Home LOCAL NEWS 30 Years Ago: Remembering World Champion Bull Rider Lane Frost

30 Years Ago: Remembering World Champion Bull Rider Lane Frost

by MyParisTexas
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One of the world’s best bull riders has been gone longer than he was alive.

Today marks 30 years since World Champion bull rider Lane Frost died after an 85-point ride at 1989 Cheyenne Frontier Days. Three decades later, his legacy lives on.

“We would have rather he done something else,” said Lane’s mom, Elsie told News on 6. “He had a passion for bull riding; there was just no way we could tell him no.”

Frost started riding dairy calves when he was just five-years-old and by the time he was 10 he was winning in the arena.

“His first rodeo awards were won when he was 10, at the “Little Buckaroos” Rodeos held in Uintah Basin: first in bareback, second in calf roping, and third in the “bull riding” (calf riding) event,” as reported on Wikipedia. “In Oklahoma, he was the National High School Bull Riding Champion in 1981. He was the Bull Riding Champion of the first Youth National Finals in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1982.”

In addition to the 1987 World Championship bull riding title, Frost won the 1986 National Finals Rodeo aggregate title, circuit championships and many of the PRCA’s biggest rodeos.

Many remembered him for his friendly smile and magnetic personality.

“Lane loved his fans,” Elsie said. “God knew what all was gonna happen, and he gave him that personality that drew people to him. He did. People were just drawn to him for some reason.”

Frost credited his father, Clyde, and his friend and mentor, the late Freckles Brown, with teaching him to ride bulls and encouraging him to be a champion.

Since his tragic passing, Lane Frost has become a household name, with many young cowboys aspiring to be just like him.

In 1994, the biopic based on Frost’s life, 8 Seconds, was released. Luke Perry played the role of Frost and Stephen Baldwin was cast as Tuff Hedeman, Frost’s best frend

Many country music artists have also paid tribute to the bull riding legend, including Garth Brooks with his 1990 hit single “The Dance” and Aaron Watson with “July in Cheyenne.”

Frost was laid to rest next to his hero and mentor, Freckles Brown, in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Hugo, Oklahoma.

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