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When the Professional Bull Riders tour comes to town for the St. Louis Invitational, February 15 through 17 at Scottrade Center (1401 Clark, 314-622-5435), daring cowboys will attempt to remain aboard bucking behemoths for a full 8 seconds. We asked Missouri native L.J. Jenkins, who finished third in the PBR last year, what it takes to stay on top.
You grew up in the Springfield area. I was born and raised until I was in eighth grade down in Highlandville, which is just south of Springfield. I started my career there.
How did you get into bull-riding? It was in my family. My dad did it back when he was younger. My brother did it. I really had no other choice.
What are the first steps toward becoming a bull rider? You start off on the little calves. Then you go to steers. As you get older, you just keep getting bigger with the stock you get on.
You turned pro at a young age. I was a junior in high school when I turned 18 and made it on the big tour. I went to my first PBR Finals, and then I still had to go back to high school… Being a professional bull rider at that time took me out of a lot of teenage activities. But heck, I wouldn’t have changed it for nothing.
So you didn’t get to play on the football team? No. I never played football. I played a little bit of basketball, but my coach finally had to tell me to make a choice, either ride bulls or play basketball. I said, “Well, I guess I’m going to go ride bulls.”
How do you train? There’s a bunch of guys on tour, and they all do something different. You got guys who will work out three hours out of the day. Myself, I don’t even work out. I’ve never worked out a day… Riding a 2,000-pound bull, you’d think you’d need to be real strong, but if you got the balance and know how to match the bull move for move, it don’t necessarily take a bunch of strength to stay on them.
You really don’t do anything to practice? I don’t get on practice bulls unless I need to, because you can get hurt on a practice bull just as easy as you can on one on TV. So I don’t ever get on any bulls. I just go week in and week out, and that’s enough for me.
What’s been your worst injury? I got stepped on in Oklahoma City one year. I broke my ribs, punctured my lung, bruised my liver. I had to spend about five days in the hospital there. I’d have to say that’s probably my worst one, but I only had to sit out six weeks. I’ve broken my leg, where I had to sit out six months. I’ve had some injuries that didn’t allow me to ride very much. But breaking the ribs and lung and liver and all that would probably have to be the worst one.
What’s the toughest bull you’ve ever had to ride? You know, we ride in the PBR. It’s known for having the best bulls in the world. I’ve been on so many great bulls, it would be hard to narrow it down to one. But they’ve got one on tour right now, Bushwacker, he’s one of the rankest, and Asteroid. I got on both of them bulls last year. Actually, Asteroid cost me the world title last year. So them two. Then back in the day, I got on Reindeer Dippin and then Voodoo Child. All of them bulls have been a great bull for their time. To narrow it down to the rankest bull, I just don’t think I could do it.
Well, it takes a good bull to get a high score. Yeah. Half of our score is dependent on how good the bull that we had bucked. So it’s good to have one of them better bulls, but then again, you still got to ride him, and that’s the tough part.
What separates the best bull riders from the rest of the pack? I mean obviously it’s the world titles. To be a world champion, you got to be consistent all year round, and beat the best guys in the world. Them guys that have won them world championships, they’re considered one of the greats out there. But in the PBR, you have the top 35 bull riders in the world, so I think anybody could argue that them are 35 of the greatest bull riders ever.
So what makes a great bull rider? Is it about balance? Toughness? Consistency, determination. There is a lot of stuff that can happen riding bulls. For somebody to get hurt and come back, you got to have the right mindset. A lot of great bull riders, I’ve seen get hurt, and they come back, and they just don’t have it. They’re scared, and then they end up quitting. That’s part of our game. We’re going to get hurt. So as soon as you accept the fact, you can get your mind right to be able to come back off an injury, go all year, get on the rankest bulls, beat the best guys in the world. You really can’t get no better than that.
This past year was your best yet. What’s helped you improve? I’ve stayed healthy, knock on wood. As I’m getting older, I’m kind of maturing in the sport. Because it’s just not bull riding. We got to travel all over the world. We got to put up with everything that goes on with it, the ups and the downs. We’re not going to ride every bull. I think it just took me this year to start settling in and just take it one bull at a time and just go after them.
Do your folks get nervous watching you? My mom, she still gets nervous. She went to the world finals, and it finally took her until the fifth round for her to even sit there in her seat and watch me ride. She usually goes up and goes outside and doesn’t even watch. She comes back in and finds out how I do. But my dad, him doing it, I’m sure they get nervous, but they love watching it. They love going.
Do you get scared? No. I’ve done it all my life. I’m not scared by no means. Nervous? Yeah. If anybody that rides bulls says that they don’t get nervous, I’d say they’re lying. That could be the last chance we get in our life. We don’t know that. As for getting scared, I don’t get scared. Really nothing goes through my mind. It’s kind of like clockwork now. I’ve done it for so long. It’s just a routine basically.
Is your goal to win a PBR title? The champion gets a million bucks. Oh yeah. I mean, the money’s great, but there ain’t no greater thing than having that gold buckle. It’s what we all dream about. It’s what everybody wants on tour. They want that gold buckle. Like I said, I’m not going to sit up here and say I don’t want the money, because the money would be great. That kind of sets us up. That’s the difference between nowadays and back in the day, bull riders can actually make a living doing it. Back in the day, guys, they had to still have jobs and not win very much money to ride the rank bulls. Now, we get paid for riding the rank bulls.
William Powell
William Powell was St. Louis Magazine's senior editor from September 2012–July 2016.
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