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Bull rider Hedeman endures injury, grief to stay on top

Posted: Tue October 7, 1997 at 3:56 PM ET

MORGAN MILL, Texas (CNN/SI) -- A 175-pound cowboy tries to stay on the back of an 1,800-pound bull for eight seconds. It's called bull riding. But the sport could be more appropriately dubbed cowboy tossing.

For the riders are generally airborne before, or soon after, eight seconds elapse. And bulls are not friendly creatures, especially to someone they've done their darnedest to get off their backs. The ferocity of the animals will be on display starting next weekend at the Professional Bullriders Bud Light Cup World Championships in Las Vegas.

"You have to stay positive and stay focused on what it takes to make great rides," said rider Tuff Hedeman, a rodeo legend. "You can't do it half-heartedly. You've got to go in prepared to go all out, 110 percent each and every time or you don't have a chance."

Hedeman knows. He's been the most successful bull rider in the sport over the past decade, and it's appropriate his name is Tuff. He got the name, fittingly, from another cowboy.

"I was about 4, 5 years old, and an old cowboy who was a friend of the family used to take me around with him," Hedeman said. "He slammed my hand in a door, and he nicknamed me Tuffnut, and it was later shortened to Tuff."

It stuck.

Today, Hedeman is a four-time World Bullriding Champion and has already been inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame. Along the way, he's earned more than $1 million in prize money.

But Hedeman's fame and fortune have come at a price. At the peak of his career in 1993, he suffered a severe neck injury, and doctors told Hedeman he needed surgery immediately.

"He gave me all the terrible things that could happen: You could be paralyzed for the rest of your life, you could die from this, you know, all the really good stuff," Hedeman said. "He said you'll never ride again."

But he did. After sitting out a year, Hedeman didn't just ride, he won the 1995 World Bullriding Championship. Yet, he didn't do it without incident. At the end of the year, Hedeman encountered the meanest, nastiest bull on the circuit, Bodacious.

That was a good thing. In this sport, bulls are ranked, just like riders. The most vicious animals are unleashed in the biggest rodeos, and, Hedeman explained, a cowboy needs a great bull to get a great score.

"Bodacious , who is probably the baddest, most dangerous bull ever, I got on him three or four times," Hedeman said. "And the greatest ride I ever made was on him and the most serious injury I ever had was because of him."

Bodacious' head slammed into Hedeman's face, shattering his cheekbones into 11 pieces. It took six hours of reconstructive surgery and the insertion of six titanium plates to put Hedeman back together. But a month later, he was riding bulls again.

He's recovered from all of his physical injuries, but there is an emotional scar that will never heal -- the death of his close friend, Lane Frost, who was killed while riding a bull. Frost's story was popularized in the 1994 movie, "8 Seconds."

"Losing Lane was the most difficult thing that I ever had to deal with, but I never considered not riding because of it," Hedeman said. "He was the kind of person that was honest and open about everything. He was the kind of guy I loved and respected, and everybody did."

In honor of Frost, Hedeman named his first son Robert Lane.

Hedeman is away from home and his sons, traveling the bull-riding circuit and endorsing products, about 170 days a year. He says he'll soon retire from riding to devote more time to his family and promoting the Professional Bullriders Tour. But with his firsthand knowledge of the dangers of the trade, would Hedeman let his sons try their hands at bull riding?

"The idea of my boys doing what I do scares me to death," he said. "Hopefully I'll give them the opportunity to choose and provide whatever they need to be successful. And if that's riding bulls, that's scary to me, but that's fine."

It's scary for obvious reasons. Indeed, Hedeman acknowledged that riding bulls might not make much sense.

"To be successful in any sport, you have to have a love for it, and you don't think about why you do it," he said. "I love the competitiveness. And I love to win."

That sentiment is what's established Hedeman as a living legend in bull riding.