Tony Mendes (born August 10, 1977) 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." ...

Background

Mendes was born in

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

on August 10, 1977. He continued to live in Reno and then in

Jensen, Utah Jensen is a census-designated place in eastern Uintah County, Utah, United States. The population was 372 at the 2020 census. It lies along the Green River and U.S. Route 40, southeast of the city of Vernal, the county seat of Uintah County, a ...

. He is the younger brother of

Scott Mendes Scott Mendes (born July 4, 1969 in Visalia, California) is an American former professional rodeo cowboy who specialized in bull riding. He won the 1997 Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) bull riding world championship, and is the inv ...

, who was the 1997 PRCA World Champion bull rider, and a co-founder of the PBR. Tony started riding at age three on top of a sheep. Over the years, he progressed from sheep to calves and steers, before climbing on his first bull at age 14. Tony was recorded to be 5' 10", and 170 pounds during competition.

Career

Tony was the 1996

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 Rookie of the Year, as well as the 1996 PRCA Wilderness Circuit Champion bull rider. He competed in said organization in 1996, 1998 to 1999, 2008 to 2009, 2011 and 2012. He also competed in

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), 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), and

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). He qualified for his first PBR World Finals in 1999 and recorded a 93.5 score atop the 1900-pound Clayton's Pet of Double J Rodeo Palace in the short-go. He was often referred to as the "Wild Man" because of the energy he displayed. 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 ...

twice (1998 & 1999) and the PBR World Finals eight times (1999 to 2005, 2007). His brother Scott also qualified for the PBR World Finals in 1994 and 2001, the latter case marking the only time that both brothers qualified for a world championship event together. Tony also qualified for the CBR World Finals in 2012. Tony's last professional bull-riding out was at the PBR Velocity Tour event in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, on February 28, 2015.

Personal life

On January 2, 2008, Tony was featured on the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

game show ''

Power of 10 In mathematics, a power of 10 is any of the integer powers of the number ten; in other words, ten multiplied by itself a certain number of times (when the power is a positive integer). By definition, the number one is a power (the zeroth power ...

''. He was defeated without winning any money. He was featured in ''Bullrider'', a documentary by Josh Aronson. Mendes is married to Abby, with whom he has two children. The Mendes' reside in

Fruita, Colorado Fruita () is a home rule municipality located in western Mesa County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 13,395 at the 2020 United States census. Fruita is a part of the Grand Junction, Colorado Metropolitan Statistical Area and ...

, as of 2019.

References

Sources

External links

Tony Mendes VS Tommy Gun - YouTube

Tony Mendes vs Lights Out - 00 PBR Finals (90 pts) - YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendes, Tony Living people 1977 births Sportspeople from Reno, Nevada People from Uintah County, Utah Contestants on American game shows Bull riders American people of Portuguese descent