Rodeo

McClellan enjoying the ride

Vinny Pezzimenti

Tyler McClellan was so scared before his first bull ride that his knees were knocking.

(Harrisburg) Patriot-News photo/Joe Hermitt

Boalsburg’s Tyler McClellan takes a ride during the Pennsylvania High School Rodeo Association Championship at the Pennsylvania State Farm Show in Harrisburg in January. McClellan plans to attend Eastern Wyoming College and compete on its rodeo team.

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He has sat upon several mangy bulls since that heart-racing moment four years ago.

Yet, all that time and all those experiences haven’t quelled the fear.

“Being scared never really goes away,” McClellan said. “You get used to it.”

So there was McClellan this July 4, participating in a jackpot bull riding event, “where a bunch of people come in and just throw money in,” McClellan explained. “Whoever rides the best gets the money.”

McClellan didn’t get the money. Instead, he limped away with a broken ankle.

Welcome to bull riding. The very best at the sport are the ones who can jump back on the colossal animals after being tossed aside, who can grind through the bumps and bruises, knowing they’ll be thrown like a rag doll again.

McClellan might be on his way. The Boalsburg resident left last week for Eastern Wyoming College, where he’ll major in farm/ranch management and participate on the school’s rodeo team.

“I always wanted to go out west,” said McClellan, who graduated from State College High School this year. “I finally got the opportunity to do it. I’m just kind of capitalizing on it.”

McClellan had dabbled in wrestling and dirt bike racing until his freshman year in high school, when he discovered the rush rodeo provided. It was like nothing he had ever experienced before.

While at State High, McClellan was part of the Pennsylvania High Rodeo Association. He rode bulls and roped cattle at events throughout the state and as far away as Lexington, Va.

During his junior year he thought he might have a future in rodeo. He sent video of himself performing to the coach at Eastern Wyoming. He visited the campus in March.

After that McClellan knew the school in the small city of Torrington was the place for him.

And for someone with rodeo aspirations, Wyoming is sort of the place to be.

The state’s official sport is rodeo and it hosts the annual national college finals.

“Rodeo is just like a sport,” McClellan said. “Like football is here, it’s rodeo out there.”

McClellan figures to receive a degree from Eastern Wyoming in two years. The plan is to remain out west after that.

“I’d like to make a career out of it some day,” he said. “Out west there’s a bunch of (rodeo) associations that you can get in that run from Canada down almost into Mexico. That would be right in my alley. I’m hoping I can get in one of those circuits next summer and capitalize on that.”

McClellan would like to focus on bull riding and bull fighting (a.k.a. rodeo clown work) at Eastern Wyoming. He doesn’t worry much about reliving the July 4 ankle break or worse.

“I’ve been pretty fortunate,” he said. “I’d just been bumped and bruised up until then.”

Of course, the fear, the exhilaration and the elation of taming the untamable beast is what is so attractive to McClellan.

“I tell people,” he said, “it’s the biggest adrenaline rush you’ll ever get.”

Vinny Pezzimenti can be reached at 231-4629.