Most student-athletes at Lafayette can be found on a field, in the gym or in the pool. However, senior Finn Cronin can be found in an arena, on top of a 2,000-pound bull.
Cronin, who has been bull riding for just over a year, recently competed in his sixth rodeo last Saturday at Forged Ranch in Belton, MO.
This rodeo was his second event sanctioned by the National Federation of Professional Bullriders (NFPB), but Cronin’s journey didn’t start at the professional level.
Because bull riding is not very popular in Wildwood, Finn’s idea to start came from a trip to St. Charles.
“I went to the St Charles County Fair last year, and I sat in the stands watching it, and I said, ‘yeah, this is what I want to do next year,’” Cronin said.
Next, Finn told his mother, Michelle Cronin, about his newfound ambition.
“My first thought was, ‘You’re going to what?’” Michelle said. “We are a West County family and nobody around us does bull riding.”
After convincing his mom, Finn started his journey at the Forged Ranch bull riding school in May of his sophomore year.
“He found the school, He found some videos and he said, ‘hey this looks cool,’ so he found a camp and he went,” Michelle said.
For eight days, Finn and his fellow riders woke up at 5 a.m. to run half a mile and workout for 30 minutes.
“It was nonstop cardio, from dips to rows to pushups to hitting a tractor tire with a sledgehammer and medicine ball throws,” Finn said.
The camp was run by a Navy SEAL in training, who was disqualified due to colorblindness.
“On not fun mornings, he would make us do sprints before we finished with a half-mile run back, and some days he would make us do three miles after the workout,” Finn said. “He did that to show us that what we thought we could do was the bare minimum, and we could really achieve so much more.”
The next summer, Finn made his debut at the St Charles County Fair.
“I got on a bull and nodded my head in front of a few hundred people so I am proud of myself for that, but for how well I rode, I know I could ride better than that, and I have,” Finn said.
Finn’s friend, and junior at Marquette, Capelli Ellis, was also among the crowd that night.
“He did really good even for his first time riding a bull. Obviously, he fell off, everybody does but he got right back up, dusted himself off and he was pretty much ready to go for another one,” Ellis said.
Finn challenged himself for the next rodeo by choosing to ride at the NFPB-sanctioned Washington County Fair.
“I was 17 years old, and all these other guys were in their twenties and have been rodeoing. I felt so out of place doing it,” Finn said.
Finn’s first professional bull was named White Russian. As the fourth rider out, Finn’s bull bucked him off to the right side, and on the ground, Finn was stepped on.
“One hoof went into my right ankle, the other one went on me right between my legs, on the inside of my crotch, and blew out my jeans,” Finn said.
After standing right back up, and putting on another pair of jeans, Finn was ready for his second bull of the night, coincidentally named Close Call.
“I got on him in the chute, I took my wrap in my hand, I got up on my rope and I was going to nod my head, then he started bucking, and my ankle got crushed. I had insane bone bruising all throughout my fibula, so they had to pull me up, and I couldn’t put any weight on it at all,” Finn said.
Finn was driven 40 minutes to Barnes-Jewish Hospital, but despite the pain, he was determined to keep a smile on his face.
“The whole ride to the hospital, I was laughing,” Finn said. “I was with my girlfriend in the backseat, and she was like, ‘why are you laughing?’ What else are you supposed to do? I couldn’t move my ankle.”
Out of all his injuries, this was Finn’s favorite.
“For being in the hospital for four hours until two o’ clock in the morning, I had a really good time. It was just fun,” Finn said. “At that rodeo, there were a thousand plus people watching. The stands were full, and they were big bulls.”
This was not the only time Finn had been admitted to the emergency room for bull riding. He also developed tendonitis in his fingers and forearm after his first rodeo.
“He has a pretty high pain tolerance I think, and most of the time, he just jumps up and brushes it off,” Michelle said.
Along with his case of tendonitis, Finn was kicked in his back during riding school, causing his left shoulder to hang lower than his right temporarily.
“I see the injuries as failure, and you can’t succeed if you don’t fail,” Finn said. “It’s bound to happen, I don’t hope for it, I don’t expect it, but I don’t fear it.”
With an injury rate ten times the amount of football, bull riding tragedies like Finns are not uncommon.
“I have seen guys get their helmets kicked off, and they were knocked out and laying on the field. A guy riding a bucking horse got kicked in the head once after he fell off, and he had blood pouring down his face,” Finn said. “It gets gruesome, and it gets bad sometimes, but that’s the nature of it.”
Bull riding may have brought Finn to the hospital multiple times, but it also brought him closer to God. In his faith, Finn was raised catholic, and as a kid, he hated going to church and Sunday school.
“I lost my connection with God, I didn’t really think much of him, or seek him out, and I didn’t desire that relationship with him, so I never saw him,” Finn said.
However, the riding school played a big part in sparking Finn’s Christian journey.
“I would say the guy who owns the camp kind of helped Finn find that relationship with God; it deepened his faith and helped him through some tough times,” Michelle said. “He has a better sense of maturity and part of it came from believing and trusting in God.”
After leaving the riding school, Finn’s next stop was to a local Half Priced Books store where he bought his first Bible, but it was only until last fall that Finn started going to church consistently.
“His family never really went to church and so he never really had the opportunity to go so I invited him to go to Holy Infant. I just invited him out so any Sunday that he wanted to go with me, I’d be willing to take him,” Ellis said.
Once introduced to the church, Finn attended service with Capelli for two months.
“Every single Sunday, without fail, I walked in there and I listened to the father give his sermon, and it was like he wrote the whole sermon for me, and it was like that week after week,” Finn said. “It was like he sat there and he knew everything I needed to hear and everything that would help me.”
Finn said that he was going through a rough time before he found the riding school.
“I was pretty in my head about a lot of things and everything in the moment seemed so much bigger than it was in the big picture of life,” Finn said.
Finn found a new mindset through the word of God, and he applies it to his injuries.
“I realized that there is a bigger plan for everything: I got stepped on, it’s the nature of the sport, but, the big part is that I can always do more. Instead of soaking in my own misery, I go to bed thinking ‘I could have done more today, I will do more tomorrow,’” Finn said.
Even though he spent six weeks recovering from his ankle injury, Finn was back at the rodeo the weekend after his boot was removed.
“I mean one week his ankle is broken, and the next week, he was back on a bull despite what people were trying to tell him,” Ellis said. “He’s a strong person for sure.”
Although Finn has not been the most lucky with his bulls, he will continue to take on rodeos with a smile on his face.
“You can’t afford to be afraid when you are going up with these bulls, that’s when bad things happen, but if you are up there having a good time, and joking with everyone in the chutes, there is no fear,” Finn said.
