PUEBLO, Colo. – For the last four-and-a-half years, Mississippi Hippy enjoyed a life of relaxation and stardom on the K-Bar-C Bucking Bulls ranch in Mount Orab, Ohio.
The four-time PBR World Finals qualifier may not have been bucking in the PBR anymore, but Mississippi Hippy remained one of the most well-visited and asked-about bulls in all of Ohio.
It was not unusual for Kenny, Cristy or Josie McElroy to look down at their cell phones and see a text message or social media notification asking if the 2,300-pound bovine beast was enjoying his life in retirement.
Sadly, the McElroy family had to inform Hippy’s fans Thursday morning that the time had come for K-Bar-C Bucking Bulls to lay their prized bovine to rest following the bull’s long battle with cancer.
“We just put Mississippi Hippy down,” McElroy said during a Facebook Live video. “About a year ago we had to take his eye out because of cancer. The cancer (has since) spread throughout his body. We noticed a decrease in him. We felt it was time so there was no more suffering.
“We truly are sad today, but we know he is in a better place.”
K-Bar-C Bucking Bulls retired Mississippi Hippy in 2016 after the bull dislocated his hip at Iron Cowboy. The family consulted with their veterinarian, Mark Burroughs, and it was decided immediately that Hippy would enjoy a life on the ranch rather than ever bucking again and risking further injury.
“My main concern is to wake up in the morning and drink my cup of coffee on the deck and see my bull being a bull,” McElroy said in 2016. “That means more to me than people know.”
Mississippi Hippy posted 34 buckoffs in four-plus seasons on the PBR’s premier series and was only ridden three times, not including two instances when a re-ride was offered.
Mississippi Hippy became an even greater member of the McElroy family during his four-plus years of retirement in Ohio. Kenny continued to rave and talk about his bovine son whenever he was talking about his overall pen at Unleash The Beast events.
That relationship was evident in the emotion Kenny displayed informing fans of the news Thursday morning.
“We truly appreciate all of the fans,” Kenny said. “You have a love for these animals, and I am a 50-year-old man crying like a little girl right now. I don’t think there will ever be a place in my heart to replace Hippy.
“We just wanted fans to know he will be buried here on the ranch, and he will never be forgotten.”
A SPECIAL BOND BETWEEN TWO SURVIVORS
McElroy always had a special affection for Mississippi Hippy since he first acquired the bull as a 5-year-old in February 2013.
However, that bond only became stronger once McElroy was diagnosed with colon cancer six months later.
McElroy relied on the strength of his friends, family and his bucking bulls to overcome numerous chemotherapy treatments and those dark, trying times during his now successful battle.
It is why McElroy, who has been cancer-free for two years, was hit hard when Mississippi Hippy was diagnosed with cancerous tumors in his eyelids following the 2015 PBR World Finals.
Hippy had just fought his way back from an infected horn, and now the bull had to go through a treatment to cure the cancer. To make matters worse, the tumors reappeared in December, just when it looked like Hippy was in the clear.
“These bulls have helped pull me through this illness, and I don’t think I can ever thank them enough,” McElroy said. “It is weird to say. In my time of need, that is what I had to pull me through. I think that is why I give back so much to mine. I know I have been through that pain, but I am happy I am still here for my kids and still doing what I love.”
Both times, Mississippi Hippy bounced back, which made his dislocated hip that much tougher a pill to swallow. For him to have his career ended in that fashion after beating cancer twice just didn’t seem fair.
“That is what hit home to me because I went through the cancer,” McElroy said. “I went through all of the pain. All of the crap. It was like watching one of my kids go through all of it. To see him come back and perform and then come back the second time and have a career-ending injury just broke my heart.
“I think it has broken a lot of people’s hearts across the country.”
A GOOD DANCING PARTNER
Nevada Newman was seeing stars every time his head got jarred back and his arm was in full extension.
The bright lights of Scottrade Center in St. Louis were blinding him as Mississippi Hippy continued to rear back and jostle Newman’s head in his helmet with every thundering jump he made.
