Ty Murray
This season’s “Dancing with the Stars” promised the ultimate showdown – husband against wife when it was announced that both Jewel and Ty Murray would be contestants. However, at the last minute, Jewel had to pull out due to injury. Ty is still on the show, along with partner Chelsie Hightower.
Ty was born in Phoenix, Arizona on October 11, 1969. The rodeo was in his blood as his father, Butch, is a former rodeo hand and his mother, Joy, rode in the National Little Britches Rodeo Association. By the age of 2, Ty had decided he wanted to be a rodeo champion. He won his first buckle when he was just 5 years old and his first bull riding competition when he was 9 years old. That was followed by his first win in a Junior Rodeo Championship. Ty was named the Arizona All-Around Junior Rodeo Champion nine years in a row.
With rodeo champ Larry Mahan as his mentor, Ty competed in the Arizona National High School Rodeo Association, winning the All-Around title. He attended Odessa College, where he made the Dean’s List. When he turned 18, he joined the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). Ty is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the youngest PRCA All-Around Rodeo Cowboy.
Between 1989 and 1994, Ty won the World All-Around Rodeo Championship seven times, making him the top money earner in the bareback, saddle bronc, and bull riding events. He also won the PRCA World Bull Riding Championship in 1993 and 1998.
But, the championships didn’t come without injuries. Ty tore his PCL in his right knee and in 1995, he had both knees reconstructed and was out of riding for a year. Shortly after recover in 1996, he injured his shoulder, knocking him out of the competition for another year. He broke his shoulder in 1997 at the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) event in St. Louis, which meant another year off. After almost three years of being off the circuit, Ty came back to win the PRCA All-Around Championship in 1998 for a record 7th time. He also won the PRCA World Champion Bull Rider title that same year.
In 1999, Ty joined the PBR full-time in 1999. He was the reserve World Champion in 1999, 2000, and 2001. He finally retired from the rodeo in 2002. He now serves as the president of the PBR.
Ty has been featured in several “Man Laws” Miller Lite commercials. He and Jewel have appeared together on “Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race” and he had his own reality series on CMT, “Ty Murray’s Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge.”
In 1999, Ty met singer Jewel, whose father had been a rodeo champion. After years of dating, the two finally married in 2008. They wrote the song “Til We Run Out of Road” together. The couple lives on a ranch outside Stephenville, Texas.
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