RODEO DRAWS LOCAL CROWDS

Rodeo enthusiasts, decked out in their cowboy hats, boots and blue jeans, crowded into the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau Sunday for the final day of the 11th annual rodeo competition held as a part of the Longhorn World Championship Series.

More than 10,000 people attended the four-day rodeo. Fans who came expecting to see champions in the series were not disappointed. Several current or former world champions competed in the events Sunday afternoon with varying levels of success.

"It's easy money if you can ride," said Ty Hickerson of Trenton, Tenn.

Hickerson, 22, was one of the youngest world champions on hand for Sunday's competition. After only five years of riding the big bulls, he claimed the prize as a top bull rider in the world last year.

But earning money riding bulls isn't nearly as easy as Hickerson made it sound. The bulls range in weight from 1,200 pounds to more than a ton. The bull Hickerson drew to ride Sunday was a 1,900 pound beast named Sugarfoot.

The rider has to stay on the back of the bull for eight seconds, which Hickerson admits doesn't sound like much time. But the difference between seven and eight seconds can seem like an eternity on the back of a bull, he said.

Once the buzzer sounds telling the rider that he's been on long enough, he still has to get off the animal. No one is there to help the rider. He has to hit the ground, get up and run while the bull continues to kick wildly.

The ground on which they land is usually not very soft either. At the Show Me Center, 500 cubic yards of dirt, which amounts to 20-25 dump trucks full, was brought in to cover the flooring. When it is spread out, the dirt leaves only a 10-inch cushion between the rider and the hard concrete surface below.

"It's not a question of if you get hurt, but when," Hickerson said.

For that reason, bull riders have notoriously short careers. The average bull riding career is less than two and a half years, said Johna Cravens, a member of the rodeo's management team. Even those who ride well generally last no more than 10 seasons, provided, of course, that they are not seriously injured.

Injuries are common around the rodeo circuit. A bucket sat by the table where riders checked in, soliciting donations for Milburn Outheir, a bareback bronc rider who broke his neck two weeks ago. Last week, a bull rider friend of Cravens was paralyzed after a bull stepped on his neck in Alabama.

But most of a bull rider's injuries happen while the rider is waiting in the bucking chute for the actual ride. The bull gets nervous in the confined space and wants to move and spin, although it is surrounded by the heavy fence.

"Something's going to give, and it's usually the rider," Hickerson said.

Dan Dailey of Cookson, Okla., agreed with Hickerson. Dailey, a saddle bronc rider who has been a full-time professional since 1974, is one of the most decorated riders in rodeo history. He has won world championships 29 times -- once as the steer wrestling champ, 11 times as the saddle bronc champ and 17 times as the all-around champ.

"I've been blessed," Dailey said.

But he's known several injuries along with the successes, the worst coming in 1977 when he broke his leg and shattered the ball and socket joint of his ankle, an injury that kept him out of competition for six months.

Now, he has plates and screws in his ankle where the joint used to be. When it gets cold outside, it still hurts him.

"I've had my share of broken bones and bruises," he said.

Added to the difficulty of the sport itself is the fatigue factor. Most professional rodeo riders are on the road constantly, even through the winter months. Sunday's rodeo was Hickerson's fourth in four days.

In the summer months, the schedule is even more grueling, usually with a rodeo every day, sometimes two a day. Last year, Hickerson performed in 32 rodeos in 27 days.

"You have to be ready to pound the road and ride even when you're tired and hurt," he said.

And luck?

"Luck never hurt nobody," he said.