Etbauer, Billy

One of the most popular and iconic rodeo cowboys of his generation, five-time World Champion Saddle Bronc Rider Billy Etbauer is as much respected for his go-for-broke style and his unfailing humility as he is for the string of victories that covered parts of four decades. The middle brother of three world-class bronc riders, Billy Etbauer qualified for the National Finals Rodeo in his second year as a professional in 1989 and went on to make the field a record 21 consecutive years, win an NFR-record 51 rounds and earn more than $1 million at that season-ending championship alone. He set the NFR record with a 93-point ride on Kesler Championship Rodeo’s Cool Alley in 2003, then tied it a year later on a 10th-round ride on the same horse that clinched the last of his five gold buckles and made him – at 41 years, 11 months – the oldest roughstock world champion in rodeo history. Etbauer followed Trevor Brazile as the second cowboy to surpass $3 million in career earnings and was the first to reach that figure in a single event, finishing with $3,015,377 in total earnings. His five saddle bronc riding world championships is just one short of the event record shared by Casey Tibbs and Dan Mortensen. He was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 2012.