In Honor of Legends
Honoring Red Rock and Lane Frost in Bronze…
When childhood friends Vicki Stroud and John Growney set out on a road trip from Red Bluff to Colorado with a load of rodeo steers in July 2020, they had many miles of road and years of history to cover in conversation. While there was the inevitable reflection on their childhoods and ensuing decades, there was also talk of the future of their beloved community, to which both have dedicated their lives.
Stroud and Growney have deep roots in Tehama County and grew up with the Red Bluff Round Up as a touchpoint for family and community connection. Growney even makes rodeo his career as a stock contractor. Both could be considered ambassadors to the sport, with Growney holding a unique place in its history with his 1987 World Champion bucking bull Red Rock, now inducted in the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame and featured in the 1994 film “8 Seconds.”
It wasn’t long into the journey when one of them said out loud, “I don’t know why we don’t build a Red Rock statue.” Since there wasn’t a good reason why not, Stroud ran with the idea and made it a hallmark project of her presidency in Red Bluff’s noon Rotary. A committee was formed and fundraisers started, everything from square dances to yard sales to prime rib dinners and the sale of mini statues. “We made a ton of money,” says Stroud, who led the way.
On April 12, the community of Red Bluff unveiled that dreamed-of statue in a ceremony outside the Red Bluff Round Up Museum and the rodeo grounds where Red Rock first established himself as a hometown hero. Five years in the making, the statue stands as a 25-foot-tall tribute to Red Rock and the only cowboy who was ever able to ride him, Lane Frost.
To understand why a bucking bull should be rendered in 2,025 pounds of bronze is to understand a simultaneously exciting and tragic period of rodeo history that managed to enter the mainstream and capture the hearts of people beyond the regular fans of the sport. “Red Rock knew his job,” says Stroud. He knew to buck cowboys in the rodeo arena and settle down for children to sit on him for photo opportunities in grocery store parking lots.
While Red Rock was in his prime bucking years, Lane Frost was making his way to World Champion status as a bull rider. With a heart for his fans, a flair for fashion and a high-wattage smile, Frost captured the attention of the crowd and was a beloved cowboy inside and out of the arena.
The decision to pair the two in what was dubbed the Challenge of the Champions in 1988 with seven matches pitting the skill of Frost against the rank bucking nature of Red Rock, who had retired unridden as Bucking Bull of the Year in 1987 turned out to be a special period in rodeo history. The George Michael Sports Machine reported on the matches, as did Sports Illustrated. “It was something the media could understand,” says Growney.
Frost eventually rode Red Rock, but not in Red Bluff, where the crowd was polite to Frost and uproarious for their hometown bull. It was at their third match, at the Redding Rodeo, where Frost was finally able to stay on for eight seconds and slide into history. He would do so three more times to win the Challenge.
In 1989, Frost was killed by a different bull at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo in Wyoming. The bronze in Red Bluff depicts him on Red Rock and was created from an iconic photo of the pair taken by Linda Rosser. The story of the young cowboy’s death and his remarkable relationship with Red Rock was enough for Hollywood to come calling. Luke Parry played Frost in the movie “8 Seconds,” in which Growney has a cameo.
The telling still rings fresh in the rodeo community, and especially in Red Bluff, where history is honored. “It will tell a story,” says Stroud of the new statue, which she had ceremoniously unveiled with the help of the Red Bluff Fire truck also named Red Rock. “It’s Red Rock and Lane Frost and what they did for the sport of rodeo,” adds Growney.
“That bull will actually be facing its burial ground south of town,” says Stroud.
The Clovis Rodeo grounds, site of the second match of the Challenge of Champions, unveiled a similar statue of Lane Frost and Red Rock in 2014, and the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo honored Lane Frost in bronze in 1993. Now it’s Red Bluff’s time, and proof positive that if you can’t think of a good reason not to create a piece of art, you may as well gather your community and do it. The community of Red Bluff will forever be rewarded that two of their own took a road trip and hatched a plan to build a memorial to their beloved bucking bull and its only rider. •
Red Rock and Lane Frost Statue
Red Bluff Round Up Museum
670 Antelope Blvd. #1, Red Bluff
