Reigning world champ Murray seeks 8th title

Thursday, Dec. 2, 1999 | 3:56 a.m.

NFR Facts

Dates: Dec. 3-12

Site: Thomas & Mack Center

Purse: $4.4 million

Structure: 10 go-rounds of rodeo competition. Top 15 regular-season finishers compete for world championships in: bareback riding; saddle bronc riding; bull riding; calf roping; team roping (heading and heeling); steer wrestling; and barrel racing

Expected attendance: 171,000

TV: 10-round broadcast on ESPN and ESPN2

Professional rodeo's richest event and several familiar faces return to Las Vegas when the $4.4 million National Finals Rodeo kicks off Friday with the first of 10 sold-out performances at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Seven-time All-Around champion Ty Murray heads a list of eight reigning world champions who will be in Las Vegas through Dec. 12 to defend their titles.

The top 15 cowboys in each of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association's seven events -- saddle bronc riding, bull riding, bareback riding, calf roping, team roping, steer wrestling and barrel racing -- qualified for the lucrative season finale.

Murray was the star of the NFR last year, earning a record seventh All-Around title -- as well as his second bull riding crown -- to surpass Larry Mahan and Tom Ferguson.

Murray won six straight All-Around titles from 1989-94, but a variety of injuries kept him out of pro rodeo's Super Bowl until last year.

"It feels great," Murray said after capturing the All-Around title last year with a second-place finish in the saddle bronc event on the final day of the NFR. "I've been dreaming about this since I was a little boy.

"Words can't explain what something like this means."

Murray comes to Las Vegas this week ranked fifth in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association All-Around standings with $121,577 and trails front-running Fred Whitfield by $30,761.

But you can throw out the year-long standings at the NFR. With tens of thousands of dollars up for grabs in every performance during the 10-day rodeo, a strong showing this week in Las Vegas can vault even the 15th-place cowboy in any event into title contention.

In 1990, team roper Allen Bach came into the NFR in 15th place but roped his way to the championship. In 1992, Billy Etbauer posted the highest single-event NFR total in history when he won more than $100,000 en route to his first saddle bronc riding world title.

Dan Mortensen, the reigning world champion saddle bronc rider, is out to capture his sixth world title in that event -- which would tie him with the legendary Casey Tibbs. Mortensen comes to Las Vegas second in the saddle bronc standings with $109,394 in earnings and trails Rod Hay by a scant $3,948.

While not all of the events at this year's NFR are as close as the saddle bronc, not one front-running cowboy is coming to Las Vegas with a lock on the world championship.

Some of the other hotly contested battles that will be settled during the 41st annual NFR:

* One of the tightest races is in team roping, where Daniel Green leads reigning world heading champion Speed Williams by $458 and Bach leads defending heeling champ Rich Skelton by the same amount.

* In steer wrestling, Lee Graves holds a narrow $3,386 lead over Tommy Cook, but reigning champ Mike Smith is only $16,700 back.

* Another close race exists in calf roping, where Whitfield holds a slim $5,705 edge over Blair Burke.

The 41st annual National Finals Rodeo will run through Sunday, Dec. 12 at the Thomas & Mack. Each of the first nine performances is scheduled to start at 6:45 p.m., with the Dec. 12 matinee finale starting at 11:45 a.m.