Days of '47 Rodeo: Toughness a reason Cannon is top rider

WEST VALLEY CITY — When Jay Cannon says his son is the best bareback rider in the world, he's not just speaking as a proud father.

"He's the world's best," said Cannon, who spent 17 years riding bucking horses and taught his son, Clint Cannon, everything he knows. "He's the most physical man out here ... Nobody is tougher."

Clint proved his father right on both counts Tuesday night at the Days of '47 Rodeo at the E Center.

First he stayed aboard his bucking horse and earned an 82-point ride that tied him for the night's best score with Morgan's Caleb Bennett. Then, after his horse kicked him in the shin, cutting him to the bone, he walked out of the arena on his own. After spending 45 minutes in the Justin Boots Medical room getting sewn up, he prepared to drive to Cheyenne where he'll ride again Wednesday night.

"I have to ride," said the 30-year-old Texas native, who is currently the top-earning bareback rider in the world. "There's no thinking about whether I can or I can't ... When you're sitting No. 1, you can't sit around waiting for everyone to catch you."

He acknowledges this is the busiest time of year for high-dollar rodeos, and with or without pain, Cannon plans to ride.

"I'll just try my luck," he said. "I've had to do it a couple of times."

Jay Cannon said some of Clint's toughness comes from playing football. As a fullback, who played at Steven F. Austin University, he learned how to train and how to prepare for competition mentally.

Jay Cannon is so confident this is his son's year, he took two and a half months off work to watch him rodeo.

"This is a setback, but he can work around it," said Jay Cannon as he watched doctors work on his son's leg. "I've seen worse."

Clint Cannon has dealt with shoulder surgery, he sports titanium rods in both arms and two years ago was nearly decapitated when the car they were traveling in hit a horse that wandered onto the interstate at 4 a.m.

"It was just one thing after another, but this year, he's doing really well," Jay Cannon said. "This is his first real bad injury ... It's just part of the sport. It's not if you're going to get hurt, but when."