Robert Edward "Rob" Smets (born September 11, 1959,

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was es ...

), known professionally as The Kamikaze Kid, is an American former professional rodeo bullfighter.

Biography

Smets was born in

to Bill and Ebe Smets. As a child, he lived in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. After returning to the United States as a teenager, he lived in

San Martin, California San Martin or San Martín (Spanish for Saint Martin) is a village and census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Clara County, California, in the southern Santa Clara Valley. Located to the south of Morgan Hill and north of Gilroy, San Martin is ...

and attended Palma High School in Salinas. He entered high school

rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working vaq ...

s starting in his

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...

year. In 2012, Rob Smets starred in

Jägermeister ( , ; stylized Jägermeiſter) is a German digestif made with 56 herbs and spices. Developed in 1934 by Wilhelm and Curt Mast, it has an alcohol by volume of 35% ( 61 degrees proof, or US 70 proof). The recipe has not changed since its creation ...

's "A Stronger Bond" television and digital campaign.

Career

While bull riding as a teenager, Smets taunted some of the bullfighters for not protecting riders well enough after the riders fell. They challenged him to try being a bullfighter himself, which he did. He made a name for himself early on, distracting bulls after riders had fallen, so the riders could leave the ring safely. During the 20 years of the Wrangler Bullfighting Tour which culminated at the

National Finals Rodeo The National Finals Rodeo (NFR) is the premier rodeo event by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). The NFR showcases the talents of the PRCA's top 15 money-winners in the season for each event. The NFR is held each year in the fi ...

(NFR) from 1981-2000, Smets was a top-6 finisher 17 times. He also won the championship 5 times, a record. He was selected six times to be a cowboy protection bullfighter at the NFR (1983, 1985, 1987, 1989-1990, 2000). He was also an 8-time

Professional Bull Riders The Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR) is an international professional bull riding organization based in Pueblo, Colorado, United States. In the U.S., PBR events have been televised on CBS and CBS Sports Network since 2012. In 2013, the ...

(PBR) World Finals Bullfighter (1994-1995, 2000-2005). At the 2001 PBR World Finals, Smets no longer wore his traditional baggy clown outfit and began wearing a sport jersey and shorts that featured his sponsors’ logos. This was the blueprint for future PBR bullfighter outfits as in 2003, all bullfighters in the organization would stop wearing traditional clown outfits and make-up and trade them for sport jerseys and shorts with corporate sponsor logos. In subsequent years, many bullfighters in other organizations would also adopt the sport jersey and shorts look, but keep their make-up. In 2006, Smets was inducted into the

ProRodeo Hall of Fame The ProRodeo Hall of Fame and Museum of the American Cowboy was opened in August 1979 as a museum designed to "preserve the legacy of the cowboy contests, the heritage and culture of those original competitions, and the champions of the past, pr ...

. He was also inducted into the

Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame The Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame is a museum and hall of fame in Fort Worth, Texas, dedicated to the sport of rodeo. History This hall of fame was founded by Johnny Boren. Also contributing to the foundation were a group of Belton, Texas, bu ...

in April 2010. Smets came out of retirement one final time at the 2011 PBR World Finals, where he fought the first three bulls of the first round of the event. He wore his old baggy outfit that he used prior to the 2001 PBR World Finals. Also, he was the inaugural recipient of the PBR Jim Shoulders Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011. In 2017, Smets was inducted into the

Bull Riding Hall of Fame The Bull Riding Hall of Fame, located at Cowtown Coliseum in the Fort Worth Stockyards in Fort Worth, Texas, United States, is a hall of fame for the sport of bull riding. It is incorporated as a non-profit organization in the State of Texas, an ...

in the Bull Fighters category. In 2019, he was inducted into the

Rodeo Hall of Fame The Rodeo Hall of Fame was established by the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in 1955. Located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S., the Hall was created to celebrate the contributions of cowboys and cowgirls from around the world. The ha ...

of the

National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is a museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, with more than 28,000 Western and American Indian art works and artifacts. The facility also has the world's most extensive collection of Am ...

. Smets was also a stock contractor, although he only owned one bull. But that one bull was a highly ranked PBR bucking bull, #80 Jeremiah. The bull's full name was Jeremiah 33:3 for the bible verse. Jeremiah was active from 2013 to 2017 and began bucking on the elite

Built Ford Tough Series The Built Ford Tough Series (BFTS) was the elite series tour name of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) competitions from 2003 to 2017. The BFTS kicked off its tour on November 16, 2002 with the Mohegan Sun Invitational in Uncasville, Connecticu ...

(BFTS) circuit in 2014. In 2015, Jeremiah was chosen as a world champion bull contender at the 2015 PBR BFTS World Finals.

Injuries

During his bullfighting career, Smets was injured many times, including suffering a broken neck three times, in 1992, 1996, and 2006. Although these injuries often

paralyze Paralysis (also known as plegia) is a loss of motor function in one or more muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory damage. In the United States, roughly 1 in 5 ...

people who suffer them, Smets' main problem from them was limited motion in his neck. He retired from bullfighting in 2006, after breaking his neck for the third time. Smets had also been gored by a bull's horn and had broken a leg.

Personal

Smets and his wife, Carla, married in 1993, and they have four daughters, Corey, Dylan, Josie, and Sammy. They live on a ranch in Merkel, Texas. Rob Smets is a Christian who evangelizes on his public Facebook page and on the public Facebook page he created for his bucking bull, Jeremiah 33:3.

Honors

* 2006

* 2008 St. Paul Rodeo Hall of Fame * 2010

* 2011 PBR Heroes & Legend Celebration: Jim Shoulders Lifetime Achievement Award * 2014 California Rodeo Salinas Hall of Fame * 2017

* 2017 Molalla Walk of Fame * 2019

of the

References

External links

Rob Smets Official Website

Rob Smets Facebook page

Jeremiah 33:3 Bucking Bull Facebook page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smets, Rob Living people Rodeo clowns 1959 births ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductees Rodeo announcers People from Palo Alto, California Stock contractors 21st-century Christians American evangelicals People from Taylor County, Texas Professional Bull Riders: Heroes and Legends