Bull gives ‘97 rookie of the year a lesson

Bill Bowman

Tuesday, Dec. 9, 1997 | 12:04 p.m.

Welcome to Bull Riding 101.

Your instructor: Skoal Seven.

The student: 21-year-old Mike White.

White, the PRCA's 1997 Rookie of the Year, drew Skoal Seven during Monday night's fourth go-round of the National Finals Rodeo being held at the Thomas & Mack.

The instructor gave a lesson to yet another student as he bucked White off before the eight-second whistle.

"It's been tough," White said. "Every night here you draw a rank bull. And eight seconds is an awful long time."

White started in the pro rodeo circuit in March and won early in his career, pocketing $4,127 and launching a promising career.

The season has wound up with him at the NFR for the first time.

He's impressed.

"You've got to be ready to ride bulls every night," he said. "Most rodeos you see one or two rank bulls, but here, they are all tough."

Through the first four go-rounds, he has ridden just one of his four bulls. He scored an 86 in the first go-round and pocketed $8,019.93. Not a bad outing, but he's hoping for better as the NFR goes on.

"I wanted to ride all 10," he said. "But obviously that's not going to happen. Now I'll just give it my best each night."

Despite being bucked off his last three bulls, White is still plenty confident.

"I set out to be Rookie of the Year," he said. "Then I got into the top 15 and I just stayed there. It's been just a great year."

As he sits and watches the early part of the performance on Monday, he grabs a cup of coffee and relaxes.

"There's no pressure," he said. "Really, I do better under pressure. All I want to do is make sure I give 100 percent every night."

He's been on and off bulls since the age of 11.

"It's kind of in my blood," he said. "I grew up around it and I just enjoy the challenge."

And the toughest part of the sport?

"It does take a lot of skill and concentration," he said. "But it's the eight seconds that's the toughest. It just seems like an awful long time."

The eight seconds was an awful long time for the rest of the bull riders as only two riders made it to the whistle.

Jerome Davis won the event with a score of 91 aboard Dodge Wipeout and Scott Mendes was second with an 81 aboard Copenhagen Cyclone. Mendes is now the only cowboy who has four successful rides at this year's NFR.

While the bull riders are looking to stay on for a long time, steer wrestlers Tom Duvall is looking for the quickest time he can find.

For the third straight night, he wound up with the fast time, clocking a 3.3 second run.

He was the last steer wrestler out.

"I've been drawing real good," he said. "Everything's clicking. I'm definitely on a roll."

Duvall said his game plan is simple: "I just come in and try to make one run at a time. I just try to concentrate on each run."

That concentration has resulted in Duvall earning $38,868.69 over the first four days.

"I'm real confident right now," Duvall said. "Every night is an encore. I'll just try to keep it up."

Duvall did win three go-rounds last year -- the fifth, sixth and final rounds.

This year he's off to a quicker start.

"My horse (Seeker) is one of the reasons for the success," he said. "If he didn't love what he does, he wouldn't work as hard as he does."

Another hard worker on this night was Deb Greenough in the bareback event.

One night after missing his horse out, Greenough scored an 82 to share the win win Eric Mouton and Lance Crump.

Greenough figured he needed a chance to redeem himself.

"I had all night to think about that," Greenough said of his no score on Sunday. "Now I have to keep rebounding."

He did with his win. Now, it's time to go for broke.

"There's no sense holding back now," he said. "I've got no more chances for mistakes."

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