Weiser bull rider tops in Idaho

by Rob Ruth

As bull riding goes, Weiser’s Stephen Hopkins has had much better weekends than the one he had Oct. 6-7 in Nampa, the final weekend of the Idaho Cowboys Association’s 2006 season. Twice he got thrown by bulls before he could reach the requisite eight seconds aboard for a recorded score, gaining him a total of zero points.

It didn’t matter much, however, because Hopkins had entered the weekend so far out in front of everyone else in total season winnings ($5,300), even a strong showing by the circuit’s No. 2 competitor wasn’t enough to close the gap on the Weiserite’s commanding lead.

So Hopkins, 20, is the ICA’s 2006 Bull Riding Champion. To commemorate the achievement, he was presented a championship saddle and buckle in an awards after the bull riding ended on Oct. 7.
Two years ago, he was champ of the ICA’s Novice division. With the No. 1 placement in the association’s most advanced class now under his belt, he feels ready to challenge himself further. He’s turning pro.

“I’m at the top of my game in the amateurs right now,” Hopkins said. “You basically need to move on when you know you’re ready.”
On the other hand, he said, if you overrate your own ability and make the move too soon, “you just make a laughingstock out of yourself... You get hurt, too.”

For local bull riding fans, Hopkins’ emergence couldn’t be coming at a better time. Long-celebrated pro competitor Vince Stanton has been nagged by injuries of late, and how much longer he can continue in the sport is an open question. Although Hopkins makes no pretension to immediately filling Stanton’s boots, the 20-year-old is raring to find out if he can establish himself among the top 15 earners on the Professional Bull Riders circuit. That’s the level you need to maintain, he explains, to avoid being bumped back down to the pro group’s Challenger division.

He’ll also be riding under the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association banner.

He’s already eyeing a November competition in Hawaii, and is almost certain to ride in the Buckin’ Bull Sale held at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas this December.

No matter how well he ever does as a pro, however, his mother will always regard her son’s bull riding avocation as a godsend. Ladonna Hopkins said the sport channeled Stephen’s energies in a positive direction at a critical point of his childhood.

“It was touch-and-go whether he was going to be the next juvenile delinquent of Washington County,” the mother said. Bull riding “really straightened Stephen out.”

Ladonna said Stephen was actually introduced to bull riding at a fairly early age. It was a Weiser person who furnished the introduction.

“When Stephen was 8 years old, Paul Ellwood put him on a miniature Brahma in Bruno, and he was hooked from then on.”
Now Ladonna’s 3-year-old grandson, Trace (son of Ladonna’s daughter, Shanna), has caught the bull riding bug from his Uncle Stephen.

Over the years, Ladonna has worked as many as three jobs simultaneously to help keep the family in land and horses and to meet other needs associated with the ranching-oriented lifestyle she wants for her kids.

After years of receiving strong support from his mom, what also helps Stephen tremendously these days is having an employer who pulls hard for him to excel at bull riding.

Stephen works at Hollis RV Repair in Payette. Business owner Ron Hollis not only allows Stephen to take off four or five days at a time to attend back-to-back bull riding competitions in different cities (over this past July 4 holiday period, for example, in Vale, LaPine, Vancouver, and Grangeville in four days), but also helps sponsor Stephen by buying him riding gloves (five this past season at around $80 apiece).

Maybe that support shouldn’t be too highly surprising, though. Hollis himself is a bull rider on the senior circuit.

--WEISER SIGNAL AMERICAN
10/16/06