Randy Magers

By Kelly B. Robbins

“I often get asked why I never won a PRCA World Bull Riding Championship,” former great bull rider Randy Magers shared. Then he laughed as he continued, “I always tell them the answer is two words: Donnie Gay! I was Reserve World champion Palomino roping horse and competed in calf roping and heading and heeling (which was called team tying back then). He loaned his horse to a friend to use in competition, and the horse was killed.

Champion to Donnie twice. I call that the Donnie Gay era of professional bull riding!” Randy went on to reveal, “I saw Donnie do an interview a while back on the Legends show on the Cowboy Channel. They were talking about some of the great bull riders Donnie competed against. Riders like Ted Nuce, Denny Flynn, and Bobby Delvecchio. Donnie told the audience that there was one guy that was tougher than nails and got the least recognition. That guy was Randy Magers. It surely made me proud to know that Donnie Gay said I was tougher than nails!”

Randy was a nine-time NFR qualifier and the Reserve World Champion twice. He was inducted into the Bull Riders Hall of Fame in 2017. He was also inducted into the Texas Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2006, the Tarleton Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2013, and the Walk of Fame Town Square, Stephenville, Texas in 2013. “Being inducted into the Bull Riders Hall of Fame was a real honor,” Randy shared. “Especially because I was inducted with Denny Flynn.” Randy grew up in Fort Worth, Texas and was always around good horses. After high school, he attended Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas. He had a

“My horse got killed, so I started riding bulls,” Randy said. “I rode good from the first time I got on one. I could just ride bulls! I guess that’s why I liked it so much! And I really liked it! That adrenalin rush was like a dope head hung up on drugs and couldn’t turn it loose! Back then a bull rider paid his own way. Back in the Donnie Gay era, you had a glove, a pair of spurs, and a rope.” “It’s a different ball game today,” Randy continued. “These bull riders today need to learn to pull on that bull rope. You should be stuck to that bull rope like the driver of a car gets up under the steering wheel. You have to ride from your crotch all the way down to your ankles! Some of these guys only ride about 20% of their bulls. Back in my day, if you only rode 20% of your bulls, you’d be flipping burgers at the hamburger joint!” In his first year as a professional bull rider in the Rodeo Cowboys Association (forerunner to the PRCA, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association), Randy rode in 101 rodeos, and was only bucked off 19 times! That’s a 71% riding percentage. He finished the season in fifth place in the world standings. Randy rode bulls until he was 48 years old in 1992. “I really loved riding bulls,” Randy declared. “I probably should have retired in 1983. Riding bulls is an adventure for the youth, not for old people. The last good year I had was in ’83. I was 38 years old. The PRCA used to invite the 16th through the 21st place bull riders to the Wrangler Protection Competition for the bull fighters. I won that event in ’83 and ended the year with $47,000.”

I asked Randy to give me his greatest accomplishment as a bull rider. “Being runner-up to Donnie Gay twice, qualifying for the NFR nine times, and having all the guys I rode with consider me a tough bull rider,” he answered. Randy also rode the famous bull, Oscar. Oscar, owned by RCS Rodeo Company, had over 300 outs in his career, and was only ridden to the eight-second buzzer eight times. Randy Magers made two of those successful rides. Oscar was later inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame and the Bull Riding Hall of Fame.

Giving back to the sport he loved, Randy was the volunteer rodeo coach at Tarleton State University from 1989 through

1992. The program needed help and Randy stepped in. “I got them pulled up by their bootstraps,” he said. “They started winning. They won the regionals two years in a row and came in second in the nationals in 1992.”

Randy and his wife Sue live on the Running M Ranch in Comanche, Texas. There they breed and raise champion quarter horses. They have been married for 54 years. Both of their families were well established in the quarter horse business of breeding top horses. Randy and Sue started breeding quarter horses in the late ‘60’s. Randy was honored to receive the AQHA (American Quarter Horse Association) 50 Years Breeders Award in February. This award is given for 50 continuous years of breeding quarter horses. Randy and Sue are continuing the bloodlines of their parent’s champion quarter horses, two of the most famous quarter horses. Poco Tivio, who belonged to Randy’s dad, Cliff, was inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame in March of 2013. Royal King, owned by Sue’s dad, Earl Albin, was inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame in 1997. “We have nine brood mares and our stud Royal Boonsmal. An offspring of Royal King, he has the pedigree to produce the kind of horse to suit any interest, whether it be cutting, reining, snaffle bit, or roping. Sue and I invite anyone who’s interested to visit our website at runningmquarterhorses.com.” “I still believe that I’m going to have a world champion horse,” Randy predicted. “And I am prouder of that 50 Years Breeder Award than all of my nine NFR qualifications.”

Photos provided courtesy of Randy Magers.