For Rob Smets and Joe Baumgartner bullfighting was a passion, the kind that made it where they were not working when in the arena but having fun and surrounded by friends.
“The best part of it was they started paying me for something that I had fun doing and then the next part of it was I’m out there taking care of my buddies,” Smets said.
Smets was there when bullfighters truly started being a crucial part to rodeo that was separate from the rodeo clown. As for Baumgartner, he was there when the PRCA gave the first ever award for Bullfighter of the Year and he just so happened to win it. He went on to win it four years straight.
“You know, everyday when you can do something you love, I never had a job until I was 45-years-old, never. And any day you can go to work and love what you do everyday and the bonus you get paid for it, that’s a great day. Even the bad days were good days,” Baumgartner said.
Smets and Baumgartner are two of the greatest bullfighters to ever step in the arena and they paved the way for the lifesavers we see today.