When Caden Bunch returned to the locker room after winning the PBR Tucson – the first premier series event win of his career – he made sure one particular person was in the know.
He snapped a picture of his event buckle and sent it to his mom, Jeannie.
“She was at home, and she was just constantly getting on the app and seeing updates of who’s riding and stuff,” Bunch said. “She said she’s really proud of me. She’s helped me out since I was a little kid. She’d do anything for me. She’d do anything for anyone. She’s a good person.”
Bunch may never have even become a bull rider had it not been for his mom.Growing up, his grandfather had a ranch, so he spent most of his time around cows. Bunch says he always wanted to ride, but his grandfather, Charles, wouldn’t let him because of the risk it would pose to the calves and his income.
When Bunch was 3 or 4 years old, a junior rodeo came to his hometown of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and Jeannie took him.
“My mom took me down there, and I rode a sheep,” Bunch said. I just fell in love with it. Been doing it ever since.”
Caden was an active kid, playing football, basketball, and baseball, and he recalls one particular instance when he was around 10 when his mother taught him a lesson that would change his life.
“I got hit by a pitch in baseball, and I wanted to quit,” Bunch said. “My mom, she wouldn’t let me quit. She said, ‘You can quit next year, but you’re going to finish this season and give it all you’ve got. You ain’t no quitter.’ And she just always told me, ‘You ain’t quitting. You’re a winner.’”
