Saddle bronc rider with flair for dramatic latest NFR Icon

Billy Etbauer’s mind is filled with memories from winning at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas over the years — which is exactly why he’s being honored this December as an NFR Icon.

Among the iconic moments at the forefront of his recollection: His 10th-round record ride of 93 points in 2004 atop Cool Alley, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association’s saddle bronc of the year, who proved no match that night for the Huron, South Dakota, native.

As Cool Alley bucked, Etbauer endured, grasping for 12 rhythmic kicks with the rope in his hand, along with his place in NFR history.

“I can’t really say enough about what it means, I guess, but just everybody’s support throughout the years has made it all fun and worth it,” said Etbauer, 60, and a resident of Edmond, Oklahoma. “Proud of everything that Vegas has done to make the rodeo great for everybody. Not just the contestants, but the fans, too.”

Etbauer returns to Las Vegas this winter as one of the greatest saddle bronc riders in PRCA history, five times a world champion with five golden belt buckles to show for it — and in December a 14-inch commemorative bronze statue to show for it as well.

He’ll be honored alongside esteemed roper Cody Ohl, the 2001 all-around champion, with a banner to be unveiled in the rafters of the Thomas &Mack Center, where rodeo legends reside.

“When you get all done, the big thing to me is having family together doing it,” Etbauer said.

He means that metaphorically as well as literally, competing in rodeo alongside brothers Robert and Dan as well as close friend Craig Latham. Etbauer longed for a career in rodeo, but he started late because he was “scared to never have a nickel in my pocket” working on a ranch in South Dakota.

He didn’t debut professionally until 1988, when he was 25.

“I probably always wanted to, but it was being able to think that you could go out and make a living doing it, that would have been a big ol’ dream there,” Etbauer said. “I guess I just decided I needed to give it a shot.”

A shot, he would give it — reaching his first of 21 consecutive NFRs in 1989 with his brothers by his side and winning his first world title in 1992.

Championships followed in 1996, 1999, 2000 and lastly, 2004, when his ride atop Cool Alley clinched his final title in thrilling and predictably unpredictable fashion — at the age of 41 and with the uncanny flair that endeared him to fans for so many years.

In all, Etbauer won 51 rounds at the NFR to earn more than $1 million in Las Vegas for his nightly heroics. The 93-point ride atop Cool Alley equaled a 93-point ride atop the same horse the year before, and remains the record 20 years later.

A late bloomer turned living rodeo legend, Etbauer occasionally imagines how his life would have been had he not left the ranch in pursuit of his dream.

“If I didn’t want to, that was one thing, and if it wouldn’t have worked, that would have been another thing,” he said through a chuckle. “I know what I’ve been doing if I hadn’t been rodeoing, and that would have been being a farm boy.”

His buckles are dispersed around his house, reflective of the legacy that he’ll celebrate again soon.

“Just thank God that it all worked out,” he said. ◆