Scott Mendes (born July 4, 1969 in

Visalia, California Visalia ( ) is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-most populous city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 38th most populous in California, and 183 ...

) is an American former professional

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 vaqu ...

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the ''vaquero'' ...

who specialized in

bull riding Bull riding is a rodeo sport that involves a rider getting on a bucking bull and attempting to stay mounted while the animal tries to bucking, buck off the rider. American bull riding has been called "the most dangerous eight seconds in sports." ...

. He won the 1997

Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) is the largest rodeo organization in the world. It sanctions events in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, with members from said countries, as well as others. Its championship event is the N ...

(PRCA) bull riding world championship, and is the inventor of Rodeo Judge, the original rodeo card game. He was also a co-founder of the

Professional Bull Riders The Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR) is an international professional bull riding organization headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. It is the largest bull riding league in the world, sanctioning hundreds of events every yea ...

(PBR). In 2022, he 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, a ...

Early life and career

Mendes was born on July 4, 1969, in

, but later moved with his family to Turlock. He started riding bulls at the age of five during a family ranch branding session. His grandfather, Frank Mendes, was a charter member of the predecessor Cowboys Turtles Association, where he competed at

Boston Garden The Boston Garden was an arena in Boston, Massachusetts. Designed by boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who also built the third iteration of New York's Madison Square Garden, it opened on November 17, 1928, as "Boston Madison Square Garden" (later ...

and

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. His father, Alan Mendes rode bulls, but mostly stayed close to home and never really ventured too far from the family ranch. Scott was surrounded by athletic talent within his family. His older brother Mike played football and younger brother Tony also rode bulls. Both Scott and Tony qualified for the PRCA's

National Finals Rodeo The National Finals Rodeo (NFR) is the premier championship rodeo of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). It 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 f ...

(NFR) and PBR World Finals. Scott, who was a co-founder of the PBR, qualified for the PBR World Finals in 1994 and 2001; the latter of which was the only year in which he and Tony qualified together for a world championship event. Scott moved to

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

with his father after his parents' divorce. He won Nevada State High School bull riding titles in 1985 and 1986. He also qualified for the High School National Finals. In 1988, he finished 2nd to David Berry from Oklahoma for the PRCA Bull Riding Rookie of the Year title after only having his card for two months. Mendes' breakout season came in 1991 when he won the short round and first place in the average at

Cheyenne Frontier Days Cheyenne Frontier Days is an outdoor rodeo and western celebration in the United States, held annually since 1897 in Cheyenne, Wyoming. It bills itself as the "World's Largest Outdoor Rodeo and Western Celebration." The event, claimed to be one of ...

on the 1992 PRCA Bucking Bull of the Year, Rocky, owned by Dan Russell. During his professional career, he qualified for the NFR five times, the

Bull Riders Only Bull Riders Only, Inc. (BRO) was a professional bull riding organization based in Englewood, Colorado, United States. History Inspired by years of successful unsanctioned stand-alone bull riding events, businessman and former bull rider, Shaw ...

(BRO) World Finals twice, and the PBR World Finals also twice. He also competed in

Championship Bull Riding Championship Bull Riding, Inc. (CBR) was a professional bull riding organization that was based in Weatherford, Texas, United States. History Stock contractor Terry Williams and Texas businessman Joel Logan founded Championship Bull Riding (CBR) ...

(CBR). Mendes reached the pinnacle and milestone of his bull riding career in 1997 when he won more money than any other bull rider in the PRCA and was crowned the World Champion for said organization that year. His last professional bull-ride attempt was at the PRCA rodeo in

Sonora, Texas Sonora is a city in and the county seat of Sutton County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,502 at the 2020 census. Geography and climate Sonora is located at (30.568166, –100.644163). According to the United States ...

, on August 12, 2005.

Personal life

Soon after the death of his fellow bull rider and good friend, Brent Thurman in 1994, Mendes became a "born again" Christian. He responded by wanting to spread the word amongst many of his fellow rodeo cowboys. He and his wife, Angel, are founders, owners and operate Western Harvest Ministries. The national headquarters is an outreach ranch located in

Weatherford, Texas Weatherford () is a city in and the county seat of Parker County, Texas, United States. In 2020, its population was 30,854. Weatherford is named after Thomas J. Weatherford, a State senator and advocate for Texas's secession to the Confederate ...

. It serves as the foundation for a Christian bull riding league and training camp. Mendes met his wife Angel during his rise to fame riding bulls. He has two sons, Kaden and Kolten, and a daughter Jorden. His children also exhibit various rodeo talents.

Philosophical and/or political views

Mendes is the

Pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

of Western Harvest Ministries, and founder of several Christian organizations building cowboy character for youth. He also travels throughout the country ministering in several

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

es, and is a corporate

motivational speaker A motivational speaker (or inspirational speaker) is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. Such speakers may attempt to challenge or transform their audiences. The speech itself is popularly known as a pep ta ...

. He has made several television appearances on worldwide Christian stations, such as

Trinity Broadcasting Network The Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN; legally Trinity Broadcasting of Texas, Inc.) is an international Christian-based broadcast television network and the world's largest religious television network. TBN solicits donations on its Web site, a ...

Published works

Mendes is a producer of several Christian films, and is the chair for the Fort Worth Christian Media Association. He has also been in several Christian and western films, some of which he helped produce. He is a partner/co-owner in Wings of Eagles Studios, a media group that is restoring "The Code of the West" and American family values to films and media. Their first movie ''Gold Score'' is a story about a Texas family, bull riding, and broken dreams. It was written by award-winning

Country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

songwriter Terrance Alan and screenwriter Phil Merna, who is a Montana cowboy and former bull rider. In June 2015, Mendes developed a mobile card game called Rodeo Judge with his partner from Christgames.org. It is loosely based on the game of 21. The idea came to him during his rodeo days.

Awards

*National High School Finals Rodeo qualifier (1984, 1985, 1986) *Nevada High School State Champion bull rider (1985, 1986) *PRCA Wilderness Circuit finalist (1988, 1989, 1990) *PRCA Texas Circuit finalist (1991, 1995, 1996) *NFR qualifier (1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997) *Wrangler World of Rodeo Champion bull rider (1994, 1996) *PBR World Finals qualifier (1994, 2001) *NFR Bull Riding Average Champion (1997) *PRCA World Champion bull rider (1997)

Honors

*In 2022, Mendes was inducted into the

. That same year, he was inducted into the All Cowboy & Arena Champions Hall of Fame.

References

* * * * *

External links

* http://teamswj.com * http://westernharvestmedia.com * http://westernharvestministries.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Mendes, Scott Living people 1969 births Sportspeople from Visalia, California Bull riders Bull Riding Hall of Fame inductees American Christians American people of Portuguese descent