Riding Bulls to Raising Kids
By Laci Jones

With a career as a professional bull rider that spanned more than 15 years, J.W. Hart was the 1994 Professional Bull Riders Rookie of the Year, 2002 PBR World Champion and later started the J.W. Hart Challenge that takes place each year in Decatur, Texas. However, these days Hart enjoys spending time with his family and raising cattle on the 240-acre ranch in Overbrook, Okla.

“J.W.’s bull riding career is one thing, our marriage is one thing and our kids are one thing, but the connector has been God,” said J.W. Hart’s wife, LeAnn Hart.

The bull rider was born in Marietta, Okla., in March 1975, with rodeo in his veins. His father rode bulls before Hart was born and shortly after. His mother barrel raced, later becoming a secretary.

Hart tried his hand at calf-roping, barrel racing and goat tying in junior rodeos, but he found his passion in bull riding. Both Hart and his little brother learned how to bull ride from their father from the first time they got on calves.

“My mom and dad would say when I was a kid, ‘I swear to God if somebody broke that kid’s head open it’d be nothing but bucking bulls coming out of there,’” he laughed.

Hart was an athlete in the arena as well as on the field. The football coach later told Hart he needed to choose between the two sports. After choosing rodeo as his primary sport, Hart continued to hone his skill as a bull rider.

He idolized bull riders including Donnie Gaye and Lane Frost. In 1986, the young bull rider had the opportunity to practice with Frost, who became the National Finals Rodeo World Champion Bull Rider the following year.

“It was pretty cool to practice the same day that Lane Frost was,” Hart recalled. “He was my hero. I looked up to him as an idol. You didn’t know what he would grow into, even after his death. He’s just bigger than life.”

Frost had an impact on the 11-year-old, giving him occasional advice and sending him hand-me-down shirts. The shirts were given away, and Hart said he would give anything to have those shirts back.

“What I remember most is the fact, that when I broke it down in later years, [Lane Frost] was telling me really the same thing that my daddy was telling me that I didn’t believe,” he added. “But when your hero, or your idol, tells you, well, then, it’s just the gospel.”

Hart knew at a young age he wanted to compete professionally. The PBR was not formed at the time, so he dreamed of being of competing in the National Finals Rodeo and become a world champion bull rider.

“I did know from a really, really young age that what I wanted to be is a bull rider,” he added. “I never had dreams or aspirations to be an astronaut, or a doctor, or a scientist.”

He was too young to remember the first time he rode a bull, but the first time he rode a full-grown bull was memorable for Hart. The 12-year-old bull rider had teeth shoved underneath his eye socket and broke his upper jaw. However, he was resilient and kept improving as a bull rider.

By the time he was 18 years old, he was making a name for himself. When the PBR first formed, the qualifying system used today did not exist. Instead, the best in the world as well as new riders were invited, including Hart.

“They didn’t have to chase me very far,” Hart joked. “All they had to do is look out the window, and I was standing there. That’s how I got my start. I got an invite, made the list a few times right off and they let me keep coming back.”

One of his first rodeos in the PBR was in the old Texas Stadium. He was an alternate who found out he was going to compete the week before. Hart met the buzzer when he rode Voodoo in the first round, attributing the successful ride to the muddy arena.

“Nobody ever really rode that bull ever, and I rode him in the mud,” Hart explained. “Probably the mud is why I rode him. He didn’t have quite the day he was capable of.”

The former professional bull rider said the rides throughout his career have become a blur, but one of his more memorable rides was at the second PBR World Finals in 1995 when he rode a bull named Erkel.

“I remember that one really well,” he explained. “It probably wasn’t my best ride ever. I know it wasn’t the highest score ride ever because it was only 89 points, but it was probably one of my favorite rides.”

He said it was one of his favorites because he discussed the upcoming ride with friend, Cody Lambert. When Hart asked Lambert what he thought would be a good way to ride Erkel, he replied, “When the gate opens, just start spurring.”

When the gate opened in 1995, Hart immediately started spurring. Looking back, Hart said he rode him that way to say to Lambert, “You told me what to do; I can do it.”

Another memorable ride occurred two years later at the Calgary Stampede, where he rode Kodiak. Again, Hart said it was not his highest scoring ride, but only one other bull rider had ever ridden him.

“One of the greatest bull riders of all time, Troy Dunn, was the only guy at the time to ever make the whistle on that bull. I think that was one of my best rides, not just because it was for the $50,000 bonus that day. It was at my favorite rodeo of all time, and we’d all just come together. That was one of the most memorable moments.”

Toward the end of his career as a bull rider, Hart was presented the opportunity to get into broadcast. After he was finished riding for the day, the network was looking for a different perspective from one of the riders, he explained. The bull rider filled in and talked with the commentators about his views on the championship round. The following year, he was offered a job as a broadcaster for PBR.

