Skender Dedicates Ride to Outlaw
By: Justin Felisko
July 25, 2018
Cole Skender rode Trump Train for 84 points at the PBR at Cheyenne Frontier Days. Photo: Andre Silva.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Cole Skender slowly lowered himself into the bucking chutes on Tuesday night at Frontier Park with no signs of trepidation.
The 18-year-old high school senior wasn’t shaking, sweating or showing any sense of anxiety. The only emotion on Skender’s sleeve was determination.
Only eight hours earlier, Skender had stopped by Cheyenne Regional Medical Center to pay a visit to his friend and mentor Chase Outlaw.
Outlaw had just gotten out of a 12-hour facial reconstructive surgery after he was head-butted by War Cloud during Monday night’s PBR at Cheyenne Frontier Days.
The six-time PBR World Finals qualifier had an estimated 15 fractures on each side of his face, according to his surgeon Dr. William Wyatt, and needed 68 screws, 11 plates and four pieces of surgical mesh to repair his injuries.
Skender – the newly-minted National High School Finals Rodeo bull riding champion from Hamburg High School in Arkansas – knew Outlaw would want him to go out on Tuesday night and try to spur one for him.
“I like how he goes to them,” Skender said. “You are never going to see him quit. If he gets a seat, he is going to open up and spur him. That is kind of how I like to ride if I catch a seat.”
Therefore, after stopping by to check on his pal and see if the Outlaw family needed anything, Skender cleared his mind and prepared for the 2018 CBR Championship event.
Skender has also offered to drive Chase and his wife Nicole’s two kids back home to Arkansas along with Chase’s sister, Brittany, so that Nicole can stay with Chase in the hospital this week.
Inside the chute, however, Skender knew all that stood between him and 8 seconds was Trump Train.
He knew not to think about the danger factor or the thousands of fans packed inside the historic rodeo venue’s grandstands.
Skender pulled his bull rope tight, nodded for the gate and then went on to ride Trump Train for 84 points.
“When I was in the chute, I didn’t really want to think about anything,” Skender said. “I just wanted to let my body take control. I slid up and nodded. You can’t really think about much when you are going on, but I do remember the bull trying to pull me down a little bit. I just tried sitting up and when he swapped directions I kind of got on my butt a little bit and started throwing them hail marys to make the buzzer.”
Skender later bucked off Red Sun Rising in 1.12 seconds in the championship round, but Skender’s ability to not be rattled after seeing his buddy from five miles down the road in Arkansas, was impressive.
“No, it is just another bull,” Skender said. “You get hurt. It is going to happen to everybody. You can’t think like that. You just have to think about riding and winning.”
Skender met Outlaw when the two crossed paths at a practice pen in Hamburg, Arkansas.
Skender had lived in Monroe, Arkansas, with his mother until he was 15 and moved with his father to Hamburg.
“When I moved to my dad’s down the road I got pretty close with (Outlaw),” Skender said. “He was off doing the PBRs and I was getting on steers in the backyards. But when he would come in from riding, he would come to the practice pen and give me tips and we would hang out after.”
Skender has plans of purchasing his PBR card later this year, but for now he is happy to at least have gotten one ride for his buddy.
“It was pretty cool,” he said. “I just got out of the chute as quick as I could so I wouldn’t get to thinking about nothing.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
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