Kimzey Has Wild Ride in Abiline
by Jim Bainbridge | Jul 31, 2015
By Ruth Nicolaus/for the Wild Bill Hickok Rodeo committee
ABILINE, Kans. – A world champion is leading the bull riding at the Wild Bill Hickok Rodeo.
Twenty year old cowboy Sage Kimzey has taken the lead after two nights of rodeo in Abilene, Kan.
He rode Andrews Rodeo’s Old School for 85 points and the lead on July 30. “I didn’t know that bull going into it,” he said, “but I talked to Sammy Andrews, and he said he’s a really good bull, but he might be bad in the chute.”
The bull leaned on Kimzey’s leg, making it difficult for Kimzey to get out of the chute, but when he did the bull “went to the left, kicking and spinning. He’s all you could ask for.”
Kimzey won the 2014 world championship at the tender age of 19, and is ranked number one in the 2015 Windham Weaponry High Performance PRCA World Standings. The “golden child” of bull riding is sometimes still amazed at his own accomplishments.
“My whole career’s been pretty crazy to this point,” he said. “This year’s been nice. I haven’t had to rodeo near as hard as last year. I’m going to the big rodeos and making the bulls I get on count, to get me to my second (Wrangler) National Finals Rodeo and my second world title.”
He is the son of Ted Kimzey, a former NFR barrelman and bullfighter, and he credits his dad and his mom, Jennifer, with his success. “Ever since I was a little kid, my mom and dad hauled me around to junior rodeos and took me to the (bull riding) schools I needed. I couldn’t ask for a better support system.”
He has an older sister, Dusta, who is a professional barrel racer and a recent graduate of pharmacy school, and a younger brother, Trey, who is 16 and also a bull rider.
Other leaders at the Abilene rodeo include bareback rider Jake Brown, Hillsboro, Texas (75 points), steer wrestler Dean Gorsuch, Gering, Neb. (3.7 seconds), saddle bronc riders Jacobs Crawley, Stephenville, Texas, and Travis Sheets, Hyannis, Neb. (84 points each), tie-down roper Cole Bailey, Okmulgee, Okla. (8.1 seconds); team ropers Aaron Macy, Post, Texas, and Chad Williams, Stephenville, Texas (4.9 seconds) and barrel racer Carley Richardson, Pampa, Texas (17.45).
Friday, July 31 is Tough Enough to Wear Pink night at the Wild Bill Hickok Rodeo. Funds raised go to the Elsie Brooks Memorial Cancer Fund of Dickinson County, and an anonymous donor has pledged to match monies raised from the rodeo. Fans are asked to wear pink. The rodeo starts at 7:30 pm tomorrow and wraps up with a performance on Saturday evening.
Tickets are $13 for adults and $7 for children ages 4-10. They can be purchased online at www.CKFF.net or at the gate. For more information on the rodeo, visit WildBillHickokRodeo.com.
Courtesy of PRCA