Ty Murray - Career

Career

Murray competed in the Arizona High School Rodeo Association where he was the All-Around Champion Cowboy and led Arizona to its first National High School Rodeo Association Championship in 1987. He was also the National All-Around Champion that year, competing all the rough-stock events as well as cutting. He went to Odessa College where he competed in rodeo for the school. When he turned 18, he joined the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. Murray became the youngest PRCA All-Around Rodeo Cowboy, according to the Guinness Book of Records.

Murray won the World All-Around Rodeo Champion title seven times, (1989–1994, 1998) being the top money-earner in bareback, saddle bronc and bull riding events for those years. Additionally, Murray won the PRCA World Bull Riding Championship title in 1993 and 1998.

After tearing his posterior cruciate ligaments, first in his right knee, and later in his left, Murray had both knees reconstructed in 1995. He was out of rodeo for a year. During that time he bought a 2,400+ acre (8 km²) ranch in Stephenville, Texas. In 1996, 6 weeks after his return to rodeo, he damaged his shoulder during a bull ride in Del Rio, Texas; he had surgery which laid him off for another year, costing him a major sponsor. His comeback in 1997 was astonishing — then he broke his shoulder at the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) event in St. Louis, Missouri, laying him off for another year. After a total of three years off, Murray came back in 1998 to win the PRCA All-Around Championship for the record 7th time, as well as his second PRCA World Champion Bull Rider title. He also qualified for the PBR Finals in 1998, and finished 20th in the PBR world standings that year

In 1999, Murray met singer/songwriter Jewel Kilcher, whose father had been an Alaska All-Around Rodeo Champion, and they became a couple. The two married in 2008 on a beach in the Bahamas. Murray joined the PBR full-time in 1999 (after dividing his time between the PBR and PRCA in the years prior). He and Jewel wrote the song "Til We Run Out of Road" about Murray and Cody Lambert, and Jewel also mentioned him, though not by name, in her song "Stephenville, TX." She appears with him in one of the "Man Law" commercials. On July 11, 2011, Jewel gave birth to their son, named Kase Townes Murray.

Murray was the reserve world champion (second place) bull rider in the PBR in the years 1999, 2000, and 2001. In 2002, Murray retired from rodeo.

Murray was featured in the Miller Lite "Man Laws" series of commercials, and is a frequent announcer on televised PBR Bull Riding events. He took product endorsement deals to the next level, when he refused to sign for less than his perceived value. Ty's hiring of an agent made it acceptable for his fellow cowboys to hire agents, and paid endorsements have become a lucrative adjunct to a cowboy's yearly earnings.

As of 2011, he is the president of the PBR. He took over the role of president after former PBR president Tuff Hedeman left in the summer of 2004.