On October 19th, bullfighters, young and old, will descend upon Cowtown for the annual Original Wrangler Bull Fights Hall of Fame ceremonies. This year’s event will take place at the River Ranch Stockyards in Fort Worth, TX. Each year, The Original Wrangler Bull Fights holds a Hall of Fame induction ceremony; aside from being inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA), this is the top award a bullfighter can receive.
James (Jim) Sutton Jr. of Sutton Rodeo Company started the Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo in 1978. He wanted the show to be a success and started coming up with ideas to draw crowds, so the Wrangler Bull Fights were born (Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame,2021). Sutton later pitched a sponsorship deal with Wrangler to the PRCA, who had no relationship at the time. After the Wrangler Bull Fights were disbanded, this sponsorship would later give way to branding the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.
The Original Wrangler Bull Fights took place in the early 1980s as a bullfighting tour. The top 16, most elite bullfighters, were asked to join the tour to compete in 20 or so bullfights; the events were not held at rodeos like we see today. In order to keep the competition fresh, the bottom four bullfighters would fall off the tour, and four new bullfighters would join for the next season.
These competitions eventually made their way into the PRCA. Although The Original Wrangler Bull Fights petered out in the early 2000s, this program built the path for cowboy protectors, freestyle bullfighters, and rodeo clowns as we see them today. It gave way to change the industry in new unique ways through organizations like Bull Fighters Only. After the PRCA disbanded the tour, it opened it up for any rodeo around the country to hold Wrangler Bull Fights, creating opportunities for bullfighters across the United States.
If you aren’t familiar with freestyle bullfighting, it is different than protecting cowboys during the bull riding at a rodeo. Freestyle bullfighters are alone in an arena with a Mexican fighting bull. Their job is to keep the bull engaged with them for the time they are in the arena. Similar to freestyle bullfighting, you will sometimes see a fighting bull turned out in the arena at the end of the bull riding, so the bullfighters can work it to add excitement for the crowd. One of the many bullfighters part of The Original Wrangler Bull Fights was Rowdy Barry, a freestyle bullfighter for 15 years and cowboy protector for over 30 years.
Barry is being inducted into the 2024 class of The Original Wrangler Bull Fights Hall of Fame. His incredible bullfighting career has spanned more than three decades. When his career started, rodeos were not required to hire more than one bullfighter to protect the bull riders. This meant that if a bullfighter wanted to gain any traction in their career, they had to hustle. Barry did just that, with his signature move, running straight at a bull and hurdling over it, nose to tail. In 1992, Barry made his first appearance bullfighting at the National Final Rodeo as a part of the Wrangler Bull Fights Tour; he placed third in the season that year.
Barry’s final performance in the arena was in January of 2019 at the Columbia River Circuit Finals. He has had a fulfilling career in bullfighting for both the freestyle and cowboy protection, making it to the NFR for both. During his final year fighting bulls, he was able to work his hometown rodeo, the Horse Heaven Round-Up in Kennewick, Washington, alongside his youngest son, Miles. Barry’s sons, Ryan Manning and Miles Barry continue his legacy of fighting bulls; he also has a daughter, Clay Noel Harper (Barry), who barrel races. Barry has much to say about bullfighting and being honored with this nomination.
Photo Courtesy of Rowdy Barry
Q: What made you start fighting bulls?
A: “Even as a child, I was attracted to bulls. So, when I started fighting bulls, I thought I wanted to be a bull rider at first. I was tall and thin and strong-legged and fast, but I wasn’t built like a bull rider. Anyway, that’s how I kind of ended up fighting bulls. So that was more appealing to me, being strong-legged and fast.”
Q: What does receiving this Hall of Fame nomination mean to you?
A: “I don’t even know how to really answer that. It’s so honoring. I feel fortunate to do something I love to do for a living, and to have a recognition like this at the end is something I’m very thankful for. I guess it puts me in the same place that I was growing up, with my role models and guys I tried to emulate, you know, that are in the Hall of Fame before me. Being there, with them, just kind of closes a chapter on my bullfighting career.”
