By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
Hall of Famer Lane Frost is no longer the only member of his family to claim George Paul gold.
Josh Frost, second-cousin to the late Lane Frost, added his name to the wall of champions when he captured the champion’s buckle at this weekend’s 46th Annual George Paul Memorial XTREME Bull Riding at the Val Verde County Fairgrounds.
Frost competed as part of Saturday’s group of riders. All 40 men who were scheduled to ride that night knew what they needed to win. All they had to do was best Roscoe Jarboe’s 174 points from Friday night and the buckle, and the prize money that went with winning, was theirs.
That was easier said than done.
Only three cowboys had posted qualified rides in the long go round Friday, and a fourth joined them in the short go. It was an indication of how rank the bulls brought in for the event were and how heavy the pressure of winning the world’s oldest, continuous stand-alone bull riding truly felt.
Creek Young, of Rogersville, Mo., set the tone Saturday with an 88.5-point ride atop Stockyards ProRodeo’s Jags Metals Tucker Brown. Frost was close behind after scoring 88 points on Rafter G Rodeo’s Caesar.
Canby, Oregon’s Chase Doughtery, who scored 87.5 points on Rafter G Rodeo’s No Doubt, joined the high-scoring duo in the short go round. Also earning qualified rides were Lukasey Morris from Union City, Ok., who scored 85.5 points on Lancaster & Cude Pro Rodeo’s Kingsman, and Ardmore, Oklahoma’s Kase Hitt, who scored 80.5 points on Lancaster & Cude Pro Rodeo’s Two Hands.
In the short go, it was all Frost.
While Hitt, Morris and Doughtery all faltered, Frost got even better, He drew Sutton Rodeos’ Schott in the Dark and rode it for a weekend-high 91 points. That gave him a total of 179 points on two bulls, vaulting him into first place ahead of Jarboe’s Friday night showing.
Young was the final rider of the evening, but he tumbled to the arena dirt before he could complete his eight-second ride, giving the championship to Frost.
Frost became the first member of his family to win in Del Rio since Lane Frost’s back-to-back George Paul titles in 1985 and 1986. A three-time Wrangler NFR qualifier, Frost took home more than $11,000 in prize money for his third win on the XTREME Bulls Tour.
“It was such a great environment. It was awesome, one of the coolest. They are totally into it,” Frost told Brady Renck of ProRodeo.com. “It was so loud in there you could barely hear the whistle.”
The Frost family’s connection to Del Rio will add another chapter this summer when a documentary chronicling Lane’s life is screened here in June. An official time and date has not yet been announced, but local radio station KDLK 94.1 is spearheading the efforts to bring the film to Del Rio.
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Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
