PUEBLO, Colo. – Cody Nance was helplessly lying on the trainer’s table inside the PBR sports medicine room at the Sprint Center Saturday night.
Waiting in a fair amount of pain to be transported to a local hospital, the 31-year-old had a bag of ice on his dislocated left hip and sweat all over his face.
Standing next to Nance was Chase Outlaw.
Seeing his fellow bull rider and friend in discomfort, he grabbed a bottle of water and poured a tiny bit on Nance’s face. Outlaw then took a white towel and patted Nance’s face to help him cool off.
“We got to be thankful for the little things in life,” Nance said in appreciation. “Bull riding is a temporary pleasure, but good friends last forever.”
The Hamburg, Arkansas, has been in Nance’s position before.
He too has had those moments on the trainer’s table, in a tremendous amount of pain and was unable to care for himself.
Outlaw hasn’t forgotten all of his family and friends there for him in Cheyenne, Wyoming, last summer. A gruesome wreck at Cheyenne Frontier Days led to 15 fractures on each side of his face, and he underwent 12 hours of emergency facial reconstructive surgery.
There are many times when a bull rider is actually alone on the road when injury strikes.
That is when their closest friends, or better yet their bull riding brothers, come to their aid.
That is why Outlaw’s priority following his second event victory of the season this past weekend at the Caterpillar Classic was heading to Sean Willingham’s hotel room to gather his items rather than going out to party.
Outlaw was making sure he went straight to the University of Kansas Hospital to see what else he could do for Willingham.
Willingham, 37, was scheduled to undergo surgery the next morning to repair a broken left tibia and fibula after being stepped on by Wileywood Blue in Round 2.
“Sometimes we are here by ourselves, and we have to be there for one another,” Outlaw said. “Like Sean, his wife isn’t here this weekend.”
A bull rider’s season – and potentially his life – can change in the blink of an eye.
That harsh reality has remained on Outlaw’s mind throughout the past year, from his serious wreck in Cheyenne to the passing of one of his best friends, Mason Lowe, in January.
It still is hard for Outlaw on a weekly basis when he sees his closest friends face the perils of the toughest sport on dirt.
In Round 1, Outlaw witnessed Stormy Wing – another one of his good friends – get knocked out and transported to a local hospital because of an intracranial hemorrhage.
Outlaw is a warrior, though, and knows his buddies are in his corner even when they are at the hospital or inside the sports medicine room rather than on the back of the bucking chutes.
“Like with Stormy, you have that in the back of your mind too,” Outlaw admitted. “They ain’t here, so I decided, I am getting these suckers for y’all too.”
Willingham was not going to let being strapped to a stretcher stop him from barking out words of encouragement to Outlaw.
Outlaw had just ridden Smooth Over for 87.75 points in Round 2 Sunday to take over the event lead, and his 2-for-2 performance had him set to make the first pick of the championship round draft.
The seven-time PBR World Finals qualifier was already planning on selecting Bottoms Up with the No. 1 pick, but Willingham wanted to make sure Outlaw knew what he was doing as he was being wheeled over to the ambulance.
“I told Willy, ‘I will come bring you your stuff to the hospital and show you what the buckle is like,’” Outlaw said with a grin.
Outlaw made good on his promise by riding Bottoms Up – J.W. Hart’s “Crystal Bull” – for 89 points to win the event, taking over the No. 1 ranking in the world standings in the process.
It was sweet revenge for Outlaw after Bottoms Up had bucked him off in 6.19 seconds with the event victory on the line in Glendale, Arizona, in January.
“Glendale, I came back first and picked him,” Outlaw said. “I was mad as hell since then.”
Willingham said it meant a lot to see Outlaw walk through his hospital door late Sunday evening with that belt buckle in his hands.
“For sure,” Willingham said. “We are family.”
FROM CHEYENNE, TO WORLD NO. 1
It has been a remarkable turnaround for Outlaw.
Outlaw heads into this weekend’s Tacoma Invitational, presented by Cooper Tires, 130 points ahead of No. 2 Jess Lockwood in the world standings thanks to his second win of the season.
He leads the PBR with 19 qualified rides on the Unleash The Beast, and his 61.3 percent riding average is second to Lockwood’s (68.4 percent).
In just nine months, Outlaw went from having 68 screws, 11 plates and four pieces of surgical mesh inserted into his face to being the No. 1 bull rider in the world.
“I have a lot more plates in my face now,” Outlaw joked with two-time World Champion J.B. Mauney in the Kansas City locker room.
He then added seriously, “I have just matured a lot and been able to calm down and focus and not be so high strung and blow right by what I am actually here to do.”
One person who has seen Outlaw mature is his wife, Nicole, who has known Outlaw for six years.
Outlaw gave Nicole a kiss on the dirt following his event victory in Kansas City before going to search for a bag of ice for his lower right leg, which Bottoms Up stepped on.
Nicole says it is still hard to put everything into perspective about just how far her husband has come.
“It is unbelievable,” Nicole said. “It does get old talking about it so much, and I know he gets tired of hearing it, and he doesn’t want that to be his comeback story because it was so tragic. It has got him where he is now.
“It is just really hard to put into perspective. He has just worked so hard. So many things have changed in his life, and I could not be more proud of him. The injury put a lot of stuff into perspective to him. To see where he needed to be and what he had been doing wrong. I am just amazed by how far he has come.”
Nicole said the events of the past year have of course affected everyone in the sport, Chase, 26, included.
“It is real eye opening,” Nicole said. “Being so young in the sport, you don’t look at that kind of stuff and realize it. Things are starting to come to light here lately. More serious injuries and the more surgeries he has had have started to put things into perspective.
“I am sure he fights in his head a lot about it, but Chase doesn’t talk about it. He believes you can’t talk about that stuff or dwell on that stuff or it will become reality. He has to think positive and think about winning. That is what becomes reality.”
Outlaw never considered retirement or throwing in the towel despite all of the adversity and the tragic passing of Lowe.
RELATED: Outlaw wins Mason Lowe Memorial
Outlaw does admit, however, that not everyone would have come back stronger like he has.
“The things that did happen didn’t happen for no reason,” Outlaw said. “It could have sent me home and could have ended my career and I chose for it not to do that. Nine out of 10 guys, it probably would have. I just say I am lucky and blessed that I realized what I had before I hung it up. I could have been one of those guys who didn’t buckle down and do what had to be done. They might have came back, but they might not have came back.
“It didn’t break me down. It is something that fueled the fire. The job ain’t done yet. What brought me this far. To give up now? I can’t give up.”
Outlaw wants to write his own positive narrative in 2019.
The ultimate being a World Championship.
Chase talks about it on a daily basis, says Nicole.
The parents can be sitting with their children at the breakfast table having a bowl of cereal and the talk of a world title may come up.
Or they can be heading out the door and the $1 million championship will become a subject of conversation.
It is top of mind.
“Chase is the most positive person you will ever be around,” Nicole said. “There was never a moment that he said he wouldn’t get here or that he would ever be less than what he is now. Never.
“Every day he talks about winning. It is never a surprise to me when he does. We expect it. It can come up anytime. We are on to win the next one.”
Chase also knows that being No. 1 right now will mean nothing if he is not atop the standings come November 10 on the final day of the 2019 PBR World Finals.
That is the time he can accept and celebrate being No. 1.
Las Vegas is where he need to be celebrating.
“It will sound a lot better in November,” he concluded. “I am going to still keep coming like I am still trying to stay on tour. Just take it one bull at a time because it is a long season. There is a long way to go. It is a marathon, not a sprint. I have to remember that and keep taking it one bull at a time and not overthink things.
“Show up and bow up.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