Newman felt every pound of Mississippi Hippy yanking on his left arm before the pain in his riding arm was masked by the roar of the crowd and an 8-second buzzer at the Bass Pro Chute Out four years ago.
The rookie had stunningly just become only the third rider to ever conquer Mississippi Hippy at the premier series level.
Just like that, everyone was talking about this unknown kid from Melstone, Montana.
“Holy cow, he dang sure was yanking on me, I remember,” Newman recalled in 2016. “At times I would just be on the end of my arm, and I was looking right at the lights in St. Louis. And I would come back down and hit, and I would gather myself back up, and next thing I know he would be going right back at it again and yanking on me and I would be looking back at the lights again.
“It was just an awesome matchup, and he was a good dancing partner.”
McElroy nearly squeezed any remaining air out of Newman’s lungs when he gave the young kid a massive bear hug after the ride.
“That might have been one of the biggest moments I had since being in the PBR,” McElroy said, “just because I knew I went through so much with getting him back, and for him to perform as good as he did that day with a newcomer, who is a great kid with a bright future in the PBR, just kind of hit home at that moment.
“I know Hippy wasn’t a 45, but he was a 46 in my mind.”
It wasn’t just the fact that Hippy had just helped a young bull rider make a name for himself. Rather, it was about Hippy showing he was able to win his battle against cancer at the time.
“He loved his job,” McElroy added. “That is what gave him the will to come back through the cancer. It is no different than me. I was diagnosed with cancer three years ago and I went through everything he went through. You just have that desire and that will.”
Newman said at the time he was honored to forever be tied to one of the PBR’s historic bull’s legacies.
Newman had more than 10 fans come up to him at the 2016 Iron Cowboy and explain they had learned about him through his memorable ride on Mississippi Hippy.
“Everyone knows that is probably one of my best stories,” Newman said. “He brought my name out just as much as anything. I have to pay him a lot of respect, too. It is an honor, and it is super cool. I remember in high school watching that bull on TV being the biggest, baddest sucker in the PBR, and I got to get on him there and stick him. I am probably going to buy a picture of me on him, blow it up and hang it in my house. It is going to be something I am going to talk about forever.”
A GIANT IN THE ARENA
Mississippi Hippy was the PBR’s version of Andre the Giant.
For close to 20 years, Andre the Giant towered over his opponents in professional wrestling. He would make wrestling rings all over the world look tiny in comparison to his 7-foot-4-inch frame and make opposing challengers appear peasant-like.
Mississippi Hippy was not only 2,300 pounds, but he stood 6-foot-4 inches to his hump. His massive frame made it nearly impossible for opposing riders to find any breathing room for their legs inside the bucking chute.
“We rarely see a bull that big in bull riding or anywhere, even in the days before the PBR when there used to be a lot of 1,800 to 2,000-pound bulls,” PBR Director of Livestock Cody Lambert said. “You rarely see one that’s close to 2,400 pounds. I can only think of about three or four in the years I’ve been around bull riding. He’s one of the biggest ones I’ve ever seen in the bucking chutes.”
Kasey Hayes was the first rider to notch a premier series qualified ride on the giant in April 2014, a month after Joao Ricardo Vieira rode Mississippi Hippy for 88.75 points at RFD-TV’s THE AMERICAN.
Mississippi Hippy had bucked off 23 consecutive riders on the premier series to begin his career before Hayes rode him for 88.5 points in Des Moines, Iowa.
Hayes remembered how much of a struggle it was to find any room for his feet inside the bucking chutes. Every time Mississippi Hippy turned his head to the left or the right, Hayes could feel his opposite foot getting smashed against the steel.
“I couldn’t really get my feet down that well, so I was like, ‘As soon as that gate opens I am going to drop my feet and get a hold because I definitely don’t want to be behind on that big son of a gun,’” Hayes said.
