Ezekiel Mitchell Riding in Memory of his Cousin Ouncie
By: Justin Felisko
OKLAHOMA CITY – Ezekiel Mitchell looked up at the big screen inside Paycom Center to see a picture of his cousin Ouncie Mitchell during a tribute and moment of silence. He then lowered his head as his tears slowly trickled down his cheeks.
Austin Gamblers teammate Lucas Divino rubbed Ezekiel’s back as he continued to mourn the passing of his cousin less than a week ago in Salt Lake City.
Ezekiel never doubted that he would return to the arena this weekend for Freedom Fest in Oklahoma City. If there were ever a place he could be during such a difficult time, it would likely be inside the locker room with his bull-riding brethren. It was there that he and Ouncie brought hundreds of smiles and laughter over the past three years.
“He wouldn’t want me sitting over here pouting,” Mitchell said before Austin’s game on Friday night. “That’s why I’m here this weekend. That’s just all we can do. We’re cowboys. He was a cowboy. He’s going to live on, and that’s what I’m going to do – try to be the best cowboy.”
Mitchell admittedly has not slept much in the past week, and it was a lot more difficult making the drive to Oklahoma City than he initially expected.
“I felt okay up until driving up here this morning,” Mitchell said. “That was hard, and it’s pretty hard because Ouncie loved pretty much everybody in these locker rooms, too. And to see everybody and the support and the fans walking in, everybody’s just so apologetic. And I just think it’s hard, but it’s a very beautiful thing to know how many lives that he touched and he was able to reach.”
Ezekiel and Ouncie developed a friendship in their teenage years when they bonded over their love for bull riding throughout Houston and the surrounding Texas communities despite their similar but different personalities.
Ezekiel was always the outgoing one of the two, but he said not to let Ouncie fool you as he was quite the singer and dancer, too, beyond his tremendous fishing skills.
“He was kind of the more quiet person, but he was also the same, fun-loving guy, and he would dance with me and BS and sing,” Mitchell said. “There’ve been too many nights driving to and from PBRs, and just singing our lungs out, even though I can’t really sing. He could sing a little bit better than I can.”
Growing up, both teenagers had gold buckle dreams, and their careers began to skyrocket into the mainstream in 2019. The two finished first and second at the season-opening Velocity Tour event in Ontario, California.
That November night began their march to qualifying for the 2019 PBR World Finals.
Ezekiel’s win in Ontario propelled him onto the Unleash The Beast, and it wasn’t long before Ouncie would compete at four UTB events that year. Ouncie eventually joined Ezekiel in Las Vegas for the World Finals as a Wild Card winner at the Velocity Tour Finals despite a broken leg earlier that season. Inside the South Point Hotel Casino & Spa Arena, Ezekiel cheered his lungs out in support of his cousin every step of the way at those Velocity Tour Finals.
“There are two memories that stick out to me the most,” Mitchell said. “From Ontario, California, whenever I won my first Velocity. That was really cool because we always talked about finishing first and second at one of these Velocities, and we were able to do that. Then we made our first PBR World Finals together. He had to take a little bit different route to get there because he broke his femur that year, and for him to make the Finals that year was pretty cool for me.
“It was special because it was a goal of both of ours, and I’m glad he got to achieve that one.”
Ezekiel was also keeping an eye on Ouncie’s push to qualify for his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo this year.
Ouncie had won the bull riding competition at the Tri-State Rodeo in Fort Madison, Iowa, just days before his passing with an 87.5-point ride on Too Tropical. He was ranked No. 23 in the PRCA’s bull riding standings and second in the rodeo association’s Rookie of the Year bull riding standings.
“PRCA was going to have him over at the NFR this year if they weren’t careful because he was on fire, and it didn’t look like he was slowing down any at all,” Ezekiel said.
Ezekiel says the best thing he can do now is to try and keep Ouncie’s legacy going as best he can.
He wants to go at his bull riding career the way Ouncie always told him to.
The same phrase has been echoing throughout his mind as he attempted practice bulls this week to try and give himself a mental escape from his emotions.
“‘Spur! Spur, Zeke! You can’t ride bulls like that,’” Ezekiel could hear in his mind and heart. “‘You can’t keep your feet at them. You learn how to ride bulls spurring. Just spur. Go back to doing you.
‘Be a Mitchell! Be a Mitchell! Be a Mitchell!’”
Ezekiel paused before looking inside the locker room, where he would have liked to see his cousin preparing his bull rope.
“God dang, I am going to miss him,” he said. “My deal now is just to stay on all my bulls and just don’t let his legacy die. I hope that I can do my damnedest and spur the sucker.”
GAFFNEY AND GAMBLERS STAFF OFFERING A LISTENING EAR
Mitchell bucked off for the Gamblers on Friday night in the team’s loss to Oklahoma, but he will be right back in the starting lineup when Austin (10-7, Freedom Fest 0-1) takes on the Nashville Stampede (4-13, Freedom Fest 0-1).
Austin head coach Michael Gaffney knows how hard it can be to compete with a heavy heart. Of course, Gaffney understands his situation was very different than his rider’s, but he said he struggled mentally when he returned to competition two weeks after the passing of his traveling partner Brent Thurman at the 1994 National Finals Rodeo.
“I remember sitting in the locker room in the Ector County Coliseum in Odessa, Texas, and people started talking to me about it,” Gaffney, then 25 years old, recalled. “I remember halfway through that night, I was not wanting to be there. But looking back, it was that old ‘You’ve got to get back in the saddle’ thing. It took me about six to eight months, but it was good to be around my (bull riding) family.”
Gaffney and General Manager JJ Gottsch have kept in contact with Mitchell throughout the week and offered a helping hand and listening ear.
“It’s just the ‘How are you doing? Keep your head up,’ and I just listen,” Gaffney said. “Just listen to him. That’s all I’ve done. It is just that kind of support, but we definitely will talk whenever he wants. If he’s had enough of it, because he’s probably been inundated with it, that is okay too.
“We are here for him.”
Ouncie Mitchell is survived by his 4-year-old daughter.
The PBR extends its heartfelt condolences to Ezekiel, Ouncie’s mother, Laquita, father, Teaspoon, and the rest of his family and friends.
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Andre Silva/Bull Stock Media
© 2022 PBR Inc. All rights reserved.