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Tater Porter

For as long as Tater Porter can remember, he has wanted to be a bull rider. “It was in my blood,” Porter chuckles. “I found something I wrote in kindergarten, and it read ‘when I grow up I want to be a bull rider’.” This Florida cowboy was raised on a ranch and climbed on his first calf in a practice pen at the age of 5. He was riding steers at age 8 and bulls at age 11. “I learned how to ride from a family friend who took me under his wing and taught me the fundamentals,” he remembers. Throughout his teens, Porter competed in high school rodeos. In 1996, he rode in his first PBR bull riding event and soon after became a familiar face on the elite Built Ford Tough Series tour until injuries sidelined him in 2001. “I broke my femur in Greeley and had to sit out nine months. Then, I broke some ribs in Denver in 2002, but I kept riding. Finally it came to a head when I got stepped on in Tampa, and my broken ribs punctured my lung,” recalls Porter. Porter states his greatest bull riding accomplishment was winning the 2000 PBR World Finals. Porter not only won the Finals that year--he dominated the competion. He was the only bull rider to cover all five of his bulls during the event which set a PBR Finals earnings’ record of $412,090. When asked about his hero Porter quickly responds, “That would be Razor (legendary bull rider Jim Sharp). Razor was my hero growing up… and he still is.”

About Tater