Q: What is some advice you would give to someone starting out as a bullfighter?
A: “I had to learn from different bullfighters because sometimes somebody can say the same thing in a different form laid out, and you might pick it up differently than somebody else trying to teach you the same thing. Learn from different bullfighters and see what works best for you. Then the other thing is go be around livestock; that’s the most critical part to being a good bullfighter. Go get a job at a sale barn or something where you’re sorting cows, calves, steers, bulls, every day. The cow sense or bull sense is one of the most critical parts to fighting bulls; knowing how they’re going to think, how they’re going to move, where they’re going to be, and being able to anticipate that is going to get you in position.”
Q: What makes a good bullfighter?
A: “You have to be very aggressive and very strong-minded. A good bullfighter has to be mentally strong, right? Because especially in the freestyle bullfight world, we had some 1,800-pound bulls that if you messed up or they caught you, they’re big enough that they’re gonna break things. With these Mexican bulls, most of them fight now; they’re smaller, they can tear you up and bruise you, but most of the time, they’re not gonna break a lot of things. But back then, those big bulls would be rattling the chutes; they’re bad, and if you let that get into your head, you can’t just walk out there, nod your head and let them have you. A big old 1,800-pound bull that’s been pounding the chutes letting the whole coliseum know that he’s mad; for your confidence, you’ve gotta walk out with a mindset of I’m the baddest S.O.B. and this bull hasn’t met me yet.”
Q: What do you think the future looks like for bullfighting?
A: “In the last ten years, freestyle bullfighting has grown tremendously. In 2000, the tour stopped through the PRCA; so a rodeo could have a bullfight at it, but it was just an independent bullfight. Some rodeos did that: Fort Smith, Arkansas; Salinas, California; there’s a number of (them), so they went ahead and just had bullfights on their own, but they weren’t part of a tour. They hired who they thought was the best freestyle guys they could get. It kind of went that way for a few years, and then Bull Fighters Only came along. Then they started putting together a tour and doing their own standalone events, with social media and cell phones started making everything more available. So that’s brought in a lot of young, good athletes that probably wouldn’t have been drawn to rodeo. There’s quite a few young bullfighters (that) all they do is freestyle bullfighting. Then there’s other young bullfighters that have no plans on being a freestyle bullfighter, but they want to be Dusty Tuckness, Cody Webster, or whoever that are at the top of the game just protecting bull riders. So, there’s not very many that cross over. There is still a certain amount in the middle that do; but as their protection career grows, usually their freestyle career starts minimizing once they’re making enough money and can just make a living off of working rodeos and bull riding events. But as far as bullfighting, it’ll just keep growing.”
As Barry looks to the future, he is a rodeo man through and through. He contracts out for rodeos as a chute boss or arena director. He judges bullfighting, having worked six of the Bull Fighters Only World Finals. He enjoys watching his sons fight bulls or spectating at his daughter’s barrel races. Barry wants to continue to pass on knowledge to the next generation of bullfighters.
Courtesy of The Original Wrangler Bullfights Hall of Fame
The following are the recipients of The Original Wrangler Bull Fights Hall of Fame class of 2024:
- Wick Peth Memorial Awards- George Mills
- Stock Contractor- Cotton Rosser
- Fighting Bull of the Year- Vold’s “141 Purple People Eater”
- Committee Award- Fort Smith, Arkansas,
- Barrelmen: Jim Bob Feller, Kellie LaCoste, Ted Kimzey
- Wrangler Bull Fighters: Tony Johnson, Kenny Watson, Stan Ham, Jim McLain, Kevin Rich, Ted Kimzey, Rowdy Barry
- Honoring 1985 and 1986 World Champion Rob Smets
- Supporting Legend Award: Jerry Gustafson, Bob Tallman, Red Steagall
- Julie Sutton Special Recognition Award: Jackie Romer, Leslie Kinsel
-Article by Article by Kristen Sublette
