Without a Doubt: Murray Bears and Sets the Standard

On a Sunday afternoon, the house lights go down inside the coliseum on the Albuquerque, N.M., fairgrounds.

During the opening of the city's traditional Professional Bull Riders show, the rock music cranks up and fans begin yelling and screaming as great balls of fire blow from the mounted heads of two mock bulls at the far end of the arena. The crowd roars with approval when an icon steps out from behind a black curtain and wades through the silver fog.

"The nine time champ of the world and the king of the rodeo cowboys, Mr. Ty Murray!" the announcer exclaims.

Murray tips his hat and turns to shake hands with 45 of the toughest bull riders in the world. But within minutes, he's back on a platform behind the arena to do color commentary for the PBR's national television broadcast for the event which bears his name -- the Ty Murray Invitational.

Murray's work as an announcer caps a busy weekend that includes brainstorming with key PBR officials on keeping the world's premier bull riding tour on the cutting edge, and addressing a crowd at the Sandia Resort and Casino, the posh hotel that served as headquarters for an early spring stop on the Built Ford Tough Series. It's all part of the routine for Murray, the 1990s kingpin of bull and bronc busting and a PBR founding father. Though a decade has passed since he broke the record for the most world all-around titles, Murray is as popular as ever.

In the past year, Murray, 38, who lives on a ranch near Stephenville, Texas, has reached a new level of transcending his sport. He has starred in Miller Lite TV commercials with film icon Burt Reynolds, and he has a rockstar girlfriend, Jewel.

"That's almost unheard of for a rodeo cowboy," said longtime public relations executive Jerre Todd, who has handled numerous high-profile accounts in the Fort Worth/Dallas Metroplex for pro sports outlets, including the Dallas Cowboys and the Colonial PGA tournament. "You have to be a superstar to transcend into that type of status, and you also have to have a special type of personality. But Ty Murray can because he has rockstar status."

Murray also strapped on a racing helmet during a prime time ABC summer special about celebrity racing and drove around a NASCAR track faster than a rampaging bull charges after a scrambling rider.

And he also taught a small posse of celebs Bull Riding 101 last summer on a CMT television series. Among the celebrities were singer Vanilla Ice, actor Stephen Baldwin, former football star "Rocket" Ismail, Ultimate Fighter Josh Haynes and X-Games motorcycle legend "Cowboy" Kenny Bartram.

Murray invited them to his ranch to learn about bull riding and asked them to compete in Nashville in conjunction with a PBR tour stop.

Aware that those celebrities had legions of fans, Murray reasoned that he could steer their fans toward becoming PBR fans if he could just teach their idols on national TV.

"Those are things that make people ask, 'What about a bull rider? What about a cowboy?' " Murray said. "My idea behind the celebrity bull riding was to get people who are outside of our circles to start taking a look at the sport and what goes into it."

But by hosting a boot camp on how to stay on a bull for the required 8 seconds, Murray also hoped to educate people with no bull riding background about how the sport really works.

"My idea was not to make fun of (the students), but rather to see how good I could get them to ride, so that the people watching could say, 'Wow, there's a lot more that goes into bull riding than I thought,' " said Murray, who retired from competing on the PBR circuit six years ago and since has diligently labored to advance the sports business.

Murray said part of the problem is that millions of fans follow mainstream sports such as baseball and football because they have tried them to some degree, but bull riding and rodeo suffers because most people simply haven't had the opportunity.

"They may not have hit a 100 mph fastball, but they have tried to hit a 50 mph pitch," Murray said.

By aligning himself with household names, Murray was simply following the lead of his boyhood idol, Larry Mahan.

Mahan took Murray under his wing in the early 1980s when he spotted him on the junior rodeo circuit and asked the 13-year-old to spend the summer at his ranch. It was an offer Murray couldn't refuse.

Murray said the main thing he learned was how to be an ambassador of the sport.

Mahan, who won six world all-around titles in the late 1960s and early '70s, drew attention to bull riding and rodeo like no other. He was truly the sport's goodwill ambassador. His dash and sense of dramatic flair won the admiration of people from all ages, including those who knew little or nothing about rodeo and western life.

"Larry taught me a lot about business, a lot about dealing with people and how important the media is to the sport," Murray said. "And that's a good thing for a guy like me to learn because I was so into being a cowboy, and when you're like that, you get to where you don't care about promoting the sport.

"But that's what kept me from retiring broke like all of my heroes before me."

Part of Mahan and Murray's lasting legacy is that they were both world-class competitors in each of the three bucking stock events -- bull riding, bareback and saddle bronc. In 1973, Mahan broke Jim Shoulders' record of five all-around titles, which had stood since 1959. In 1998, Murray's seventh world all-around title broke the record Mahan shared with roper/steer wrestler Tom Ferguson. Both won two gold bull riding buckles, their only single-event titles.

Mahan said he believes it is the inherent danger of the roughstock events that drew people's attention to him and rodeo as a sport.

"There's a huge market that likes extreme sports, and both Ty and I were fortunate that we were able to go to the top of our game and reached our goals," Mahan said. "And it set the table so we could pick and choose what we wanted to do for the rest of our lives."

While Mahan was reigning as King of the Cowboys, he also was thinking outside of the box like no rodeo cowboy before him. He was featured alongside the biggest names from the world of sports when he signed a contract with Jantzen Sportswear, joining notables such as pro basketball's Jerry West and football's Don Meredith.

"I found that there were a lot of close comparisons between being a winner in rodeo and other sports when I talked with those guys," Mahan said.

Because of his clothing contract, Mahan busted broncs in more stylish apparel than most people wear to the office. Mahan's colorful attire rankled many older, more conservative rodeo hands, but his long-sleeved shirts and knit sweater vests captivated a younger generation.

Mahan said he sees the same crossover attraction in Murray.

"I had the opportunity to step into those other sports that were not related to the rodeo game, but now Ty's the guy who has that same opportunity and he's doing a great job," Mahan said. "He's kept his nose clean and he's a good guy."

Mahan said he is elated that Murray is still out there promoting the sport.

"Ty was a great representative of rodeo and now the PBR," Mahan said. "With the growth of the PBR, it's a two-way street, a win-win situation for the PBR and a win-win situation for Ty."

Randy Bernard, the PBR's chief executive officer, said Murray is a big asset.

"Ty is just one of those guys who is a winner, and he's so articulate," Bernard said. "He's one of those guys who drives you to perfection. He looks at the PBR like he looked as his riding career. He wanted to be the greatest cowboys ever and now he wants the sport of bull riding to be the greatest sport ever."