42nd George Paul Memorial Xtreme Bull Riding
- About
The 41st Annual George Paul Memorial Extreme Bull Riding will be held on Friday, April 26th – Saturday, April 27th, 2019 in Del Rio, Texas. This Del Rio rodeo is held at Val Verde County Fairgrounds.
This year is the 42nd Annual George Paul Memorial Xtreme Bull Riding.
- History
- Born March 5, 1947, George Paul grew up on the San Miguel Ranch in Mexico riding and living the life of a ranch kid. From an early age, if it bucked, George would try and ride it. Perhaps destiny brought Stoney Burke, a fictional rodeo champion based on the life of rodeo great Casey Tibbs, into George’s life through the medium of television but, that meeting between George and Stoney changed George’s life forever. From that television meeting, George was determined to never be anything other than a world champion cowboy and, at the age of 14 he began his quest. Joining the American Junior Rodeo Association, George would win world championships in bareback bronc riding and the all-around 1966 and bull riding in 1965 before moving into the professional ranks. The first bull of the 1968 National Finals Rodeo, Cowtown, ended George’s string of successful rides at 79 (world record) however, he went on to successfully ride the remaining eight bulls which also tied the record of the NFR, and won not only a world championship but, the NFR average as well. To win that average he had to ride bulls such as Jim Shoulder’s Typhoon, unridden in three years; Big Bend’s Little Smoke and Kirby’s # 1, both unridden in 1968; Kinney Brother’s #25 , ridden once in 16 attempts and, Steiner’s horrible #107, ridden once in six years. The last bull George had at the 1968 NFR was Butler Brothers # 27, a bull so fierce that he had to be loaded in a chute with a chain around his horns a drug into the chute with a tractor. George conquered the bull in short order and scored 87 points, the highest marked ride at the 1968 NFR. Bull riders than would tell you a world championship in bull riding is the most prestigious title you can win. The second is the National Finals Rodeo. The airplane crash that took the life of George Paul ended what could have been the greatest bull riding career in all of the professional rodeos. Don Gay, eight-time world champion bull rider said the greatest natural bull rider of all time was George Paul. George is gone but the things he stood for…the things he is remembered for, death could never kill. His legacy is the formation of the multi-million dollar sport of professional bull riding as a stand-alone sport.
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