Kick Off Party
The Corona Club
Acuña, Mexico
9:00pm Thursday April 29^th

Go Here for Information About This Year's Event !

Who do bull owners trust with million dollar bulls?
by John Ludlum

Suppose you own bulls that cost $3,000 to $250,000. Your bull(s) are going to be bucked at the 33^rd George Paul Memorial Bull Riding May 1-2, 2010, a Championship Bull Riding event. Bulls are trucked to Del Rio by numerous stock contractors and owners and placed in holding pens at the Val Verde County Fairgrounds. The schedule is prepared for the event and the order in which the bulls are to be bucked is determined by Tuff Hedeman, four-time world champion bull rider and CBR President. Bulls don’t just ease into the chute on command and in order of appearance. Some are easy to manage, some cantankerous, some down right mean and want to hunt and gore you. How are these temperamental bovine athletes made to go where they should and be there when they should be? The answer, you hire Robert Williams, former rodeo clown, bull fighter, barrel man and rodeo cowboy. The Kyle, TX resident has been with CBR since its inception. The former World Bullfighting Championship, Las Vegas, NV barrel man has a wealth of knowledge in bull savvy.

Tuff Hedeman and Ray Clary CBR Production manager both have nothing but high praise for Williams. In an interview Hedeman said, “We have owners who have invested blood, sweat, tears and a bundle of money developing blood lines and raising bulls that buck. They are expensive animals and I have to have the best man available to handle these prized animals when they come to a CBR event. Robert, (known as PawPaw by his peers) has a way with bulls that few men do. He can just get them to do what he needs them to do because he understands bulls, gets to know their personalities. He figures out their likes and dislikes and encourages them to behave as much as you can get a bull to do what you want them to do.” Hedeman continued, “PawPaw studies bulls when he has a new one to deal with, asks the owner(s) about what will be the best approach to handling the animal then adds his own unique way of communicating with the bull(s) and gets the job done. At Del Rio he will be dealing with over a million dollars in bucking stock and we can’t afford just anyone to protect these bulls and his staff to keep their best interest at heart. PawPaw, he’s just the best there is.”

Arena production manager and bull fighter Ray Clary added, “We have a tight production schedule and we try and have a performance from start to finish done in no more than two and one-half hours. I have to deal with riders, bulls, committee needs for their particular event and a lot of details. I absolutely cannot have a livestock manager who doesn’t know how to motivate and load bulls in the order we need them. I never worry about PawPaw and his ability to get the job done. He’s a guy that just knows how to get the most out of the bulls without getting them stirred up before the riders get on them. He can keep bulls as calm as you can keep a bull and makes it easier for the riders to get his rope on their bull and get out of the chute on him. Last year at the George Paul on Sunday when the event was over PawPaw was drained. I mean he had no gas left in his tank, was ringing wet and I bet lost 10 pounds due to the heat but, every bull was loaded as they were suppose to be and on time. He is a pro and God help us if we every have to replace him.”

Perhaps Trent West, owner of the 33^rd George Paul Memorial Bull Riding, Ram Country Dodge Bounty Bull and CBR 2009 Bull of the Year, Texas Cocktail, said it best recently of Robert Williams.  “Robert Williams is the best (live stock manager and bull handler) and the unsung hero of CBR.” Many in the stands never know of the valuable contribution by the man who has the safety of a million dollars in bulls, his staff and bull riders in his hands on a daily basis, but bull riding professionals and bull owners know that Robert Williams is without any doubt the best in the business.

The 33^rd George Paul Memorial Bull Riding will be held May 1-2, 2010. Tickets for the event are on sale at the Val Verde County Fairgrounds box office open from 9:00 A M to 4:00 P M, Monday-Friday. Performance times are 7:00PM Saturday, May 1 and 3:00 PM Sunday, May 2, 2010. The box office can be contacted at 830-775-9595. Title sponsor for 33^rd GPMBR is once again Ram Country Dodge.

A Texas Cocktail coming to the George Paul Memorial
 John Ludlum

Ever had a $10,000 cocktail? Ever wanted one? One lucky bull rider will have a chance to have a Texas sized Cocktail and win $10,000 Saturday night, May 1, 2010 at the 33^rd George Paul Memorial Bull Riding. That’s IF, he can ride the Ram Country Dodge Bounty Bull Texas Cocktail. The 2009 Championship Bull Riding Bull of the Year will be featured in a head to head competition with the winner of the first go-round of the 33^rd annual event. Forty-four bull riders will compete Saturday night and again on Sunday afternoon. The top 15 riders who post the highest scores on two bulls will advance to the final round after round two on Sunday afternoon.

Saturday night however, the rider with the top score can put an additional $10,000 in his Cinch jeans if he can make an 8 second qualified ride. The Ram Country Dodge Bounty Bull money and score will not count for the GPMBR championship however, money alone is not the incentive to ride the storied bull. Texas Cocktail’s blood line goes back to award winning bulls Oscar and Yellow Jacket. The six-year-old has only been ridden twice in close to 50 attempts and his score average is 46 out of 50 points. The big, BIG, bull has incredible confirmation, big horns and a macho attitude to accompany his size and bucking ability. He just doesn’t like to be ridden and has bucked off reigning a d 2008 PRCA world champion J.W. Harris and 2007 PRCA world champion Wesley Silcox. Both riders are expected to compete in Del Rio as well as Cole Echols who rode Texas Cocktail in the final round of the famous Houston, Texas Rodeo scoring 91 points. Riding the seldom ridden bull on Saturday night will enhance the reputation of any rider if he lasts 8 seconds on the CBR Bull of the Year.    more

33 Years of George Paul Memorial Bull Riding
John Ludlum

The thirty-third George Paul Memorial Bull Riding scheduled for May 1-2, 2010 will bring changes to the event that were not envisioned when the first event was held. John Stockton joined with the family of the late George Paul, which included his mother Georgia, brothers Bobby and Lee and sister Betty in 1978 to honor the 1968 RCA Champion Bull Rider and the only man to ride 79 consecutive bulls in competition. George died in a single plane accident in Wyoming in 1970.

When the first event was held Stockton traveled to many of the top rodeos in the United States to enlist the best bull riders in the world to compete in the inaugural event.

Steiner Rodeo Company of Austin was the primary stock contractor. Only the top twenty-five bull riders from the United States, Canada and Mexico were invited to participate and for an unheard of prize money purse of $25,000. You might ask so how is that different than the 2010 bull riding? One rider, one bull rope, one glove and one bull which has to be ridden for 8 seconds in order to have a qualified ride still constitute the rules. But the sport has made gigantic strides since the first GPMBR event in 1978.

First and foremost, bull riding organizations were formed based on the success of the GPMBR. Bull riders realized that “stand alone” bull riding, bull riding being the only event as opposed to seven events as in rodeo, would draw large audiences.  If large audiences would pay to see just bull riding, then the prize money could be increased for the winners and not have to be split with other riding and roping events. Second, the idea that sponsors could and would pay money to promote the event in the arena increased the prize money offered. Signage was a new concept to rodeo and bull riding and caught on like wild fire. The idea actually came from stock car racing and NASCAR with highly decorated cars and signs around the tracks. Rodeo fought the idea of commercialization however, eventually realized that sponsorship was the way to go to increase prize money. The last vestiges of sponsorship and signage resistance came when riders started wearing shirts promotion jean companies, hat companies, boot companies and trucks. Dodge was actually the first company to realize that the best place to market trucks was at rodeos and bull riding events. This was, after all, their audience. Again, resistance was forth coming from sanctioning organizations however, cowboys, stock contractors and sponsoring clubs and organizations won the battle and sponsorship became a standard mode of advertising western wear, trucks, horse and cattle feed and numerous other products.

Televised events were emerging at the same time and rodeos and bull riding had audience appeal. The western heritage, cowboys and cowgirls has never been more in vogue and the George Paul Memorial Bull Riding was one of the first stand alone bull riding events to be televised nation wide. Giant screen television, added three years ago,  now graces the Val Verde County Fairgrounds with instance replay of each ride, rider’s scores and a continuing format of which rider and bull will compete next.