Fall behind he did not, and Hayes held on for one of the top rides of his career. Two-time World Champion J.B. Mauney walked up to him and said, “I don’t know what the heck you were thinking, but good job.”
Hayes understands why judges didn’t mark him 90 points because of how deceiving Hippy looks while bucking. He was so large that his athletic ability sometimes was unappreciated by the naked eye.
“I mean, he felt like he bucked a heck of lot harder than 88.5,” Hayes said. “He is so big and he is so hard to ride, and the judges kind of underestimate him because he doesn’t really look like he is moving that fast. But I look at my still shot pictures or something and as big as he is, that bull is still kicking straight over his head. He is so big that when you watch him you are like, ‘Well, he is not really bucking that hard,’ and you slow it down and you are like, ‘He is bucking that hard.’ He is kind of deceiving, really.”
Mississippi Hippy made his PBR debut in 2011 in Indianapolis with a 5.95-second buckoff of L.J. Jenkins before beginning to compete full time on the premier series in 2012.
“He is just so unpredictable in the way and style he bucks,” McElroy said during the 2016 season. “He has gotten smarter as he has gotten older. I think he does a lot of feeling on what guys do. He used to turn back to the left and make a couple of rounds and then all of a sudden he will turn back and go the other way. I think he is just a phenomenal athlete. He not only bucks hard, but he is thinking as he bucks.”
Eduardo Aparecido became the second premier series rider to conquer the beast of the PBR with an 89-point ride during the 15/15 Bucking Battle in Allentown, Pennsylvania, five years ago.
Mississippi Hippy was marked 45 points or higher nine times in his career, but Lambert said at the time of Hippy’s retirement there could have been many more.
“He had lots of outs where he didn’t get the score that he really deserved because he bucked off pretty quick, and he’s so big and he looks like a gentle giant,” Lambert said. “There were lots of times, though, early in his career where he was the best bull of the night and he got scored as such.”
AN OUTPOURING OF SUPPORT
When McElroy first got Mississippi Hippy when he was 5 years old, Hippy was a big, mean, frightening bull on the ranch. Over time Hippy made a transition into a loveable, “big baby.”
Mississippi Hippy’s evolution into a loving creature transformed into a massive following on social media.
In fact, Mississippi Hippy announced his retirement on his personal Facebook page, where he has more than 8,000 followers. At the time of his passing, that Facebook had grown to almost 15,000 fans.
His popularity and fame started to slowly catch up to his massiveness during his final seasons.
“Well, I think his size has a lot to do with it,” McElroy said. “Let’s face it. For a bull as big as he is, to be that athletic is pretty uncommon. I think his popularity comes from his personality. People see that just because he is over 2,300 pounds, an animal can be as rank as he is in the pen and can turn around and be like a pet.”
FUTURE HIPPYS IN THE MAKING; IS CHIP OFF THE HIP NEXT?
McElroy knew when he retired Mississippi Hippy in 2016 that the bull was still going to impact the K-Bar-Bucking Bulls family.
“We are going to get him back to where he needs to be to breed,” McElroy said at the time. “Of course, I am going to have to buy some bigger cows so we can breed him. Hopefully three, four years down the road now we will see a bunch of the Hippys coming in there and then my life will be full circle.
“All I can say is cowboys better look out. There are going to be a lot of Hippy babies running around. The future is going to be pretty grim for them riders.”
That time may be soon arriving now, Cristy said on Thursday.
One of Mississippi Hippy’s sons, Chip Off the Hip, appears ready to follow in his daddy’s footsteps.
“We have a cow out of him, and she had her first set of babies this year,” Cristy said. “Then we got a coming 4-year-old, Chip Off the Hip, and if we could ever get anyone to make it past the first jump. He has that same first jump as his daddy. Hopefully we will get him bucked some more and he will be taking after his dad and we will be having other little Hippies.”
Portions of the above story appeared in 2016 on PBR.com when K-Bar-C Bucking Bulls originally retired Mississippi Hippy.
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Scott Nolen/Bull Stock Media
