Melissa Phillips, serving as rodeo secretary,
watched a bull toss a cowboy with ease and
made the comment "I could have ridden that
bull."
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So she went to take some supplies to the
car. "When I came back, they tossed me some
spurs and a glove and they were putting a bull
rope on him," she said. "They were laughing, and
I saw that as a huge opportunity."
Phillips got on and rode for about six seconds.
Eventually she would go on to win the 1993 World
Champion Bull Riding title in the Women's Professional Rodeo Association. She has many accomplishments to her credit, including 1995 Reserve World Champion Bull Rider.
Eventually, the 5-foot-2, 107-pound Phillips, of
Haskell, stopped trying to match moves with bulls
weighing 1,700 pounds or so.
But this year she returned to the chute in exhibition rides for Longhorn
World Championship Rodeo
on a series from Tulsa to
Chattanooga, Tenn.
There were good days, and
there were painful days. Days
of loud cheering, days of getting driven into the arena dirt.
"I didn't have to put as
much pressure on myself as I
did," the 44-year-old said.
"But they really beat me up at
Chattanooga. I was making a
really nice ride on my first
one, and then he turned back
left and jerked me down and
stepped on my shoulder."
Columbus, Ohio, had been
much better. "I made a really
good ride and the people
went crazy," she said.
She grew up around rodeo
and barrel racing. She's
matched moves with bulls at
the Cow Palace in San Francisco, and she spent 13 days
in the intensive care unit in
Fort Worth, Texas.
In 1999 she lost a friend,
Betty Gayle Cooper-Ratliff,
who died from cancer. She
was a success in the arena as
a coach and competitor and
outside the arena as a friend.
As a coach, Betty Gayle led
Southeastern Oklahoma State
University's rodeo team,
which won nine national team
championships. The school
also compiled numerous individual titles. As a competitor,
she won titles in college and
numerous WPRA titles. She
was a 1987 inductee into the
Cowgirl Hall of Fame.
"Betty Gayle was always
there to give strength and
support," Phillips said. "You
can just see those people that
are always trying to help
someone and that was her."
In fact, she said she agreed
to the exhibition rides in part
because she thought Betty
Gayle would "want me to do
what I was good at."
Through the years, Phillips
has worked in landscaping
and sewn rodeo outfits.
But would she continue to
ride after the Longhorn
Championship Rodeos?
Would she ever slip a bull riding glove over her left hand
again, covering the painted
fingernails as she prepared
for a few seconds of spins,
hops, drops and rolls?
Definitely.
On Memorial Day weekend,
she made an exhibition ride at
a youth event in Chouteau.
The day didn't go so well; the
bull stepped on her ankle. The
next day, which was Memorial
Day, she had surgery.
So, Melissa is that it for you
and bull riding? Are you done?
For now, the answer is,
"No."
"Yesterday I was thinking
why did I do this, but I love
riding bulls," she said. "I'm
suppose to ride at the Longhorn Finals in November. I'm
still committed to that.
"I don't want to go out like
this."
Write me: P.O. Box 25125, Oklahoma
City 73125 Fax me: 475-3183 Call me: (405) 740-4179 E-mail me: bpainter@oklahoman.com
