Lukasey Morris wanted to be a bull rider from the time he was 5-years-old. Although his parents wanted him to take another route, he was pretty persistent about it, so they gave in.
“At that point, you’re either going to squash your kid’s dreams or going to help build them up,” his father said. “Since he was about 5 until now, it’s kind of been a 14 year building process.”
In 2019, Morris began making a name for himself at the International Finals Rodeo. He was the bull riding Rookie of the Year, a title that has been won by Jerome Davis and Cord McCoy in the past.
“To be able to put my name next to theirs was really cool,” Morris said.
Morris made his professional debut during the 2022 season, but it almost didn’t happen because of a head injury at the National High School Finals Rodeo that left him hospitalized for almost a week in July of 2020.
“He just pulled me down on his head and hit me in the chin and when he did, it kind of made me do a backflip. My head just smacked off of his head....and I was just out,” Morris said of the ride that could have ended his life and career. “I know I was unconscious for about four or five hours.”
Morris was unsure if he was ever going to ride again at some points, but after an MRI during a routine checkup, he was shocked to find out he was good to go.
“We left and my dad asked me if that’s what I thought I was going to hear and I said, ‘I did not think that was going to be it at all,’” he said.
Morris’ dad made him wait a week to make sure he felt okay, but after a practice bull felt good he never looked back.
Despite his past, Morris said he has not been nervous during his first professional season, which began in October of 2021. He did not expect it to go so well from the beginning, however.
“My expectations were to win of course, because I always expect myself to win, but I didn’t expect myself to win $25,000 within the first month,” he said. “I’m just really happy it’s going the way it is so far.”
So far, Morris’ biggest wins have come at at the Kissimmee Southern Showdown and Bowie Pro Rodeo. He is currently No. 4 in the PRCA Bull Riding World Standings.
“He knew from day one that this isn’t T-Ball and it wasn’t going to be T-Ball,” his father said. “We’ve pretty much built his whole career to be a professional.”
