PUEBLO, Colo. – Ezekiel Mitchell can still remember being 10 years old at George Washington Carver Elementary school and looking at the stack of papers and books about rodeo and Western sports that was plopped on the table in front of him.
Mitchell was 10 years old and he wanted to be a cowboy.
The now highest-ranked African American bull rider in the PBR today at No. 25 would read everything he could find either in print or online to feed his bull riding appetite as a kid.
“I actually had a librarian when I was younger, she knew I wanted to be a black cowboy, and she went and looked up every black cowboy she could find in her database,” Mitchell said. “She was like, ‘You read everything you can read.’”
Mitchell remembers reading about one bull rider in particular.
Charlie Sampson.
Sampson was the first African-American bull rider to win a World Championship when he won the 1982 PRCA title a year following his first qualification at the National Finals Rodeo. At the time of his championship, he was one of six African Americans competing in the PRCA.
“He is a huge inspiration,” Mitchell said. “He is the standard when it comes to African-American bull riders and African-American cowboys.”
Approximately 11 years after being that aspiring bull rider in the library, Mitchell finally met one of his childhood heroes in New York City when he made his PBR premier series debut at the Monster Energy Buck Off at The Garden this past January.
Mitchell and Sampson have stayed in contact through social media and text messages ever since, but Sampson was back watching Mitchell in person last weekend at Iron Cowboy, presented by Ariat, in Los Angeles.
The weekend was Mitchell’s best so far on the Unleash The Beast as he went 2-for-3 and made it to the final round (Round 3) of competition.
Sampson was on the back of the bucking chutes inside STAPLES Center helping out a bunch of the riders.
Being able to talk and receive coaching from a childhood mentor is still awe-inspiring for Mitchell.
“I was looking over at my cousin Ouncie (Mitchell) earlier, and I was like, this is freaking cool,” Mitchell said. “He was right there to help pull our ropes and stuff. There are kids that dream of meeting these guys. It is a dream come true. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be meeting all of my heroes.”
Ouncie, 23, and Ezekiel, 21, are both attempting to qualify for the PBR World Finals for the first time in their respective careers. 2019 is the first season in which the two cousins have focused solely on PBR events.
Ezekiel and Ouncie are set to compete Friday night at the Bad Boy Mowdown in North Little Rock, Arkansas. They are two of 150 bull riders competing in four PBR events throughout North America throughout this weekend.
Ouncie, who is ranked 30th in the world standings, admits he is a little embarrassed about his first interaction with Sampson.
The Fresno, Texas, bull rider was in college when his phone started buzzing.
Ouncie picked up the call and said, “Hello?”
The 19-year-old did not recognize the phone number and the man on the other end simply introduced himself as Charles.
“It makes me look kind of crazy,” Ouncie said in Los Angeles before shaking his head in embarrassment. “He is like, ‘I am the first and only black World Champion.’”
It still was not registering with Ouncie though.
“I am a 19-year-old kid,” he continued. “I am just riding bulls. I am not looking into any history or nothing. I’m just trying to stay on. We talked for like an hour or two.”
It was not until he got off the phone that Ouncie’s roommates explained to him that Charles was THE Charlie Sampson – one of the most famous bull riders of all time and a 2004 PBR Ring of Honor inductee.
“I did some research and was like, ‘Oh damn. This is exactly who I got off the phone with. He is the real deal,’” Ouncie said.
Sampson knew Ouncie’s dad, Teaspoon, and a mutual friend had mentioned to him that Ouncie was a talented up-and-comer that could use some encouragement.
Sampson is always trying to encourage young bull riders, so he eventually got ahold of Ouncie on the phone.
“When I go anywhere to visit with bull riders, whether they are black, white, Indian, Brazilian, Mexican, I try to point out things I see,” Sampson said. “I just wanted to let him know from a distance that I saw on social media and the Facebook how he rides and that he has potential. If you want it, and this is what you want to do, there is several ways to go. I went the pro rodeo way before bull riding. But we did pro bull riding jack pots. I encouraged him to get into his game, decide what he wants want to do and good luck.”
Ezekiel and Ouncie have received similar advice from Sampson this year.
“Ride bulls like you know,” Ezekiel said. “Simple. He says the same thing every time. ‘You already know how to ride bulls; just make sure everybody else knows that you belong.’”
Ouncie added, “The good advice he gave me is, ‘Nothing really has changed in bull riding from the lower level to the higher level. Keep it all simple. It is just another bull. Go out there and treat it like just another bull.’
“It is pretty nice getting advice from an old veteran. It is always good to hear some stuff he went through. You can’t do nothing but get better. I never turn down advice.”
SAMPSON SPEAKS WITH COMPTON COWBOYS
Sampson, a Los Angeles native, also took time during Iron Cowboy to meet with members of the Compton Cowboys.
“These Compton kids know who I am a little bit, but to have them actually see me tell my story and explain my dream and some of the things I went through and people I met, to have them tell me, ‘Wow I didn’t’ know,’ was great,” Sampson said. “It was a great relationship today.”
At 61 years old, Sampson continues to serve as an inspiration to aspiring cowboys throughout the world, including Ouncie and Ezekiel.
Sampson says he is continuously humbled when riders look up to him just as he did to previous black cowboys such as Myrtis Dightman – the first African American to compete at the NFR (1964).
“To have anybody admire you… hopefully they admire me for the right reasons,” Sampson concluded. “That I am a good person. A good guy.
“Luckily, I became a successful bull rider.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
