Cord McCoy announces retirement
By: Keith Ryan Cartwright October 18, 2013@ 09:00:00 AM
Cord McCoy announced 2013 will be his final season in professional bull riding.
Highlights
◾Cord McCoy is set to retire from the PBR after making his debut in 2004.
◾The "riding red head" then made the Built Ford Tough Series in 2006 and would compete in 146 events.
◾McCoy and his brother gained national fame on the hit CBS television series the "Amazing Race."
FORT WORTH, Texas ― Cord McCoy is the latest in a trio of popular bull riders to announce his retirement.
"It feels like it's time," said McCoy. "It's not easy, I've been riding and in competition for 25 years in one way or another, so, I think, people think I'm just retiring from something I started when I was 18 and it's just been a couple years. Well, there's people who retire from being a (college) professor for 25 years and that's how long I've been doing it."
The 33-year-old from Tupelo, Okla., paused several times during a 40-minute conversation and, at times, chose his words wisely.
"You get to a point where you start to realize, hey, it's for the best," McCoy said. "Bull riding is dangerous enough anyway, and if you're not at the top of your game and you're not trying to match up against bulls like Shepherd Hills Tested, Bushwacker, Asteroid, Mick E Mouse and give them your full attention-it's dangerous enough when you can.
"It's ah," he stammered, "It's tough."
.McCoy will be a guest later today on "Western Sports Roundup," hosted by Flint Rasmussen on RURAL RADIO SiriusXM 80. McCoy will talk more about his decision and preview Monday's episode of "The Ride," which is telecast on RFD-TV.
"Western Sports Roundup" broadcasts Monday through Friday at 6 p.m. ET, while "The Ride" airs at 1 p.m. ET and again at 11 p.m.
Nicknamed "the riding redhead" by fellow Oklahoma native and former PBR broadcaster Justin McKee, McCoy has long since established himself as a perennial, fan favorite among the PBR faithful, and then later a much larger audience grew to admire him and his older brother Jet when they twice appeared on the television series "The Amazing Race."
McCoy made his PBR debut in 2004 and two seasons later made his Built Ford Tough Series debut en route to qualifying for the 2006 World Finals. He is a four-time Finals qualifier and competed at the marquee event two other times-once as an alternate and once as a regional representative.
He's ridden in 146 BFTS events and earned just shy of $500,000 in the arena.
His high-marked ride came in 2008 when he rode Big Bucks for 92.25 points at an event in Worcester, Mass. In 2009, he won the inaugural Cord McCoy Invitational in Ada, Okla., and then two years later he won back-to-back Touring Pro Division events and another in 2012 in Everett, Wash.
In 2007, he traveled to Australia where he was a member of Team USA in the inaugural PBR World Cup. McCoy then attempted the top two contenders for World Champion Bull title - Bushwacker and Asteroid - in 2011 and finished 11th in the average at the World Finals.
Prior to his PBR career, McCoy was a National Finals Rodeo qualifier in 2005, 2002 and 2003. He was the International Pro Rodeo Association all-around champion before sustaining a serious brain injury in 2004.
"Everyone loved Cord because he was so down to earth," said 2009 World Champion Kody Lostroh, who roomed with McCoy, "he cared about people and he loved the sport."
In addition to Lostroh, McCoy spent a great deal of time traveling with Austin Meier and Ryan Dirteater, as well as hitching a ride in his early years with D.H. Cattle Co. It was the time spent traveling up and down the road with H.D. Page that eventually led McCoy to raising bucking bulls.
However, he will likely be best remembered for gaining worldwide fame and admiration when he and his brother finished second in 2011 and again a year later when they finished fifth on the CBS hit series, "The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business."
The McCoys were affectionately known among the 30 million weekly viewers as "the cowboys."
"For somebody to call you a cowboy it's an honor," said McCoy, who in addition to hosting "The Ride" raises bucking bulls with his wife Sara.
"All I've ever dreamed about being was a cowboy," he said. "It's like somebody calling you a champion in my mind. It is weird. I've carried a rigging bag around for 25 years and I take a backpack for 30 days and I can go through the airport and it's three to one people recognize me from "The Amazing Race."
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