Top 10 Extreme Sports Athletes Series: No.10, Ty Murray

In this new series I am going to profile my top 10 extreme sports athletes. But first, what is an extreme sport anyway? We hear that term tossed around a lot, but there is not really a clear definition. To me, an extreme sport is one that is outside of the mainstream and caters to a niche audience. What these sports lack in fancy theme music and network TV coverage, they make up for in purity and a balls to the wall attitude of the athletes and fans.

Number ten on my list is Ty Murray, a former world champion bull rider and all around badass. Many people may disagree with me that bull riding is a sport. I have heard a lot of people make fun of the sport and say things like it’s just a bunch of hicks sitting around on a fence watching other people play with some animals. That’s all a bunch of bullshit. Bull riders are some of the most fearless athletes in any sport. There’s no referee to blow a whistle if the 2,000 pound bull you were just strapped to decides he wants to kill you. There’s a saying among bull riders that it’s not if you get hurt, it’s just a matter of when and how bad. To get on a bull at any level takes an iron will. To do it for 15 years like Murray did takes even more strength.

Chuck Liddell helped popularize MMA , and Murray did the same for professional bull riding. Murray joined the Professional Rodeo Cowboy’s Association in 1987 when he was just 18yearsold. By 1989 he won his first world championship. He was champion seven times, not only as the top bull rider, but as the top athlete in saddle bronc and bareback riding.

Later in his career, Murray joined the up and coming Professional Bull Riders (PBR) association. While he never won a world championship with the PBR, he finished second in 1999, 2000, and 2001. His star power helped the PBR grow from a start-up company that focused only on bullriding to a multimillion dollar corporation that holds bullriding events around the world. Murray retired in 2002 and currently serves as president of the PBR.

Murray paved the way for the new generation of bull riders. Great bullriders like Travis Briscoe, JB Mauney and Guilherme Marchi are among the toughest athletes in any sport. They are more athletic and take home more prize money than the bull riders from Murray’s generation, but they all have something in common with Murray: toughness and a will to win. These guys ride with broken bones and without fear. That’s the way Murray approached the sport and became the greatest champion ever in the world of professional bull riding.

~Tip

Tippy is the Heavy Hands blogger and can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .