After rodeo, Curry bought some bucking bulls around 1999, got into building metal buildings for several years and started driving a semitruck. Curry’s final bull ride was in 2001. “I was having trouble with my right (riding) shoulder and had it operated on three times,” Curry said. “My left shoulder came out when I got bucked off, and I said that’s enough.” Thirty years after his perfect NFR, he’s just as humble about it as he was the day he made ProRodeo history. “I’m just a regular old guy who works and tries to LIFE AFTER RODEO

Fred Nyulassy photo Mesquite Rodeo’s Copenhagen Herbie was the first bull Norman Curry rode en route to a 10-for-10 at the 1990 NFR.

ProRodeo Sports News 10/2/2020

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