E58_ Champion Bull Rider Charles Sampson

Host Liz Lawless will talk with Living Legend Champion Bull Rider Charles Sampson, the first African American to win a National Bull Riding Championship. He was the 1982 Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) World Champion bull rider. Charlie is not your average cowboy. He did not grow up in a rodeo family like the Hearns. Sampson was born in Los Angeles, California, on July 2, 1957. He worked at a riding stable near Gardena, CA, to avoid the violence surrounding him as a boy. It sparked an interest in horses and the famous African-American bull rider Myrtis Dightman, the "Jackie Robinson of Rodeo." Today, Charlie works as a motivational speaker and commercial talent, helping youth understand they can achieve their dreams, whatever they might be, just like he did. In 1996, he was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. In 2003, he was inducted into the National Multicultural Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas. In 2004, the PBR Ring of Honor. In 2008, the Rodeo Hall of Fame of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. In 2009, the Ellensburg Rodeo Hall of Fame, and in 2019, the Bull Riding Hall of Fame.