“I had enough common sense about me to know that my career was in the later years,” he added. “I wasn’t feeling good anymore, and my body was starting to not react the way I needed it to.

“Not that I probably couldn’t have went another year and fought through it, but I thought if I went on trying that I might miss the window of my next career, next opportunity. I was starting a family, and had somebody else to think about besides myself, so it was kind of a natural progression to do something different.”

More than 10 years after his slight career change, Hart is still broadcasting along with other former bull riders including Justin McBride and Ty Murray. Being a former bull rider and a broadcaster, Hart said bull riding has evolved in three major aspects including the bulls.

“The best bull then rivals the best bull today, there’s no doubt,” he began. “The very best ones don’t get no better. From middle of the road to the bottom, we got on the best bulls in the world then. But they’re nothing, absolutely nothing compared to the bulls that are going today.”

The second major change he has seen is the award money. Hart won $102,000 in his rookie year in 1994, which was a considerable amount at the time, he added. The 2016 PBR World Champion, Cooper Davis, won nearly $1.5 million.

Finally, Hart said bull riding is more mainstream than in ‘90s. Hart said bull riding was once considered a niche sport, almost a sideshow to other sports.

“Now, our guys are on the covers of Men’s Sports Fitness, on the front of the New York Times, and we’re getting on national television, and not just the CMT or TNN back when we had to pay for the time. We’re on CBS Sports and CBS on a weekly basis,” he explained.

Hart also decided to focus on his bucking bull program he started in 1995. He started the program toward the beginning of his career because he knew his career as a bull rider would not last forever, but he wanted to still be involved in the industry. Today, he has 55 head of cows that will be bred this year along with approximately 60 head of bulls. All cattle at the ranch are for sale, he added.

“Our cows make bucking bulls for bull ridings,” he stated. “We take care of cows that make calves to go to bull ridings. When we work cattle, we’re working bucking bulls.”

In January of 2015, he began preparing to make a comeback in the arena for Unfinished Business, where eight former PBR bull riders came out of retirement to compete in Decatur, Texas.

“I wanted to make a point because my son had been asking me, ‘Dad, I want to see you ride a bull,’” he explained. “I told him, ‘I don’t ride bulls no more.’ I showed him [videos] on YouTube, and he didn’t think that was fit. He wanted to see me ride a bull.”

Hart was planning on getting on a bull in the practice bull so his son Wacey could see him, when he got an offer for Unfinished Business. He said it was an opportunity to “kill two birds with one stone.” Wacey could see him ride while also making his last stand as a bull rider.

“I figured if I was going to do it, it was time to show my son that if you want to do something, you’ve got to put out the effort,” he added.

To set an example for his children, Hart trained for four months with a personal trainer and was on a strict diet. He said he was in the best physical shape of his career when he and Chris Shivers won Unfinished Business, splitting the $160,000 payout.

When asked if Wacey was satisfied with seeing him ride, Hart replied, “I think so. He better be because I ain’t doing it again.”

Hart’s wife, LeAnn supported him throughout his career as a bull rider, broadcaster and ranch owner. He first met his wife of nearly 12 years through mutual friends, each dating different people. LeAnn joked that her first thought of Hart was “he was a butt.”

“We were very competitive,” LeAnn added. “We had a crawfish eating contest, and I beat him. He’ll say it different, but I did.”

They did not cross paths for a couple of years until a bull riding in Tampa, Florida, Hart explained. The two started dating and were married in 2005. The Harts started trying to have kids soon after, but were unable to carry a baby to full-term.

“We have 11 babies in heaven,” LeAnn explained. “So, we got a little football team up there.”

They prayed over their options and explored adoption. In 2008, they were chosen to be parents and Wacey Hart was born in March 2009. A year later, Makayla Hart was born and the Harts adopted her.

Two years ago in September, the Harts got a call about a two-year-old local baby who needed a home. It took nine months to finalize the adoption of Elsie Hart. The Harts have been able to keep an open adoption with each of the parents they have adopted from.

They have also been foster parents for the last eight years, recently taking a break. A year ago, they took in a local teenage boy. LeAnn said they have not adopted him and he is not a foster child, but instead a local boy who needed a family.

As for the future, Hart joked that he would like to “make a gazillion dollars, retire and do what I want every day.” In reality, the former professional bull rider said he lives the life he has always dreamed. The Harts said God has blessed them with healthy kids, a beautiful home on the ranch and cattle.

“I’d like to say that next week I might change my mind and want to start surfing, but I don’t see that happening,” he added. “It’s bull riding. It’s always been bull riding.”

This article was originally published in the July 2017 issue of OKFR!

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