Rodeo Media Relations
Contact: Ted Harbin (660) 254-1900
GEARY, Okla. (Jan. 16, 2008) – Saddle bronc rider Bobby Griswold knows what it’s like to be among the elite cowboys competing for a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association championship.
He’s been in that position for more than a decade, having made his way to ProRodeo’s premier event, the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, three times – in 1999, 2004 and 2006. Now he’s pushing himself to return to Las Vegas in December, where ProRodeo’s champions are crowned.
As the rodeo season kicks into high gear, Griswold is competing at one of the largest events in the PRCA, the National Western Livestock Show, Rodeo and Horse Show, hoping a big run in Denver will catapult him into prime position to compete at ProRodeo’s grand finale for a fourth time in his established career. He competes in Denver on Jan. 22-23 and expects to return for the finals round Jan. 27.
Griswold fought, scratched and clawed throughout the 2007 in an effort to play on rodeo’s biggest stage, finishing the regular season in 21st place – just out of contention for the NFR, which takes the top 15 contestants in each event at season’s end. He had one of the biggest wins of his career in Caldwell, Idaho, when he won the first round of the Wrangler ProRodeo Tour’s Ariat Playoffs.
“If you can get on a roll at the beginning of the year and win early, it can really set up your entire year,” said Griswold, 39, one of ProRodeo’s elite bronc riders since he stepped onto the professional scene 16 years ago.
Originally from the state of Washington, Griswold makes his home in central Oklahoma, just a stone’s throw from Oklahoma City. After graduating from Walla Walla (Wash.) Community College, he was part of the national championship team at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford.
He is a two-time champion in the PRCA’s circuit system, once winning the year-end title in the Great Lakes Circuit and once in the Prairie Circuit.
Those types of accolades are priceless, but he’s a businessman who has made rodeo his business. Besides competing at dozens of rodeos each year, Griswold is also a certified equine dentist, and caring for animals is an important aspect of his jobs, both as a professional rodeo cowboy and as a health-care provider.
And during the businessman-type run through the 2008 rodeo season, Griswold continues to dream that cowboy dream of winning the coveted saddle bronc riding world championship gold buckle. He wants a champion’s hardware, and he’s focused on getting that prize in 2008.
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Rodeo Media Relations - P.O. Box 663 - Maryville, MO 64468 - (660) 254-1900
This page was last updated Oct. 2, 2008