LAS VEGAS – 1999 Ring of Honor inductee Jerome Davis can still remember the whispers he would hear throughout the locker room at rodeos or PBR events in the early ‘90s.
“Who has J31?” various bull riders would ask.
J31 Bodacious was a bull most of them would hate to see next to their name, Davis recalled on Tuesday night during the 2019 PBR Heroes & Legends celebration at the South Point Hotel Casino & Spa.
It was hard not to see why when a highlight video of Bodacious was played inside the South Point Grand Ballroom in honor of the 2019 Brand of Honor recipient.
Immediately, the standing-room-only crowd gasped when the video showed footage of Bodacious famously sending PBR World Champion Tuff Hedeman to the hospital at the 1995 PBR World Finals after breaking nearly every major bone in Hedeman’s face.
Hedeman was far from the only rider to get knocked out cold by the rank and fear-inducing Bodacious.
PBR Director of Livestock Cody Lambert told PBR.com this summer that he knew what to expect when he saw legendary bull Bodacious in the draw at a rodeo or bull riding event.
He would often tell his friends the same thing: “I wasn’t worried about him knocking my teeth out, I just hope they don’t come out the back of my neck when he does it.”
Lambert once thought he was on his way to riding Bodacious inside Houston’s Astrodome.
“I rode him six seconds, and as soon as I felt like I had him, that is when I woke up laying there with a crowd of people around me,” Lambert said.
“That was where the legacy started for J31 Bodacious,” Davis said Tuesday.
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The 1995 PBR World Champion Bull and two-time PRCA Bull of the Year’s brutal buckoffs actually brought national attention and notoriety to the toughest sport on dirt, its cowboys and, of course, the bulls.
“Bodacious brought a whole lot of recognition to the sport,” Lambert said. “That bull got a lot of attention because he would knock your face off. He was a Bull of the Year. He was a World Champion Bull.”
Davis said that at times it seemed as if Bodacious was getting more media attention than even the PBR in those early years.
Bodacious would be on national television, could be found in mainstream magazines, such as GQ, and was helping to open up new restaurants. Tour buses would stop at stock contractor Sammy Andrews’ ranch with groups of people wanting to meet the feared and loved bull.
“He went on to become one of the most famous bulls in the PBR we ever seen,” Davis said. “No matter where you would go, everybody would say, ‘What about that bull Bodacious?’”
Davis was rambling off a list of Bodacious media accomplishments when he caused the crowd to erupt in laughter with possibly the greatest line of Tuesday night.
“But I knew he had made it big when I was at the truck stop and there were Bodacious condoms,” Davis said. “He had just made it to that level.”
During his acceptance speech, Andrews said it was honor for his bull to be a part of the PBR in its first few seasons.
“I would like to thank everybody in the PBR for bestowing this honor upon Bo,” Andrews said. “It is kind of nice to speak for a bull that everybody knows what you are talking about when you mention the name Bodacious.
“It is sure good to see the 20 guys that started the PBR off, and I think Bo helped bring a lot of quality and stuff to the PBR back in those days.”
It was very rare for Bodacious to be ridden. According to the PRCA, Bodacious bucked off 127 of the 135 riders he faced in rodeo competition.
2000 Ring of Honor inductee Clint Branger rode Bodacious for 92 points at the PBR premier series event in Guthrie, Oklahoma, a few months before Hedeman’s brutal wreck at the PBR World Finals.
Andrews eventually retired Bodacious following the 1995 National Finals Rodeo after Bodacious knocked out Scott Breding during the 10th round.
Bodacious, who passed away in 2000, and three-time World Champion Bull SweetPro’s Bruiser are the only two bulls to win championships in both the PBR and the PRCA.
The powerful yellow bovine certainly had some moments of greatness throughout his career that have never been forgotten by those involved with Western sports.
“Bodacious got the Brand of Honor for different reasons, and it was a long time coming,” Lambert said. “He was the rankest bull I have ever seen on certain days, but he wasn’t the best bull I ever seen.
“He brought a lot of recognition to the sport. He is either the first or the second most well-known bucking bull of all time.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
