Rowdy Rice

Rowdy Rice is ramped at IFR 44. “With a name like Rowdy, you have to be,” said the 20-year-old bull rider from Easley, South Carolina. He was named by his dad after a Clint Eastwood movie, Rawhide, and feels he was destined to be a bull rider. “When I was younger, my mom used to tell me that I would climb up on the arm rest of the couch and ride it for hours. I used to open the porch door like it was a bucking chute. She’s got pictures of when I was two on a horse. My whole life I’ve been around rodeo. My mom barrel raced and I went with her. I remember watching rodeo bloopers over and over when I was young.”
He didn’t get on a bull until he was 14, instead he played football. One day, he went to the rodeo right by the house, and at that moment, he decided he could ride a bull. “My mom took me the next day to a place to get on. I rode about six seconds. The second time, the next weekend, I stayed on the 8 seconds and I was hooked.” He spent the next several years getting on amateur bulls every Sunday at a place down the road called Elrods Farms. “I picked it up real fast. When I was about 15, I went to the Terry Don West bull riding school in Oklahoma. That helped me out the most – it took me to a different level. I got on a lot of bulls – and that helped me out too.”
His advice to aspiring bull riders is simple. “If it’s not something that you really, really, really want to do – if you are doing it for the girls – don’t do it. It’s a good life; you get to travel all over the world and meet amazing people, but it’s a dangerous sport and you have to love it.” Rowdy graduated from Easely High School where he was part of the South Carolina High School Rodeo team and took the bull riding championship for the state in 2010 and 2011. “I went to Nationals and didn’t do good,” he admits. “At that time, Nationals we pretty big for me – I’d been to our high school rodeos, but I’d never been to Vegas or Cheyenne or any of the big rodeos. It’s a whole different world.” Since graduating from high school, Rowdy has won 2012 Southern Rodeo Association Champion Bull Rider and recently added the World Champion International Pro Rodeo Association Bull Riding title to his accolades. He is in his rookie year with the PRCA. “I’m going to have to make it count,” he said. “It’s the same aspect as I’ve been doing – you need to rodeo smarter not harder.”
He and his mom, Tammy, are the only rodeo hands in the family. His dad, Rusty, is a blaster – when people hit rock and can’t dig, he goes in and blows it up. Tammy, is his secretary, keeping the business (Accurate Drilling and Blasting) straight. Rowdy has two brothers – Griffin is 15, Bailey is 11. “Neither one are rodeo guys, they are hunting and fishing specialists. My poor mom has had to deal with four boys in her life – she’s the toughest one of all.” Tammy has made up for having so many men in her life by having a lot of mares in hers. She started barrel racing when she was 12 and married a man that doesn’t rodeo at all. She wasn’t thrilled about Rowdy riding bulls, but felt he was destined to do so. “I didn’t get to see a lot of my rides because my mom would panic and drop the camera and couldn’t watch. She gets a lot more nervous than I do. My dad was for whatever I wanted to do as long as I stayed out of trouble.”
Rowdy has bought a little house in Liberty SC, five minutes from where he grew up, from his earnings riding bulls. “I know that I can rodeo my whole life, and I want to have something to look back on. I thought it was a smart investment. And Griffin got big enough to wear my clothes, so I had a hard time keeping them in my closet.”
His goal is to make it to the NFR and PBR Finals. “Once you get your name into the association, you’ve got to show them you belong there. I want to rodeo as long as I can. I thank God every single day for where I’m at. I’m so blessed going all over the world and meeting the most special people and my rodeo buddies are my closest friends.” His secret to his success is “having fun. If you are so focused on doing good and that extra pressure, likely you’re not going to do very good. It can be taken away. I enjoy and live life. Winning is what takes me to the next rodeo. It never gets old. When I’m on my last straw and I win, I hit a whole different level – I’d say rodeo is definitely a drug.”