By J.T. Keith
The toughest part of bull riding is to hang on for exactly eight seconds.
Eight seconds to have the ride of a lifetime, to feel what most human beings live their whole lives trying to feel. Most never get to know that feeling of exhilaration and freedom in doing the thing you love and would die for.
However, it only takes one second for things to go wrong. Last week, that second happened.
, 20, a bull rider for the Eastern New Mexico University rodeo team, died April 8 at Roosevelt General Hospital in Portales after being stepped on by a bull at Lewis Cooper Arena during rodeo practice. Urquijo, a 2011 graduate of Springer High School in Springer, N.M., was a sophomore Animal and Dairy Science major.
Riding bulls took Urquijo to places only a cowboy can imagine and gave him a sense of purpose and being. It is what gave him joy. Now that he is gone, what still remains is the joy he left behind in his teammates and coach, and the lives he touched and affected for good.
“Eastern New Mexico University is saddened by the tragic accident that took the life of Irvyng Urquijo,” President Steven Gamble said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with this wonderful young man’s family and friends. Our counselors are reaching out to those affected by his loss and need support. The entire ENMU family shares their grief and will be there for them.”
“Our focus should be on the Urquijo family,” said Athletic Director Jeff Geiser. “Many of us are going to the funeral to offer our support. I will be there to represent Athletics. We would like to get the Urquijo family’s permission to do a memorial service here on campus. We don’t want to do anything against their wishes. We want to give the Urquijo family time to grieve, and then take up these issues at the appropriate time.”
Accidents happen without rhyme or reason, and things don’t always go as planned.
Sometimes the good guys don’t win, the guy doesn’t always get the girl in the end. Sometimes an athlete gives his best effort, and he just flat out gets beat. No one said that if you always do the right thing, good things will happen to you and for you, life does not work that way.
“There is always going to be an opportunity in any sport, or driving a car where things can go horribly wrong,” Gamble said. “We will review everything we do to see if there is a way we can possibly make our student-athletes safer. No matter what we do, however, there is always going to be that chance that something unanticipated happens for which there is no way to prepare.”
Urquijo is not the first athlete to die doing something he loves. Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman died after being hit by a pitch in 1920. NASCAR racing legend Dale Earnhardt Sr. died in a car crash during the last lap of the Daytona 500 in 2001. The Flying Wallendas walked the tight rope above the vastness of space without a net; some of them fell to their deaths, yet the remaining son, Nick, keeps walking without a net.
Urquijo’s death is a tragedy, and the wailing heard around the Eastern New Mexico University community is real. Urquijo lived his life by sitting on top of a bull, tightening the rope around his hand, and hanging on to a bull for all that it was worth. In eight seconds, he lived a lifetime.
A modest proposal
The ENMU community is mourning the loss of Urquijo. Unfortunately for ENMU, Urquijo is not the first rodeo athlete to die. Roland Ellsworth was only 18 when he died after being thrown from and stepped on by a bull during a rodeo competition at Sul Ross State University in 2003.
Students, athletes, faculty, and staff should insist that ENMU establishes an Ellsworth-Urquijo Memorial Scholarship honoring these two young men who gave their lives for the university. The university should establish a rodeo fundraiser dinner, a 5K benefit run, and a scholarship to help a deserving rodeo athlete.