Sage Kimzey is undeniably the Tom Brady of bull riding. Both have dominated their fields, earning six professional world titles with years left in their future Hall of Fame careers to achieve more.
Brady is one of five quarterbacks in the NFL and NCAA football history that have won a Super Bowl and NCAA Div. 1 College Championship. Kimzey only shares his legendary status with one – Don Gay, 8-time PRCA World Champion Bull Rider.
Like Brady, Kimzey succeeded early, winning three Championship Bull Riding World titles alongside his PRCA bull riding domination and proved his ability to compete against PBR gold buckles, winning the All-American twice and the Calgary Stampede three times.
Throughout Kimzey’s career, his social media has consistently included the hashtag #BecomeLegendary. He hopes to be the best bull rider when he retires and the best person.
“To be legendary, you have to be the best in and out of the arena.” - Sage Kimzey.
#BecomeLegendary Kimzey with Rodeo legends Bobby Brown, Tuff Hedeman, Ken Henry and Mike Brady.
Kimzey’s year barely begun when ankle surgery was needed in February from an injury sustained in San Antonio. He would lose the number one ranking to Ky Hamilton and Boudreaux Campbell at times, but as we have seen so many times before, he would accept his back number at the PRCA ceremony as the #1 ranked bull rider in the world.
He has earned six world titles and 7 NFR qualifications. Making the most of his NFR’s he won the NFR Average title in 2014, 2017, and 2019.
2020 earned Kimzey $92,334 in PRCA earnings riding 47% of the bulls he attempted to claim the number one position. He posted three 90 point rides and an 82.43 average ride score. But his 2020 was anything but ordinary with his marriage to longtime love, journalist, and entrepreneur Alexis Bloomer. Traveling and competing amongst an international pandemic and coming from behind, a place he is unfamiliar with after competing professionally since 2013.
Record breaking 3-time CBR World Champion Sage Steele Kimzey with Tuff Hedeman
Kimzey won the title in 2013, 2015, 2016
In 2019 Kimzey won his sixth consecutive bull riding world championship and third average title after winning a record $235,359 (including ground money) at the Wrangler NFR. He won Rounds 7 and 8 and placed in eight. Kimzey finished at the top of the world standings with a record $480,797 (including ground money).
7-time NFR Qualifier Sage Kimzey has won the Average title 3 of the 6 times he competed at the National Finals Rodeo
2018: Won Round 10, split the win in Round 3, and placed in four rounds to rank fifth in the average at the Wrangler NFR with 347 points on four head. He finished the year at the top of the world standings for the fifth consecutive year with $415,263.
2017: Won Rounds 5 and 10, split the win in Round 3, and placed in five rounds to rank first in the average with 601.5 points on seven head. Finished the year ranked first in the world standings with $436,479.
2016: Won Round 1 and placed in five rounds to rank third at the Wrangler NFR and claim his third consecutive world champ title with $311,462.
2015: Placed in seven rounds at the Wrangler NFR to finish second in the average and win his second consecutive world championship with $327,178.
2014: Won an event-record-tying four rounds of the Wrangler NFR to secure the average title and become the second rookie bull rider to win a gold buckle, following Bill Kornell (1963). His total Wrangler NFR earnings of $175,466 were the highest of any competitor in Las Vegas, giving him the RAM Truck Top Gun Award and allowing him to finish with a rookie record total (any event or combined) of $318,631.
2013: Set a PRCA record for most money won on a permit in a single season with $47,726
Kimzey’s family is no stranger to the limelight at the NFR. His younger brother Trey is a bull rider who competed alongside him at the NFR in 2019. His father, Ted, was a longtime PRCA barrelman/clown who worked at the National Finals Rodeo in 1980 and 1987 (alternate 1986), and his mother, Jennifer, is the CEO of Gold Buckle Realty. Sage's older sister, Dusta O'Connell, is a rodeo competitor and trick rider turned pharmacist. He graduated from Cheyenne (Okla.) High School, where he played basketball as a point guard all four years, won the state championship his senior year. Kimzey became the youngest millionaire in PRCA history during the 2016 Wrangler NFR, at 22 years, three months, and two weeks old.
(List of NFL Super Bowl and NCAA Div. 1 winning Quarterbacks are Tom Brady, Ken Stabler, Joe Namath, Joe Montana, Bernie Kosar)