Rodeo will honor young accident victim
Published 10:14 pm Friday, January 15, 2016
Hunter “Bobo” Davis was more passionate about bull riding than just about anything else, so his friends found it only fitting to hold a rodeo in his honor.
Davis, who died in a car wreck Dec. 4 at the age of 20, will be remembered during Bobo’s Bulls and Barrels Bash at Dallas County Horse Arena on Valley Creek Church Road on Jan. 30 at 7 p.m.
“We think it’s awesome that his friends are wanting to throw this in honor of him,” said Davis’ sister Shyann Davis.
One of the organizers of the event, Phillip Green, rode bulls with Hunter when he was first learning how to ride. Aside from being a talented bull rider and a hard worker, Green said Hunter was someone everybody enjoyed hanging out with.
“He was a great guy. He was fun to be around when I first started bull riding,” Green said. “I was a lot older than he was, and he didn’t know much about bull riding.”
Soon, though, Hunter improved until he was one of the standout bull riders among his friends.
“He got better and progressed really well, and he was actually an absolute good bull rider in my opinion, he was just gone too early,” Green said.
At the rodeo, there will be a moment of silence for Hunter, and there will also be a bucking of a bull with Hunter’s rope hooked on the bull.
Shyann remembers her brother as someone who wouldn’t let anything get in the way of him achieving his goals.
“He definitely showed me that he wasn’t scared of anything,” Shyann said. “He wanted to do something, he set his mind to it and he did it.”
Shyann recalls a time when her brother fell off a bull and was hurt, but refused to get medical treatment because he wanted to get back on the bull and try again.
“Me and my mom kept trying to talk him into going to the hospital and he said, ‘No, I’ve got to get back on my other bull,’” Shyann said. “He had a lot of heart and a lot of grit. And a lot of people stood up to him for that.”
Shyann said Hunter got his toughness from his father, who she describes as the one of the toughest men around.
The only time Hunter took off from bull riding was when he went to Tulsa Welding School in Jacksonville, Florida.
Hunter’s toughness and love for bull riding made fellow bull riders believe that he could have been very successful at the sport.
“If he would’ve stuck with bull riding, you probably could’ve seen him on TV one day,” Green said.
Green said he expects between 200 and 300 people to show up for the rodeo. The admission to the gate is $8 and truck parking next to the arena is $10. All proceeds will go to the Davis family.
Shyann said her family is grateful for all the support they’ve received so far.
“There are so many people that love my brother,” Shyann said. “I didn’t realize how many people knew him. It’s crazy to see how much he impacted everybody.”