Bulls. The breeding of bulls has become such a big business in the last 33 years that it rivals the race horse breeding programs, thoroughbred and quarter horse combined. Bulls that are buckers and the sons of proven buckers are now entered in a registry that only allows registration with a DNA sample and exacting standards for registration. Professional football and baseball players, actors and business men and women have gotten into the bucking bull business and compete for prize money for having the best bucking bull at an event just as riders compete. There are partnerships that own bulls, a number of which are comprised of women only. Semen straws from champion bulls can cost in the tens-of-thousands of dollars. Many owners hire professional stock contractors to feed, house and haul their bulls to various contests. The investors simply go and watch their bulls compete and pay for their care.

Thirty-three years has seen a gigantic growth in the highly televised sport of professional bull riding. The “Grand Daddy” of all stand alone bull ridings is the George Paul Memorial Bull Riding. Championship Bull Riding (CBR) President, four-time world champion bull rider and three-time George Paul winner Tuff Hedeman makes sure only the best bull riders and bulls in the world come to the George Paul. Tuff said in Ft Worth recently, “The George Paul Memorial Bull Riding is the oldest continuous bull riding in the world and with my Ft Worth event CBR has the oldest continuous indoor and outdoor bull ridings in the world. Del Rio knows bull riding, bull riders and bucking bulls. Only the best will do.” Bobby Paul, Producer of the George Paul said, “When the dust clears on Sunday afternoon, only the toughest bull rider will walk away with the prized George Paul buckle and Cinch jeans full of money. It still is one rider, one glove, one bull rope and one bull at a time. A lot has changed since the first bull riding but, it’s all been for the good and the fans like the last 33 years of progress in our event and professional bull riding”.

Cheyenne Wyoming Rodeo Committee to attend 33^rd  George Paul Memorial Bull Riding
John Ludlum

Four committee members of the famous Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo, Cheyenne, WY, rodeo will attend the 33^rd George Paul Memorial Bull Riding May 1-2, 2010. Tuff Hedeman, President of Championship Bull Riding, Scott Davis, National Sales Director for CBR, Wes Bruce CBR, CEO and Bobby Paul, Producer of the GPMBR made the trip possible for the committee members which includes General Chairman Ron Hottle, Scott Sewell, Contestant Chairman, Pat Moffett Contract Acts Chairman and Dan Johnson, Grounds Chairman.

George Paul, the 1968 Rodeo Cowboys Association World Champion Bull Rider and National Final Rodeo winner competed at Cheyenne three times during his rodeo career before his untimely death in a plane accident in 1970 near Kemmerer, WY. Bobby Paul said, “Cheyenne was one of the last rodeos George rode in before he was killed and he always talked about what a great rodeo it was. He really liked the town, the way the committee and fans treated the cowboys and the old west atmosphere.” Paul continued, “George said that rodeo and their committee were the real deal and that was one rodeo he never wanted to miss.” 

The connection between Del Rio and Cheyenne also includes the late Jim Bob Altizer of Del Rio, the 1959 World Champion Calf Roper and 1967 World Champion Steer Roper who won the roping at Cheyenne during his illustrious career in professional rodeo. In addition, the son of Jim Bob Altizer, Mac Altizer and his Bad Company Rodeo has had many bulls and broncs as part of the stock for the great outdoor rodeo.

Cheyenne celebrates its 114th anniversary this year (July 24 through August 1) and each year the prestigious rodeo attracts fans from all over the United States and the world. The 9 day rodeo gives one of the most recognized trophy buckles in all of professional rodeo. The Cheyenne Frontier Days is considered the “Daddy of ‘em All” in professional rodeo and the George Paul Memorial Bull Riding is considered the “Daddy of ‘em All” for professional stand alone bull riding. The GPMBR, the oldest continuous bull riding in the world, is named for the only man to ride 79 consecutive bulls in professional competition.   

Bobby Paul advised, “We’ll have a red carpet George Paul Memorial Bull Riding welcome for our friends from Cheyenne and show them the Del Rio hospitality they show their visitors every year at Cheyenne. We’re honored that they are visiting our bull riding.”