PUEBLO, Colo. – Stock contractor HD Page says he can usually spot a great bull from day one.
But the best bull he ever had – SweetPro’s Bruiser – snuck up on him.
“He was an average Futurity bull,” Page said. “He was big and done everything right, but them little bulls are quicker off the ground and a little more showy than he was. I think his best Futurity finish was fourth. And then the very first time I took him to a Derby, his 3-year-old year, he won second. And he won second next to his traveling buddy, Brutus. I thought Brutus was bigger and more athletic, and I thought Brutus was the better of the two.
“And Brutus beat him then, and I don’t think Brutus ever beat him again,” Page recalled with a laugh.
Not many bulls ever beat Bruiser.
He made his PBR and premier series debuts in 2014, earning his first 46-point bull score at the 2014 World Finals when he teamed up with J.B. Mauney for a 93.25-point ride.
Bruiser won his first YETI World Champion Bull title in 2016 and refused to relinquish it in 2017 and 2018, making him just the third bull in PBR history to win three World Championships, joining Little Yellow Jacket (2002-04) and Bushwacker (2011, 2013-14). In 2017, he was also named the PRCA Bull of the Year, joining Bodacious as just the second bull ever to win top bull honors in the PBR and PRCA in the same season.
In 89 outs in the PBR from 2014-20, he was ridden just 20 times (77.5% buckoff percentage), with 61 45-point trips and five 47-point showings.
RELATED: SweetPro’s Bruiser wins 2018 World Champion Bull title
Now, Bruiser receives one final honor as he joins the most elite club for bovines with the PBR’s Brand of Honor.
Page will be on hand at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on Sept. 9 to accept the award (1:30 p.m. ET on RidePass on Pluto TV).
“It’s about the highest award I think you can get as a stock contractor, and it’s appreciation, I guess, from your peers and people you know know the difference to recognize that that bull was worthy of that prestigious award,” Page said. “It means a lot to me. He had a remarkable career, and he’s been gone for a few years now, so it’s pretty nice for somebody to recognize what he meant for the sport, on the animal side of it.
“It just means a lot that people who know the difference recognize how great he was and were willing to give him the Brand of Honor. He’s in a short field of really great bulls that’s in there. I think I’ve got one other one in there (Mossy Oak Mudslinger), and that’s it for 30 years we’ve been doing this deal. They don’t all get in there. It’s a pretty short list, the ones that make it.”
Page admits that he got emotional when he got the call informing him that Bruiser would be enshrined among the greatest bulls of all time.
“I’m a big ol’ sissy when it comes to him,” Page said. “Me and that bull were pretty tight. We went a lot of miles together, and he took me places that I didn’t ever think I would ever go. Of course, you’re just as good as your bulls are. I’ve known that for a long time. All you can do is try to show them the way, and then the good ones are going to do it. And that’s what Bruiser always was. You give him a shot, he would take it. He would make the most of it.”
Bruiser came a long way from playing second fiddle to Brutus at the Derby level. He was a hard-hitting, hard-bucking, grind-it-out bull who was as tough as they come and refused to lose. Once he got a taste of the sport, that was it.
“It’s just like he started driving off the sport, the adrenaline, whatever it is. The competitiveness, the grind,” Page said. “I think he got addicted to the sport. You can say that. But he honestly was aggravated if he didn’t get to get on the truck. When that truck bumped the chute, he wanted on it. And he got his fair share of it, but he didn’t like it if he wasn’t on there. He wanted to be on the road, and he wanted to do what he knew he was good at.”
RELATED: PBR announces 2023 class of Heroes and Legends inductees to be honored Sept. 9 at National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City
Page says that Bruiser’s standout trait was his toughness. He suffered from numerous injuries during his world title seasons, just as any other athlete would, but they never slowed him down, and Page had to pay close attention to even figure out something was bothering him.
“I remember him getting a bad horn infection one year, and it was just not far out of the Finals, and it would’ve just knocked a lot of them down,” Page said. “He had one that bad that it gets in their blood. It’s hard on them. And I cut that horn off, and he just sat there and chewed his cud while I was doing it. The expression on his face never changed. He never tried to get away from me. He just stood there and took it. I cut that horn off and got down to good blood and seared that blood off, and he was good to go. He took everything, and that’s the way he was his whole career. He took everything in complete stride.”
But perhaps Bruiser’s best attribute was his demeanor. Well known for being a sweetheart, Bruiser loved attention from his legions of fans and wouldn’t let Page be in his vicinity without saying hello.
“He demanded attention, no matter where you were,” Page reminisced, laughing. “He was not happy until you came over there and talked to him. When you got over there in the morning to feed, or if you were gone for 15 minutes and you come back – same deal. When you got in that barn, you had to go over there and talk to him. He would be hollering at you until you did. But as soon as you’d go over there and talk to him, tell him how happy you were to see him and all that, then he’s good. He’d go over and lay down, chew his cud and just be chill. But until then, he would holler and bellow and scream until you went over and talked to him.”
Bruiser passed away in May of 2022 at 11 years old and is buried under a tree near Page’s father’s house. Though he’s no longer physically with us, he’s never far from thought – or the arena dirt.
“We talk about him all the time,” Page said. “We have sons and daughters here now that are competing at a high level. Flapjack was the reserve bucking bull of the year this year in the PBR, and he’s a son of Bruiser, and in the lead right now for the Classic title. And tons of daughters that are by him that are producing at a high level. He’s a topic of conversation, even if you’re not trying to remember Bruiser. He’s going to be hard to forget because his legacy is living out through his offspring.”
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
