Elk City Man Follows in Dad’s Footsteps as Bull Rider
Elk City, Okla. (August 27, 2018) – With a world champion for a dad, it’s no surprise that Brett Custer is following in his father’s footsteps.
Custer, the twenty-year-old son of 1992 World Champion Bull Rider Cody Custer, will ride a bull at the Elk City Rodeo of Champions this weekend.
The younger Custer is in his rookie year of competition in the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). He and his family, including his mom, Stacey, moved from Arizona to Elk City ten years ago; Brett grew up riding sheep, then graduated to calves, steers, then bulls, as he progressed through Little Britches Rodeo, then junior high and high school competition.
He was having a great rookie season till a bull at Cheyenne Frontier Days in July broke his jaw and sidelined him. He planned that his first ride back would be at his hometown rodeo, the Rodeo of Champions, but his buddies had other plans for him. They “entered me in (a rodeo) in California,” he said, so he’ll be headed to the west coast prior to riding in Elk City.
The jaw is doing well, Custer said. The first two weeks after the break were miserable; his jaws were wired shut and he lived on protein and milkshakes. But it is good now, he said. “I don’t have full mobility of it yet but it’s healing up pretty well.”
At the time of the injury, Brett was ranked in the top thirty of the world, within striking distance of the top fifteen, which qualify for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (WNFR), pro rodeo’s pinnacle. Sitting out of rodeo for a month set him back; he’s ranked fortieth in the world standings now. But he knows it’s how the sport goes. “That’s bull riding; it’s a part of it.”
His dad, who in addition to being a world champion bull rider, was a 2017 Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame inductee, a PBR co-founder, and a seven-time WNFR qualifier, has helped him out “a bunch,” Brett said. “I wouldn’t be able to do it without him, honestly, because of how much he’s helped me. He taught me how to enter rodeos, setting up my schedule, being able to get from point A to point B, and he’s pretty much built the foundation for my riding. We talk every day, even if I’m not home, about my rides. It’s just a blessing to have him be my dad, honestly.”
Brett is ranked twelfth in the Prairie Circuit standings, pro rodeo’s regional designation of rodeos in Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. If he is in the top fifteen in the circuit as of Sept. 30, he will qualify to compete at the Prairie Circuit Finals Rodeo in Duncan, Okla. October 19-21.
Brett is the youngest of three children of Cody and Stacey: Aaron, who passed away in 2011, and Lacey, who is 23 and a student at Rose State College in Midwest City, Okla.
Nearly 250 cowboys and cowgirls will compete at the Beutler Bros. Arena in Elk City, August 31-September 1-2. Performances begin at 8 pm nightly; tickets range in price from $9 to $18 and can be purchased at Circle A Western Wear, at Doug Gray Dodge in Elk City, and at the gate. For more information, visit the rodeo’s website at www.ElkCityRodeo.com or call Doug Gray Dodge at 580.225.3005.
