PUEBLO, Colo. – Ouncie Mitchell may still be relatively unknown to PBR bull riding fans, but the 22-year-old is no stranger to the Western world and bull riding.
The Fresno, Texas, bull rider was 2 years old when his mom, Laquita, decided to let Ouncie take part in a mutton busting competition.
“A lady walked up to my mom and said, ‘Hey! Do you want to put him in the mutton busting?” Ouncie recalled last month at Last Cowboy Standing. “She said, ‘Yeah.’
She then told my dad to put me in the mutton busting. My dad said, ‘Are you crazy?’ He is like, ‘You know what that is? He is going to be getting on those wild, little sheep over there.’”
She said, ‘I guess he has to be a cowboy now. We ain’t drawing him out of anything.”
So how did his first mutton busting turn out?
“I got on a little sheep in the middle of the arena and I peed my pants,” Ouncie said with a laugh.
Mitchell has come a long way since then, though, and he will now try to thrive in an underdog role at the upcoming Days of ’47 Cowboy Games & Rodeo this weekend.
The Days of ’47 Cowboy Games & Rodeo features four Semi-Final performances (July 19-21, July 23) and then one Gold Medal Round (July 24).
The top two finishers from each Semi-Final performance advance to the Gold Medal Round. The final two spots will go to the two highest finishers from any of the four semifinal bull ridings that had failed to qualify.
Thirty-two talented bull riders will compete in the Semi-Final performances, including four riders from the PBR’s Real Time Pain Relief Velocity Tour – Mitchell, Cody Rodeo Tyler, Colten Jesse and Alisson Souza.
Fans can watch the Days of ’47, which is a WCRA Rodeo, on RidePass beginning at 10 p.m. ET. CBS Sports Network will also air highlights from the Days of ’47 on July 20 (10 a.m. ET), July 21 (4 p.m. ET), July 22 (9:30 a.m. ET), July 24 (11:30 a.m. ET) and July 25 (7 p.m. ET).
CBS national television will air “B&W Trailer Hitches Days of ’47” on July 29 at 1 p.m. ET.
The winner of the bull riding gold medal will also earn 120 world points and $50,000. Each victor of the rodeo disciplines automatically qualifies for the next three WCRA $1 million rodeos.
Mitchell, who is tentatively scheduled to be competing in the Saturday performance, is one of the relative unknown riders to have qualified for the Days of ’47 after earning a bid with his victory in Wichita, Kansas.
The four-year pro is only 1-for-8 this season, but the one ride – 86 points on White Liar – earned him the Wichita victory and his first opportunity to compete on the PBR’s premier series.
“It means a whole bunch,” Mitchell told Colby Yates in Wichita on RidePass. “I have been trying to get here all my life. Finally, I made it. It means a bunch to me.”
Mitchell is 17-for-77 (22.08 percent) at all levels of PBR competition since 2015 with three victories.
He was bucked off by High Razor in 3.45 seconds at Last Cowboy Standing.
“It is pretty awesome to be here,” Mitchell said in Vegas. “I have been trying to get here for so long. There have been some ups and downs on the Velocity Tour and the Touring Pros. I would win a couple of Touring Pros and then I would get hurt and have to take a break. Then I would miss my shot to get here.”
In 2016, Mitchell had to get 12 staples in his head after being stepped on at a non-PBR bull riding event.
Mitchell is hopeful to compete more in the PBR after at first trying to pro rodeo earlier in his career.
“I tried pro rodeoing and it didn’t work for me, so I came back to the PBR,” Mitchell said. “I love it here. I tried (rodeo) two years ago when I was in college.”
Mitchell got tuned-up for Days of ’47 with a victory at the 6th annual Roger Crouch Memorial Bull Riding in Nixon, Texas. The non-PBR event helps raise money to provide scholarships for youth in the community.
Mitchell attended Wharton County Junior College in Wharton, Texas, and then graduated with a firefighting degree from Houston Community College. He hopes to one day get his EMT license so that he can pursue a career as a firefighter.
The second-generation bull rider, though, has kept his career focus on bull riding for the time being.
Mitchell grew up near Houston and got on his first steer at 5 years old. He credits his father, Teaspoon Mitchell, for teaching him how to ride.
Like many kids, Ouncie looked up to the late Lane Frost.
Teaspoon used to compete in PRCA rodeos and amateur events throughout Texas, but he eventually shifted over to bullfighting, which he still does today, after breaking his hip.
“I try to ride loose and cool and have fun,” Ouncie said. “My dad used to always say, ‘Forget the form and make the horn.’ Whatever I have to do, just make it. Most people want to stay structure wise, but for me, if it works, it works.”
The father and son also share in another interesting fact outside of their bull riding careers.
Ouncie and Teaspoon both go by nicknames, and not by their legal first names of Demetrius.
“If I tell you (my dad’s) story, he would get mad at me,” Ouncie said with a laugh. “But his uncle gave him the nickname.”
Ouncie, who’s legal name is Demetrius Allen, was given his nickname by his grandfather.
“When I was born, he said, ‘This baby looks nothing like an ounce, so I am going to call him Ouncie,” Ouncie said. “It just stuck. Everybody knows me as Ouncie, but on Facebook I am Demetrius.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko