BACKBREAKING WORK : In This Tough Profession, You Have to Stay on Top of Things, Risk Crippling Injuries and Put Up With a Lot of Bull

Bobby Del Vecchio, Lane Frost and Charles Sampson work eight seconds a night, no more than 100 nights a year.

And that’s the long shift.

Sometimes, though, when their workday is shortened to only four or five seconds, they end up with broken bones. Also, there’s no worker’s compensation involved here, and bumps and bruises come with the territory.

Del Vecchio, Frost and Sampson are rodeo bull riders, the daredevils of the sport. They’re the heavyweights, the showcase cowboys the fans at the Great Western Bank Championship Rodeo will be coming to see tonight through Sunday at the Forum.

Oh, sure, bareback riding, steer wrestling, barrel racing and calf roping are interesting, and they, too, involve risk. But the bull riders don’t just court danger, they embrace it.

With Cotton Rosser and Flying U Rodeo Co. of San Diego supplying the stock, bull riding is expected to be the main event at the Forum. Tonight’s performance begins at 7:30 with other shows scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.

Riders in the $30,000 Professional Rodeo Cowboys Assn.-sanctioned rodeo compete for cash and points--a point for each dollar won. The top 15 finishers in each event in the 11-month, 100-rodeo season qualify for the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas in December.

Del Vecchio and Sampson, both of whom will ride Saturday, are the flashiest, and Frost, scheduled for a go-round tonight, is the PRCA leader in the strong bull-riding field that also includes defending world champion Tuff Hedeman of Gainesville, Tex., and 1985 world champion Ted Nuce of Manteca, Calif.

The bull field is expected to be as strong as the riders.

“(Rosser) probably got as good a set of bulls as there is,” Del Vecchio said. “And you can’t hardly win anything unless your partner is good. You got to have an animal that bucks.”

Rosser develops his bulls through a “born-to-buck” program at the Twisselman Ranch near Paso Robles.

“The mother is the breeder,” Rosser said. “A mean momma will always have a mean baby.”

Although it’s highly unlikely that Rosser’s bull-breeding adage applies to developing good bull riders, they’re raised these days, too.

Most, like Frost, a native of La Junta, Colo., are born in the West, in rodeo country with wide open spaces, ranches and plenty of opportunity to experience livestock and rodeo cowboys.

“I just started when I was a kid,” Frost said. “It was something I wanted to do. There was always the bulls.”

Frost, 23, was runner-up for PRCA bull-riding rookie of the year in 1983 and has ridden in three straight National Finals Rodeos. He finished third last year behind Hedeman and Nuce.

“I started riding small bulls when I was littler and bulls that bucked when I got older,” he said. “It’s the challenge of you against something so much bigger and stronger than you. I just like to see who can come up on top, see who’s tougher.”

But some, like Del Vecchio and Sampson, were raised in places where toughness was measured in other ways. They, among rodeo’s most popular performers for nearly a decade, are not West Texas cowboys. Or East Texas. If they hadn’t developed such convincing Texas drawls, these guys would probably get thrown out of picante commercials.

That Del Vecchio and Sampson have been among the top bull riders for 10 years is evidence of their skill, determination and ability to bounce back from near-fatal injuries.

In 1978, Del Vecchio’s back was broken by an 1,800-pound bull. But in 1980, his second year on the PRCA tour, he finished sixth in the national finals, and from 1981-83 recorded three second-place finishes.

Last year, Del Vecchio dropped to 17th and did not make the national finals for the first time since 1979. This year, though, he is back in the top 10, currently eighth.

In 1983, while riding in a special White House rodeo, Sampson was nearly killed, but he has been in six straight national finals, 1981-86, and won the world championship in 1982. As of Monday, he was ranked 13th.

That Del Vecchio and Sampson have become the most popular bull riders may be attributable to their upbringing.

Del Vecchio, 30, who grew up in the Bronx, learned to drive on the New Jersey Turnpike and got on bulls for the first time at 14.

It was, he said, “better than borrowing hubcaps,” which he quickly pointed out doesn’t mean that’s the trouble he was getting into before he was getting hooked up on bulls’ horns. “But that is a form of recreation that’s available,” he said.

Sampson, two weeks shy of 30, grew up in Watts, got hooked on horses on a Cub Scout outing to ride ponies and took to cleaning stables when he ran out of dimes to pay for his rides.

It was only a matter of time until the older cowboys decided to see just what Sampson could do on the animals that occupied those stables. Despite his diminutive size--he’s 5-foot-4 and 128 pounds--he could do quite a bit.

They’re real showmen, these two, as well. Sampson’s eyes light up and his hands bring the arena to life as he tells a story about finding a rodeo nestled in among the forests of northern Idaho. Del Vecchio, or “Italian Stallion” as he is frequently introduced to rodeo audiences, likes to wear fancy shirts and blows kisses to crowds.

“I think a lot of that has to do with the way I was brought up and where I was brought up,” Del Vecchio said. “I wasn’t an inhibited child. Most of your cowboys are, well, cowboys. They’re really quiet. I enjoy the crowd.

“I lived in a city where there are 11 or 12 million people. There ain’t 11 or 12 million people in all of Oklahoma or Texas.”

Frost may be sitting atop the bull riding field, and that’s just where he’d like to be, even though the heavy rodeo season that begins the Fourth of July is still two weeks away.

“Being first right now don’t mean a lot,” Frost said. “There’s still a lot of time left. But being first is a lot better than being second or being third.”

But veterans Del Vecchio and Sampson seem perfect for the sport in an era where rodeo has moved its finals from Oklahoma City to Las Vegas.

Rodeo, while still a good show and as much entertainment as sport, is big business. Corporate sponsorship and bigger purses have been the big differences. Between 1977 and 1987, corporate sponsor support and promotion of PRCA rodeos increased from $900,000 a year to more than $11 million.

Prize money at the Forum is $30,000, and the total purse in Las Vegas is more than $2 million, up from $530,300 in 1980. Last year, Hedeman earned $137,061 riding bulls. So far this year, Frost has earned $34,294; Del Vecchio $17,624 and Sampson $15,116.

And Las Vegas has the ability to promote the event, guarantee the big purse and draw the crowds. Since moving to Las Vegas in 1985, the annual 10-performance rodeo has averaged 144,500 spectators, up 27,430 from previous years.

“I work all year to go there,” Sampson said. “The lights and glitter, it reminds me of the Academy Awards.”

Try the Emmys. While Del Vecchio and Sampson are riding bulls this weekend at the Forum, they’ll also be discussing a television movie deal with Arnold Orgolini of Windancer Productions. Orgolini said that a movie based loosely on the rodeo stars’ unorthodox rodeo upbringings is in the story development stage.

Del Vecchio says he’s excited about the movie, but he’s more interested in performing stunts than starring. For now, he and Sampson have to spend their time chasing Frost.