February 18, 2019
by Terry Lidral
In 1982, the Harris’ bull 018 was amping up his game. When Bennie Beutler bought the bull from the Harris family of Cowtown Rodeo in Pileate, New Jersey, it was the beginning of big things to come.
“Howard Harris and I did deals together,” said Bennie Beutler of Beutler & Son Rodeo, Inc. “Howard would bring bulls that were too rank to buck at Cowtown Rodeo to Oklahoma City and I’d buy them. He always brought good bulls. I talked to Howard one day in 1982 and he said, ‘I’m going to have a bull for you.’ Harris was talking about the bull we came to name Cowtown,” continued Beutler. “And he sure did have a bull for me.”
018 was already a strong bull when the Beutlers bought him as a coming 4-year-old and he wasn’t done growing.
“That bull matured and kept getting bigger. He put on around 300 pounds after we got him,” Beutler told us. “He ended up weighing well over 1700 pounds.”
Along with weight, Cowtown added strength and power. And he got more attitude. Already known at the Cowtown Rodeo for his determination to hook anyone he could find, the bull honed his skill at trashing cowboys. He came to be known as one of the meanest bulls in the sport.
“We eased him along and took him to places like Lubbock. Cowtown was smart. He was maturing and it took the cowboys a while to get to know him. He hooked them all,” Beutler chuckled.
Ease him in they did, and before long they had a bull rising to the top of the PRCA ranks.
“Cowtown bucked off the best of them,” said Beutler with pride. “He threw off Lane Frost, Don Gay, Denny Flynn, Kenny Wilcox and Tuff Hedeman. And Cody Lambert never rode him either.”
Beutler has some favorite stories that he tells about his New Jersey raised bull.
“I took Cowtown to the George Paul Memorial in Del Rio in the spring of 1985. They bucked the bulls back to back with a 30 minute break in between,” related Beutler. “Lane Frost got on Cowtown first and the bull bucked him off. When they brought Cowtown back, Tuff Hedeman got on him and that bull threw Tuff clean out of the arena.”
Cowtown was noted for his strength and power, but he built a reputation for loving to get the cowboy when he hit the ground.
“He would throw the bull rider into the air and stand there with his head up waiting for them to come down. He looked like a catcher,” said Beutler of the bull known for his “mean.” “Randy Magers (member of the Bull Riding Hall of Fame) got on Cowtown once and when he got out of the arena, he was wearing nothing but his shirt,” Beutler said with a big laugh. “Cowtown had hooked his chaps, his pants and what was underneath clear off.”
As a 10-time NFR qualifier and with an overall career record of 6 rides on 320 outs, Cowtown put his name in the championship books.
“In 1984, the last year The Finals were held in Oklahoma City, Cowtown won Bull of The Finals. The next year The Finals moved to Las Vegas and he won both the PRCA Bull of the Year and Bull of the Finals. But he didn’t go to The Finals in 1986.”
That was the year Cowtown suffered a severe illness that could have ended his life.
“Cowtown wasn’t bucking and I knew that something wasn’t right. We cut off 5 inches of his horn and we found the infection,” explained Beutler. “We took him to the vet school at Oklahoma State University and they treated him there. They got him all better.”
Once Cowtown was cured of the infection he returned to bucking. And he was mean as ever.
“That bull had a mean temperament,” remarked Beutler about the bull who loved to hook anybody and anything that came across his path. “He always tried to whip the other bulls. He was always fighting with them.”
To keep Cowtown from hurting himself and the other bulls in the herd, Beutler started penning him with the roping calves.
“We put him in with the calves and he settled right down. He was downright docile in with the young cattle. He was like a pet. I went out one day,” continued Beutler, “and there was my daughter Amber sitting on top of his back. That bull never moved.”
But that didn’t mean Cowtown had changed his character and Beutler was well aware of the consequences of not keeping your eyes on the bull.
“Take Cowtown away from those young cattle and he was his mean self again. If he was by himself, you’d better watch out. He’d run you right over.”
Beutler is proud of Cowtown’s legendary career and feels the bull would have met today’s challenges of the sport.
“Back in the 80’s, you had to bring something that bucked. Tuff Hedeman, Cody Lambert, Lane Frost and the big names back then would show up and you found out what you were made of. If you didn’t have something good, they’d embarrass you. Cowtown bucked them all off.”
“I’d match Cowtown against any of them now,” Beutler went on to say. “He’d fit in with the bulls of today.”
As a sire, Cowtown has left a legacy of great bulls. One of those was his namesake, B15 Cowtown II who looked and bucked just like his daddy.
“Cowtown II went to the 1997 NFR at the age of 5 and was the Bull of the Finals,” said Beutler’s son Rhett. “He was going to be a star. You could just tell. But he broke his leg at Nashville that year and, although we did everything we could, his leg couldn’t be fixed.”
“Then there was B42 Brutus who went to the NFR several times,” continued Rhett Beutler. “He was an eliminator.”
014 Cowtown Classic is a Cowtown son out of a Beutler cow. He made multiple trips to the NFR and the PBR Finals. He is a proven sire in his own right with his sons 026 Hot Licks, -902 Hollow Point and 024 Tsunami all having successful careers on the PBR circuit.
As to continuing with the Cowtown line, Beutler feels that it is time to build on the legacy.
“We’ve still got some semen from him. We need to AI some cows back and get some more Cowtown calves. Everything out of him bucked.”
Cowtown lived to the age of 14 and is buried in the Beutler Rodeo Hall museum in Elk City, Oklahoma.
Author: Terry Lidral
Terry Lidral is a western writer/journalist who lives in Idaho. She is the publisher and editor of the online magazine Bucking Stock Talk and the online magazine Western Living Journal. Her publishing credits include Storyteller for Real American Cowboy Magazine, writing feature articles for Humps N Horns Magazine as well as a wide variety of national and international web sites, historical magazines and news publications. She is known for her "up close and personal" profiles of celebrities and industry moguls such as NPR's Tom Bodett; PBR's Wiley Petersen and D.H. Page, PRCA's Sammy Andrews, Cindy Rosser and Julio Moreno to name a few. She has been applauded for her way of making a personal connection between her readers and her subjects. She indulges in her love of rodeo by serving as an associate board member for the Caldwell Night Rodeo. She is also an accomplished trainer and handler in dog agility. Her shelties Amelie and Milo are titled in NADAC, USDAA and AKC.
Didn’t know much about this bull or his lineage, but I sure do now! Quite a bull to be able to buck off the caliber of riders in the article! Real entertaining!