It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No it’s Baumgartner

Bill Bowman

Tuesday, Dec. 9, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

He doesn't have an "S" on his chest like Superman.

He probably doesn't drive a car like the Batmobile.

But if you're looking for someone to save the day during the bull riding competition at the National Finals Rodeo, look no further than Joe Baumgartner.

Baumgartner, one of the bullfighters at this week's event at the Thomas & Mack, is making his sixth straight appearance at the NFR.

It's a trip that never gets old.

"Every time I go out there, it's different," the 31-year-old Red Bluff, Calif., native said. "It's just a great honor to be here."

It's an honor he has spent a lifetime trying to achieve.

"When I was younger, I always dreamed of this," he said. "Then after I got here, I thought 'Now what's my goal?' ... I guess it's the same as it's always been: Try and make sure that all of the cowboys are safe and nobody gets hurt because of myself or my partner."

Baumgartner risks life and limb on every ride and he's paid the price.

Take last year for instance.

"I completely tore up my knee last year in the ninth round," he said.

For most athletes, that means a year of recovery before they even think about coming back.

Not Baumgartner.

"Hey, if I don't go to work, I don't get paid," he said.

Three-and-a-half months later he was back on the job. "Good surgeons," he says when asked how he got back in action so quick.

Now that he's back in the ring, does he look at his job any differently?

"No way," he said. "I've got a job to do and I'm going to do it to the best of my ability. When you see a guy in trouble, you just get there. You've got to get there. You don't think, you react. If you think, you're going to be late."

That's not acceptable to Baumgartner.

Or to the bull riders who have come to expect him to be Johnny-on-the-spot.

"It's a peaceful feeling knowing he's out there," bull rider Kelly Armstrong said of Baumgartner's presence. "It lets you go about your business knowing you've got him out there to help you out. You just know he'll be there if there's trouble."

Baumgartner got his start "by feeding bulls for a guy where I used to live (in Concord, Calif.). And from there, I moved out to a place where they had a practice pen and I started fighting bulls. It seemed to come pretty easy for me."

Now, he's making a living dodging 2,000-pound raging bulls.

"It paid my way through college," he explained. "I would go to school during the week and fight bulls on the weekend."

It's turned into a full-time job and one in which he has become a life-saver.

"Any save is a good save," he said. "Any time you keep a bull away from a bull rider and he can get away, that's a good save."

And if the rider is injured?

"You've still got a job to do," he said. "You're probably on your toes more (after an injury), but we're out there doing everything we can to make sure these guys don't get hurt."

Baumgartner has been doing this for so long, he's got a good eye for the bulls he's up against.

"Bulls are a lot like people," he said. "Some are nice and others are pretty cranky. We get a list of what is out there and we'll visit with the other clowns and between us, we'll know a lot about the bull and how they will act -- just like the cowboys do."

Unlike the cowboys, however, Baumgartner has to face 15 bulls on any given night.

"You've always got to be ready," he said. "You never know what can happen. You've got to be ready to jump in and help these guys."

Superman couldn't have said it any better.