Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2003 | 9:44 a.m.
Two of the top bull riders at this year's Wrangler National Finals Rodeo at the Thomas & Mack Center hail from Illinois and Wisconsin.
To those who don't follow the cowboy sport, that has to be the most stunning development to hilt Western culture since city slickers Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern and Bruno Kirby set out to find freedom and adventure on a New Mexico cattle run.
But make no mistake about it, Mike Moore and B.J. Schumacher are no rubes when it comes to their sport. In fact, these guys are so tough they might make Jack Palance look like a tenderfoot.
Moore, who grew up in Kankakee, Ill., about 30 miles south of Chicago, began the NFR ranked second in the world standings. Schumacher, born and raised in Hillsboro, Wis., about two hours west of Madison, was right behind in third among the 15 bull riders who qualified for the $5 million bonanza in Las Vegas.
On Monday, both took the first major step toward putting a Yankee's name on the golden championship buckle by splitting first-place money in the fourth go-round.
"There are (a lot of) bulls left and I need to ride 'em all," Moore said on Tuesday afternoon, a few hours before he and the 14 other brave souls who make their living riding bulls began saying their prayers. Like Monday's group of rideable "spinners," Tuesday's ornery "elimination pen" is an early week tradition at the NFR.
Maybe one of these days, owing to pro rodeo's burgeoning popularity in locales not normally associated with bulls and broncs, perhaps Illinois cowboys also may become routine at the NFR.
But it's not as if Moore, one of two black competitors at this year's NFR, became a championship bull rider by accident. Although you can almost feel the cool breeze off Lake Michigan in downtown Kankakee, his hometown had more in common with Hooterville than Michigan Avenue.
Moore said one of his earliest memories was of his grandfather, James Woodard, putting him on the back of a horse. Or maybe it was a goat. Or a pig.
"He had all kinds of crazy stuff running around at his place," Moore said of his country upbringing within the shadow of the big city.
"My grandfather still talks about me crying when we were finished, because I wanted to ride some more."
Moore, who suffered a torn biceps Saturday that will require surgery after the NFR, has a bachelor's degree in elementary education from the University of Wyoming and plans to put it to use when he's through being bullish. He said he would like to impart some of the wisdom he learned from his close-knit family on any kids willing to listen.
Moore said his mother, Yolanda, worked in a chemical plant to raise her two young boys and told them that if they had a dream, to follow it.
"But there's only so much a lady can teach you about becoming a man," Moore said. "My biggest role model was a man named Mike Gladding."
Gladding was an administrator at Moore's junior high school, but he also owned a livestock company and was instrumental in launching his protege's bull riding career.
After that, it was all up to Moore, and he has succeeded in becoming one of the most popular bull riders on tour. During a 15-minute chat with a reporter at an ice cream parlor just off the main registration desk at the Gold Coast Tuesday, dozens of passers-by stopped to congratulate Moore, or to wish him well.
In that this is only Schumacher's second NFR and that he's only 21, he hasn't amassed quite the following that his friendly rival has. But he was able to celebrate his first NFR go-round win with his biggest fan, and that's all that mattered.
"Just him being here to share it with me, that's the biggest payback I think I could ever give him," said Schumacher of his father, a former jackpot rodeo rider who bought, sold and broke horses as a hobby.
Eddie Schumacher helped finance his son's career by working in -- what else? -- a cheese factory for the past 14 years until recently being laid off. T.J. Schumacher said his dad always was there for him and his step siblings, with only one condition: that if they were going to pursue rodeo, they had to pursue it hard.
You know those dairy cows that are referenced on the Wisconsin license plate? Well, as Schumacher says, it took dairy bulls to create them, and he rode about 10 a day under the watchful eye of his father before hitting the road in search of fame and fortune, although not necessarily in that order.
Like Moore, Schumacher wasn't really into other sports, although he wrestled for a short time and also tried college. Briefly.
He lasted all of one month at Sul Ross State, a four-year school in West Texas noted for its rodeo team, before deciding that the only school he was interested in was the one of hard knocks being offered by the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association.
"I thought it was going to be fun, like (Animal House)," he said with a mischievous grin. "They kicked me out for missing, like, six classes. I said, 'That ain't right.' "
Neither, probably, was the mode of transportation that he and travel partner Fred Boettcher, another Wisconsin native (Tomah) who also qualified for the NFR in bull riding, used the past couple of years.
Schumacher's 1988 Cadillac Eldorado didn't come equipped with steer horns, like the ones in Texas, and didn't get great gas mileage. But it was big enough to sleep two, which is important when you are barnstorming in towns where they wouldn't leave the light on at Motel 6, even if they had one.
Those days are mostly over for Schumacher. He's got a big Dodge truck now, a trailer behind it with a shower, and he's made enough money this year to sleep inside and order room service, were he so inclined.
Just like a regular city slicker.
archive
