Bruce Ford

Bareback Riding • Inducted 1993

Bruce Ford’s trademark riding style of feet high up for greater leg extension, with his riding arm absorbing the horse’s movement, separated Ford from other bareback contestants. During his career, he shattered or tied every bareback riding record: all-time bareback earnings; most NFR bareback qualifications (18); and tied for the most world bareback champion titles with five. In 1982, he became the first cowboy to win more than $100,000 in a single event in one year. Born Oct. 7, 1952, in Greeley, Colo., Ford was the PRCA season champion in 1978 and a 10-time Mountain States Circuit bareback riding champion. He won the NFR’s bareback riding aggregate title in 1979-80, 1982 and 1987.

World Championships: 5

Bareback Riding: 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1987

PRCA Championships: 1

Bareback Riding: 1978

National Finals Rodeo Average Champion

Bareback Riding: 1979, 1980, 1982, 1987

RAM Circuit Year-End Champion

Mountain States Circuit:

All-Around: 1976

Bareback Riding: 1976, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1991

Born: October 7, 1952 in Greeley, Colorado

NFR Qualifications: 18

Black Hills Roundup / Belle Fourche, SD
Bareback Riding: 1980 (tie)

Buffalo Bill Rodeo / North Platte, NE
Bareback Riding: 1975, 1978, 1980 (tie)

Cheyenne Frontier Days / Cheyenne, WY
Bareback Riding: 1979, 1982, 1989

Clovis Rodeo / Clovis, CA
Bareback Riding: 1975, 1979, 1988 (tie)

Deadwood Days of ’76 Rodeo / Deadwood, SD
Bareback Riding: 1982

Dodge City Roundup / Dodge City, KS
Bareback Riding: 1982, 1985

Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo / Fort Worth, TX
Bareback Riding: 1981, 1983 (tie)

Grand National Stock Show & Rodeo / San Francisco, CA
Bareback Riding: 1980

Greeley Stampede / Greeley, CO
Bareback Riding: 1976, 1981 (tie), 1988

Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo / Guymon, OK
Bareback Riding: 1980

Iowa’s Championship Rodeo / Sidney, IA
Bareback Riding: 1987, 1988, 1992

National Western Stock Show & Rodeo / Denver, CO
Bareback Riding: 1979, 1982, 1986, 1991 (tie)

Redding Rodeo / Redding, CA
Bareback Riding: 1978, 1981

Reno Rodeo / Reno, NV
Bareback Riding: 1976, 1978, 1983

Rowell Ranch Rodeo / Hayward, CA
Bareback Riding: 1982

Snake River Stampede / Nampa, ID
Bareback Riding: 1981, 1982

World’s Oldest Rodeo Prescott Frontier Days / Prescott, AZ
Bareback Riding: 1979