Two-Time World Champion PBR Great Passes Away at 21

Two-time World Champion PBR great was retired in 2010 then lived the good life on owner Tom Teague’s farm.

Bones /

Bones, one of the greatest bucking bulls of all time, who retired at the top of his game after winning his second championship in 2010 and would spend the next 14 years pampered in the company of becoming cows, laid down yesterday, closed his eyes, and passed away peacefully on the North Carolina farm where he had enjoyed a royal retirement. He was 21 years old.

While Bushwacker is widely regarded as the sport’s GOAT, for second best, many in the know name Bones, who in 2010 beat out the favorite Bushwacker, for his second world title.

After 43 outs in PBR, giving up only five qualified rides (90.7% buck-off percentage), Bones’ owner Tom Teague promptly retired the 7-year-old. He wanted his prized bull to go out on top.

“I got a lot of static because I didn’t take him to every event,” Teague said. “‘Well, a boxer doesn’t box every day,’ I’d say. I love all my animals, but he was extra special. I took good care of him.”

Bones /

Bones most famous trip was outside of the annual points race – a $20,000 bet at the Built Ford Tough Series event at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City in February 2009. 

Bones was 13-0 at the time. Some speculated no cowboy could ride him. Fellow North Carolinian J.B. Mauney said he was no ordinary cowboy.

Mauney made the whistle for 93.50 points, the highest-scored ride of Bones’ career. 

In 2014, Bones would become the fourth bull given the sport’s highest honor for an animal athlete, the PBR Brand of Honor.

The bull’s name is a literal description of his former self.

As a skinny calf, he was described as a “bag of bones,” remembers Teague, a North Carolina businessman who had opened his Rolodex and checkbook to provide the connections and dollars for PBR to get on network television in the sport’s nascent years. He also had part ownership in World Champion bulls Little Yellow Jacket, Mossy Oak Mudslinger and Big Bucks.

Bones was the first World Champion bull Teague fully owned and raised himself.  

Tom Teague and Richard Childress /

Teague is a successful businessman with a keen eye for spotting and developing greatness.

Attending his first bull riding event with his son Lacy, Teague soaked in the crowd energy, thrills and excitement and thought to himself, “Holy cow, this thing could be a small NASCAR.”

Who was running this event, he wanted to know. A cowboy pointed to a man in a white shirt, PBR’s boss Randy Bernard. The men started talking and became friends. Teague let Bernard know if any investment opportunities arose in pro bull riding, he was interested.

In short time, Bernard called, and Teague would help PBR buy back its TV rights in an arrangement putting the sport on NBC and jumpstarting a success story continuing to this day.

A solid case could be made that Teague’s best friend, NASCAR legend and Carolina Cowboys owner Richard Childress wouldn’t have a PBR team in an expanding bull riding league today if it were not for Tom Teague.

He also saw potential – just as he was about to sell her – in the cow who’d give birth to Bones.   

Before the cow officially went up for sale, she jumped into an enclosed area holding the water pumps. While a plan was being hatched for getting her out, she leapt like a reindeer to safety.

“I said, ‘Pull her out of the sale, I’m gonna get a calf out of her!’” Teague said. “And that’s where Bones came from. We had to put her in a pen like a deer. She was good-sized cow, very brahma-looking, and could she jump.”

The dam would never give birth to another world-champion bucking bull. With Bones, she had birthed a one-in-a-million athlete.

It didn’t appear to be anything like that initially.

As a year-old calf, Bones appeared run down and ragged, a loner usually off by himself. 

Teague separated him from the others and made sure he got fed plenty. Bones put on muscle, filling out to 1,550 pounds and turning into a phenom with a signature move of jumping high then pulling his head down to whip riders off his back.

“Bones was super athletic,” said PBR co-founder Ty Murray. “He could do things in how high and vertical he’d kick that you wouldn’t think a bull could physically do.”

“I didn’t dream he’d turn out to become the bull he was,” Teague confessed. “And then, what more could you expect from a bull. I wanted him to go out on top. I love all my animals, but he was extra special to me. I put him in a special pasture at home. Fed him grain every day; gave him alfalfa and the best hay. Put a female in there to keep him company.”

Some years, Teague Bucking bulls would have multiple bulls in the short round. Teague left the stock contracting business in 2014. Bones was his last bull.

On Thursday morning, when Teague’s brother Randy found Bones laying quietly in the pen, he was still warm. The ground around him was undisturbed. There was no kicking, no fight.

After a long, great life he had headed to the other side.

Bones will be buried on the farm right beside three-time World Champion Little Yellow Jacket.