ProRodeo Sports News - June 26, 2020

home,” O’Neill joked. Before his North American debut, O’Neill was the 1992 Australian saddle bronc riding champion. He spent his rookie year with Skeeter Thurston (father of two-time Saddle Bronc Riding World Champion Zeke Thurston) and then teamed up with Dan Mortensen and Rod Hay. “The best thing I ever did was jump in with Dan,” O’Neill said. “He was a winner, and it rubbed off on me.” The adage that iron sharpens iron rang true in their rodeo rig. “You see it with groups of guys that come up together in the ranks of high school and college rodeo and just make each other better,” Mortensen said. “In ProRodeo, it’s the same if they have the same goals and are on the same page on how hard they’re wanting to rodeo and have the right attitude.” O’Neill qualified for the National Finals Rodeo 11 times (1995-2004 and 2006), finishing with $1.61 million in career earnings. His claim to fame came at the 1996 Daines Ranch Pro Rodeo in Innisfail, Alberta, when he posted a 95-point ride on Franklin’s Airwolf. The only other saddle bronc rider to register a 95-point ride was Doug Vold on Franklin’s Transport in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan, in 1979. “Back then, Airwolf was a phenomenal name in rodeo, and at that time he was rarely ridden, but I’d watched him quite a bit and thought I could ride him,” O’Neill said. “It was a big adrenaline rush. I still don’t know how I rode him. “That horse is so out of control you didn’t know what he would do. I don’t think I realized (the score) until 10 minutes later when things settled down. He was such a great horse. I got on him four times and won four times with a round at Calgary, Vancouver (British Columbia) and Lea Park (Alberta).” FromMortensen’s perspective, O’Neill’s best ride wasn’t his highest score, but an 86-point ride on Calgary Stampede’s Lonesome Me during Round 5 of the 1996 NFR. “He set his feet so hard and raised his butt plumb out of his saddle and was lifting so well,” Mortensen said. “I guess that’s just a ride that stuck out in my mind as vintage Glen O’Neill.” O’Neill and Mortensen shared a friendly rivalry. Mortensen went into the 2002 NFR leading in the world standings, but O’Neill won the title by going 10-for-10 with 825 points. The next year, O’Neill led the regular-season standings, but Mortensen won the world championship. “The only thing I didn’t do was win another world title after winning one,” O’Neill said. “In the 10th round (of the 2003 NFR) I had to be 84 points to beat Dan (Mortensen), and I was 83. I wish I could’ve won a second one since it proves you deserve to wear a gold buckle.” North of the border, O’Neill enjoyed success as the 2000 Canadian Professional Rodeo Association saddle bronc riding champion and won the 2001 Canadian Finals Rodeo average. Although he qualified for the 2004 NFR, he was unable to compete, breaking his leg while ridingThree Hills Rodeo’s Big Jet in Omaha, Neb. Despite missing the Finals, he still finished the year fourth in the world standings with $149,054. O’Neill got redemption the following year when he crossed paths with Big Jet for a 91-point, record-setting ride at the 2005 Guymon (Okla.) Pioneer Days Rodeo. Of all his ProRodeo achievements, being inducted to the ProRodeo Hall of Fame remains his proudest moment. “You win stuff and lose stuff and end your career, but to have other people think you deserve to be in there was a big thing for me,” O’Neill said.

O’Neill’s 11th and final NFR didn’t pan out as he’d hoped. He was unable to compete in the final two rounds due to various lower body injuries. His final ProRodeo ride was at the 2006 NFR. “I miss it, but I did what I wanted to do and then had some injuries that slowed me down, and so I shut it down when I wanted to,” O’Neill said. “I wanted to spend more time with my family, but I was kind of young to retire at 33.” O’Neill lives about an hour north of Calgary in Didsbury, Alberta, and runs a cow/calf operation with about 450 acres of land while helping on his neighbor’s farm. He remains connected to rodeo by helping with a local amateur rodeo and watching his nephews Dawson and Logan Hay compete. “It’s a little different, everyone in rodeo had to get a real job sooner or later,” O’Neill laughed. O’Neill married Rod Hay’s sister, Jennifer. They have two kids, Emily, 19, and Dillon, 16. “Emily is into show jumping, and Dillon is 16 and we don’t know what he does but he likes his guitar,” O’Neill laughed. “The kids keep us busy playing hockey and show jumping.” Transitioning from full-time ProRodeo competition to living a normal life isn’t an easy process. It’s not like there’s a self-help book on how to do it, so the O’Neills played it by ear. “We started with nothing and built up, and that took a long time to get everything put together,” O’Neill said. O’Neill wasn’t the only one to adjust. “My wife said I drove her up the walls for the first two years since I didn’t get adrenaline rushes and had to go live a normal life,” O’Neill laughed. HOW ARE YA NOW?

“You win stuff and lose stuff and end your career, but to have other people think you deserve to be in there was a big thing for me.” – GLEN O’NEILL on his 2014 ProRodeo Hall of Fame induction

Photo courtesy Glen O’Neill Now retired from competition, Glen O’Neill, left, lives on a ranch in Alberta with his daughter, Emily, wife, Jennifer, and son, Dillon.

ProRodeo Sports News 6/26/2020

ProRodeo.com

49

Made with FlippingBook HTML5