Tutor Deepens his Connection to Buc Days
by Jim Bainbridge | Apr 26, 2015
CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS – Bareback rider Bill Tutor had fond memories of the Buc Days ProRodeo before 2015.
The Huntsville, Texas, cowboy only added to those at the April 23-26 edition of Buc Days, winning the title with an 88-point ride on Frontier Rodeo’s Times Up at the American Bank Center.
“Corpus has been good to me in the past and to go back there and win again is exciting,” said Tutor, who also won the Buc Days ProRodeo in 2012. “That’s a big rodeo and anytime you get a win that big under your belt it is always a good feeling.”
Tutor, who registered his winning ride on April 23, was familiar with Times Up, but he didn’t have much luck on him the first time he rode him at the 2012 Guymon (Okla.) Pioneer Days Rodeo.
“The first time I got him he was really good, but I missed him out,” Tutor said. “I thought he was a phenomenal horse. When I got him again (April 23), I was excited. I knew he was a good horse. The horse was bucking. I had no idea how many points I was going to be. When it was 88 points that was even better.”
Despite his stellar ride, Tutor didn’t know if it would get him the win.
“I had no idea,” Tutor said. “There were some great matchups in Corpus there this weekend and it could have gone either way, but I’m definitely glad I came out with the ‘W’.”
Tutor was 27th in the April 20 Windham Weaponry High Performance PRCA World Standings with $9,848, and has his eyes on making his first trip to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in December in Las Vegas. Tutor pocketed $5,781 for his Corpus Christi performance.
“This winter and spring have been going OK,” said Tutor, 23. “Making the Finals in December is definitely the ultimate goal. The summer time is about to start up and that’s where a lot of the money is, and that’s the time to get the ball rolling because that’s when you need to be winning.”
Tutor’s career-best finish came last year when he was 22nd.
“When you get a win like Corpus, it lets you breathe a little bit, and lets you keep going down the road,” Tutor said.
The next big event for Tutor is already scheduled May 9 – he is graduating from Sam Houston State University with an agricultural business degree.
“I’m stoked (to be graduating),” said Tutor, who was born and raised in Huntsville. “I’m graduating on May 9 and it still can’t get here fast enough.”
Other winners at the $200,917 rodeo were all-around cowboy (JoJo LeMond, $4,350, tie-down roping, team roping and steer roping), steer wrestlers Justin Blaine Davis and Riley Duvall (4.5 seconds), team ropers JoJo LeMond and Josh Patton (10.6 seconds on two head), saddle bronc riders Isaac Diaz (87 points on Frontier Rodeo’s Medicine Woman) and Jacobs Crawley (87 points on Frontier Rodeo’s Griz), tie-down roper Joseph Gernentz (8.0 seconds), barrel racer Shelby Herrmann (13.56 seconds), steer roper J.P. Wickett (50.1 seconds on four head), and bull rider Kanin Asay (85 points on Frontier Rodeo’s Dirty Cop).
Courtesy of PRCA