Bruce Lee joins Northwest as rodeo coach, faculty member
By Nancy Patterson | 8/7/09

When Bruce Lee was hired to fill the vacancy left by longtime Northwest Mississippi Community College rodeo coach and Agricultural Business and Management Technology instructor Lawrence “Bud” Young, he knew he had big shoes to fill….boots, that is.

Lee brings with him experience as an educator, rodeo coach, and a colorful slate of hobbies including managing his trained purebred Brahman bull—A-1, saddle making and riding problem horses.

Most recently, Lee was a vocational agriculture instructor at Two Rivers School District, Fourche Valley/Plainview campus in Bluffton, Ark. Prior to that he was a graduate teaching assistant and rodeo coach at Murray State University in Murray, Ky., while working on his Master of Science in Agriculture Education. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in General Agriculture from Murray State.

During his summers he worked as Assistant Rodeo Director and Saddle and Harness Maker at Frontier Town Theme Park in North Hudson, NY.

Other agricultural experience came at Tyson Foods Inc., in Springdale, Ark., where he worked as a field service technician and also as farrowing manager in the swine division.

At Northwest, Lee’s teaching slate will include all classes in the Agricultural Business and Management Technology curriculum in addition to Soils and Animal Science classes.

“We are excited to have someone with Bruce’s experience, both in the classroom and in the rodeo arena,” said Jerry Nichols, dean, Career and Technical Education and Workforce Development.

Originally from Indiana, Lee says he grew up on a farm where he had access to 22 horses and plenty of opportunities for mischief. “I held my on improvisational rodeos.”

Now, he is on the road going to real rodeos. “Next weekend I will take A-I (the trained bull) to Fort Smith, Ark., for a PBR (Professional Bull Riders) event.”

Exactly what does A-I do?  “Well,” says Lee, “I can saddle and ride him, I announce at rodeos on him, we put him in grand entries and flag ceremonies, and he can bow.”

Lee says after trying his hand at training buffalo, he switched to cattle, and chose A-1 from a herd of purebred Brahman in Waldren, Ark. “He’s 10 now. He’s literally a ton of fun.”

Besides hauling A-1 across the country, he rides what he calls “problem” horses. “We usually take horses people have had a little trouble with or start colts and ride them for 60 to 90 days and then turn them back over.”

While Lee’s saddle making business consists of the typical all-around working saddle, he says some of his most unusual projects have included a trick saddle made from white garment leather and head gear for a circus elephant.

Lee has hit the ground running in his new job at Northwest. Besides getting ready for his teaching assignments, he is meeting with new and returning members of his men’s and women’s intercollegiate rodeo team, which competes in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association’s Ozark Region.

On the calendar is the college’s annual Bull-A-Rama, a championship bull riding competition, set for Sept. 12 at the Multipurpose Livestock Arena at the Northwest Farm.

Lee and his wife, Marti, have moved to the Senatobia area with their 11-year-old daughter, Sarah, a sixth-grader at Senatobia Jr. High.  They are also the parents of a son, Jeff, who works in the rodeo industry as a clown. He lives in Gentry, Ark.

For more information about the Northwest rodeo team or the Agricultural Business and Management Technology program, contact Lee at (662) 562-3430 or e-mail him at blee@northwestms.edu.