Murray: National High School Finals Rodeo taught me Valuable Lessons

By: Justin Felisko
July 16, 2018

PUEBLO, Colo. – Ty Murray looked at his mother, Joy, with an extremely puzzled look in Rapid City, South Dakota, at the 1985 National High School Finals Rodeo.

The 15-year-old sophomore was competing at the National High School Finals Rodeo for the first time.

The aspiring World Champion cowboy had spent the previous summer living and training with the legendary Larry Mahan.

Still, as Murray stood in that South Dakota arena, his mother could tell something was wrong.

Joy said to her son, “You are trying too hard, Ty.”

Thirty-three years later, and Ty still remembers clear as day the conversation that proceeded.

“I remember thinking, ‘Trying too hard? What do you mean? That is what this sport is all about: how hard you try.’”

By the end of the week, Murray understood his mom was right.

Murray was ready to show the world just how good he was. The teenage cowboy had spent his entire life competing against primarily the same group of kids in Arizona and nearby states.

However, the stakes were higher at the National High School Finals Rodeo.

“Whenever you get to go to the National High School Finals, it kind of gives you a measurement of where you stand in the nation,” Murray said. “I distinctively remember that is the place I learned about trying too hard. Your preparation of learning how to deal with pressure and what it is like. It was a great learning experience and opportunity for me to learn how to try as hard as you can without trying too hard.”

Murray took his mother’s advice to heart, and two years later he won three national titles at the 1987 National High School Finals Rodeo in Pueblo, Colorado. Murray not only won the All-Around national title, but he also tied with Dennis Schmidt for the bareback riding championship and helped Arizona win the team national title.

Murray competed in every roughstock event, as well as cutting, in 1987.

It may sound silly at first, but Murray is adamant that many of the hundreds of kids competing this week at the National High School Finals Rodeo in Rock Springs, Wyoming, are going through a similar learning process just like he did in the 1980s.

Fans can watch the future stars of rodeo every day beginning at 10:45 a.m. ET and 8:30 p.m. ET until the conclusion of the event on July 21.

In the moment, the NHSFR is the National Finals Rodeo for those hundreds of kids competing in Wyoming.

“Going and qualifying for the National High School Finals was a big deal for me,” Murray said. “It felt like my NFR. But at the same time, I also understood back then that it was a learning situation for me.

“The National High School Finals is where I really started learning how to calm down. Learning how to stay in that headspace that you are at your best, you are not choking, over-trying, and you are not giving the situation the power. That is definitely where that learning process started for me. I remember it very well.”

Murray added that being a part of a winning team was also a huge bonus for him.

Arizona was by no means a favorite to win a national title, and Arizona hadn’t won a national team title in 12 years.

Arizona had won three consecutive championships from 1973-75.

“That was a lot of fun,” Murray said. “It was a big deal for us because we were really considered underdogs. Whenever you get up against Texas, Oklahoma and all that, Arizona is not the favorite. I feel like there was a lot of talented cowboys and cowgirls from Arizona that I grew up with. We felt an immense amount of pride even to win the team title. We felt a ton of pride in it. There is great memories going there as a team and pulling together as a team. Winning as a team was a very big deal for us. We were very proud and very excited. It was a very fun time.”

A national championship at the high school level can go a long way to building a teenager’s confidence, Murray explained.

Being a winner at any level helps in that regard.

“As a kid, when you go reach your goals, it is a major amount of confidence that it gives you,” Murray said. “For me, it was all a stepping stone because the success I had at the state level helped me gain some confidence moving up to the national level. Then finally having some success at the national level gave me some confidence going to the intercollegiate level.”

Murray went on to become the youngest All-Around World Champion (20 years old) in the PRCA two years after his victory at the NHSFR.

Six months before his PRCA title, he was capping off the 1989 National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association national championship in the all-around, bull riding and saddle bronc riding.

“By the time I was doing good at the national intercollegiate level, I felt like I really had confidence,” Murray said.

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko

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