Bodacious, reputed in rodeo circles to be “the baddest bull ever,” died recently, but lives on in the dreams and nightmares of bull riders.
The 1,950 pound Charolais-Brahma cross that terrorized the top levels of rodeo bull riding for four years in the 1990s, died May 16 of kidney failure at his northeastern Texas home.
In a short career before a 1995 retirement, Bodacious was recognized by the rodeo fraternity as one of the greatest bulls to ever explode from a chute.
“If you didn’t come to town with your riding pants on, then you weren’t going to stay on him. It was as simple as that,” said the only Canadian to ever successfully ride Bodacious.
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Greg Schlosser of Stavely, Alta., was one of only six bull riders who managed to clutch onto the back of Bodacious for the full eight-second ride. In all, Bodacious was ridden only eight times in 135 outings on the professional circuit.
“You had to keep your own head back and out of his way. If he got you moving forward, you wouldn’t be on him much longer. He was a true athlete. A Michael Jordan in a Mr. T. body. He was all muscle,” said Schlosser.
“There was no point in getting on him in a small event. Nobody would get on him for 800 bucks and risk getting his face half tore off. You need four or five grand to make the risk worthwhile.”
The bull’s owners said Bodacious’s style and size made him a challenge for riders.
Carolyn Andrews, who with husband Sammy owned Bodacious for the last nine years of his life, said the bull “would jump straight up, then plant himself on his front feet and squat down, and start walking forward and to keep from flipping over he’d have to get back in the air.
“That’s when his head would start coming up fast. And if there was the head of a rider in the way and the two met, well, you get the idea.
“I know he didn’t go out of his way to hurt those bull riders. But it could happen.”
Forced retirement
The writing was on the stall when a legend in rodeo circles defaulted at a rodeo by refusing to take Bodacious out of the chute. Tuff Hedeman refused a ride on the big bull and after that Sammy and Carolyn knew it was time for Bodacious to retire.
“Besides, he’d never killed anybody. Maybe it was a matter of time until he did. We decided that if nobody was going to want to ride him, then it was time nobody did,” said Andrews.
Bodacious had his own manager, who sold his image to companies including Coors, Skoal, Dodge Trucks and Montana Silver Smiths. Everything from T-shirts to rifles sported his image and the bull made personal appearances across the United States after retirement.
The Andrews collected semen from Bodacious. Two of his offspring are working the professional rodeo circuit. BoJan and Bokeman both show some of their sire’s attitude and athletics, said Andrews.
About 1,900 straws of semen remain and because of that, the owners say the bull may always be part of rodeo.
