11/17/2025
🚨Athlete Spotlight of the Week🚨
Nicholas Jackson
Nic leads the way as the #1 ranked Junior World Finals bull rider. He now rides professionally in Southern Extreme Bullriding Association.
•2x Junior World Finals Championships
•Multiple State Titles
•3x NHSRA Finals Qualifier
•Back to Back National Championships in Amateur Division (SEBRA)
•On the verge of a 2025 Rookie of the Year (SEBRA)
•2025 National Champion (SEBRA)
11/17/2025
It was a summer day in 1968 when a traveling carnival pitched its tent just outside South Central, Los Angeles. Then 11-year-old Charlie Sampson visited with his Boy Scout troop. He remembers the monkeys, bears and snakes. But it was the pony ride that really caught his attention.
“I gave the man a quarter to ride the ponies. Went around five times and that was the beginning of a lifestyle that I never dreamed of,” he said.
Charlie would later take a job cleaning horse stables in exchange for riding lessons. Eventually, a group of older cowboys took him under their wing and showed him how to rope and ride bulls. Years later, in 1982, Charlie became the first Black man to win the Professional Bull Riding World Championship.
PRORODEO HALL OF FAME CHARLES SAMPSON BIO:
https://www.prorodeohalloffame.com/inductees/bull-riding/charles-sampson/
SOURCE: STORY CORPS + WILD RIDES INTERVIEW/EPISODE
PHOTO: WILD RIDES INTERVIEW/EPISODE
PRORODEO HALL OF FAME
10/27/2025
Our Associate Director, Stacey Dadd, joined the latest meeting of the Rotary Club of Hardee County yesterday as we welcomed guest speaker Gus Trent Horse Ranch owner — sharing inspiring stories from the ranch, leadership insights, and horse-powered community spirit. 🐎
Thanks to Gus for equine-inspired wisdom and to our Rotary friends for a fantastic gathering! 🌟
