Billy Etbauer

Saddle Bronc Riding • Inducted 2012

One of the most popular and iconic rodeo cowboys of his generation, five-time World Champion Saddle Bronc Rider Billy Etbauer is as much respected for his go-for-broke style and his unfailing humility as he is for the string of victories that covered parts of four decades.

The middle brother of three world-class bronc riders, Billy Etbauer qualified for the National Finals Rodeo in his second year as a professional in 1989 and went on to make the field a record 21 consecutive years, win an NFR-record 51 rounds and earn more than $1 million at that season-ending championship alone.

He set the NFR record with a 93-point ride on Kesler Championship Rodeo’s Cool Alley in 2003, then tied it a year later on a 10th-round ride on the same horse that clinched the last of his five gold buckles and made him – at 41 years, 11 months – the oldest roughstock world champion in rodeo history.

Etbauer followed Trevor Brazile as the second cowboy to surpass $3 million in career earnings and was the first to reach that figure in a single event, finishing with $3,015,377 in total earnings. His five saddle bronc riding world championships is just one short of the event record shared by Casey Tibbs and Dan Mortensen.

World Championships: 5

Saddle Bronc Riding: 1992, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2004

National Finals Rodeo Average Champion

Saddle Bronc Riding: 1992, 1996

RAM Circuit Finals Rodeo Champion

Saddle Bronc Riding: 1992

RAM Circuit Year-End Champion

Prairie Circuit:

Saddle Bronc Riding: 1991, 1992

Born: January 15, 1963 in Huron, South Dakota

Joined the PRCA: 1988

NFR Qualifications: 21

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California Rodeo Salinas / Salinas, CA
Saddle Bronc Riding: 2002

Cheyenne Frontier Days / Cheyenne, WY
Saddle Bronc Riding: 2009

Clovis Rodeo / Clovis, CA
Saddle Bronc Riding: 2002

Cody Stampede / Cody, WY
Saddle Bronc Riding: 2007

Deadwood Days of ’76 Rodeo / Deadwood, SD
Saddle Bronc Riding: 1999 (tie)

Dodge City Roundup / Dodge City, KS
Saddle Bronc Riding: 1991, 1993, 1998, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009

Ellensburg Rodeo / Ellensburg, WA
Saddle Bronc Riding: 1991

Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo / Fort Worth, TX
Saddle Bronc Riding: 1996, 1997, 1999

Grand National Stock Show & Rodeo / San Francisco, CA
Saddle Bronc Riding: 2000

Greeley Stampede / Greeley, CO
Saddle Bronc Riding: 1996, 2009

Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo / Guymon, OK
Saddle Bronc Riding: 1992, 2002, 2008 (tie)

Iowa’s Championship Rodeo / Sidney, IA
Saddle Bronc Riding: 2005

La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Rodeo / Tucson, AZ
Saddle Bronc Riding: 1992 (tie), 1996, 2004, 2005 (tie), 2008

National Western Stock Show & Rodeo / Denver, CO
Saddle Bronc Riding: 1990, 2000 (tie), 2006

Ogden Pioneer Days Rodeo / Ogden, UT
Saddle Bronc Riding: 2004

Pendleton Round-Up / Pendleton, OR
Saddle Bronc Riding: 1994

Red Bluff Round-Up / Red Bluff, CA
Saddle Bronc Riding: 2000

Reno Rodeo / Reno, NV
Saddle Bronc Riding: 1991, 2004

San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo / San Antonio, TX
Saddle Bronc Riding: 1996, 1997, 2000

Snake River Stampede / Nampa, ID
Saddle Bronc Riding: 1999

Spanish Fork Fiesta Days Rodeo / Spanish Fork, UT
Saddle Bronc Riding: 1999, 2004

West of the Pecos Rodeo / Pecos, TX
Saddle Bronc Riding: 1992