Head Bang & Belly Fire

We will be talking for many years about what Clayton Savage did tonight in the second go of the 2009 WNFR. He’s performing at his first national finals rodeo and made the eight-second whistle for the first time, scoring 87 points, winning second place and $13,500 in the process.

But that isn’t what we’ll be talking about. The Casper, WY bull rider isn’t ready to say so but the replay clearly shows he was knocked out in the box by a bull called Sooner Shaker. Someone forgot to tell him Clayton’s a Cowboy not a Sooner. Nevertheless, the heaving bull sent Savage over the front end hard, banging his head against either the chute slats or the bull. In any case for a few seconds Clayton was silent, eyes shut and head hanging. Then he woke up and appeared to say “I’m fine.” Helpers pulled him off the bull and he was wobbly at best.

“I remember the bullfighter saying ‘he’s out, he’s out,’” said Savage. I remember saying that I was not out. They gave me a little breather and asked me if I wanted to go again. I thought I’m ready so I might as well do it.”

Now here’s the part some boxers, ultimate fighters, and a few linebackers would understand while the rest of us get a lesson in what it means to be tough. “It made me mad and put some fire in my belly,” said Savage. “Somebody told me to ride him and I said ‘I’m not only going to ride him, I’m gonna spur him.’ So that’s what I did. I got him back.”

When we visited with Clayton he was wearing his black felt hat although the color scheme was speckled with many brownish additions. Clayton doesn’t recall his hat going to the ground at the moment of his head-on collision. He didn’t know he had bareback rider Heath Ford’s hat on until Savage finished his tremendous topping of Sooner Shaker. “I pulled my hat down, looked, and it wasn’t mine,” Savage recalls. “I need to clean mine but the way it went I might as well borrow Heath’s hat for the rest of the week.”

We will be talking about Clay Savage’s first scored bull ride at the NFR for a long time. Take a good look at his close-up on television during the broadcast tomorrow night. What happened left a mark on the outside but doesn’t come close to revealing the hardness he’s harnessed within.

I feel a real closeness to Clayton Savage. We’ve followed him since high school. He lost his Dad in a ranch accident. He hasn’t had it easy, ever. And now he’s shown you what I already knew. Some are called, but few are chosen. Given the chance, this young man is going to leave a legacy in professional bull riding. You can see it in his swollen, black & blue eyes.

We’ll have complete bull riding video highlights from Friday and Clayton’s interview posted here tomorrow as soon as is humanly possible – if the computer cooperates.