HUNTSVILLE, Texas – It is sometimes hard to comprehend when dreams become reality.
Growing up in a rodeo family, Bradlee Miller has fantasized about being one of the best cowboys in the world. To do that, the top hands in the game must first earn qualifications to the National Finals Rodeo, the sport’s grand championship that takes place over 10 December nights in Las Vegas.
The top line on his bucket list is being crossed. He finished ProRodeo’s regular season with $137,365 and will begin his run in Sin City as the 11th-ranked bareback rider in the world standings. That’s significant, since only the top 15 contestants in each event play on the sport’s biggest stage.
“Making the NFR has been a dream of mine,” said Miller, 21, a senior at Sam Houston State University and a hometown kid from Huntsville. “Now that it’s come true, it’s pretty hard to believe, because I’ve waited my whole life to be here.
“I’m more confident than I’ve ever been. I feel like there was something that clicked mid-season this year, and I don’t know how to explain it. I became more consistent, and with consistency came confidence. I feel like it doesn’t matter what I draw once I get there. I feel like my riding style fits more horses now than it ever has.”
That will come in handy inside the Thomas & Mack Center on the University of Nevada-Las Vegas campus, the home of the NFR since 1985. It’s the culmination of his life’s work, carrying on a rodeo tradition that has been handed to him by his parents, Tammy, who has been a barrel racer, and Bubba, a bareback rider-turned-rodeo coach.
“I’m sure I wasn’t able to talk when I got on my first horse,” said Miller, who credits part of his success with his sponsors, Barstow Pro Rodeo, American Hat Co., Pete Carr Pro Rodeo, Triple Deuce Angus and Gordy And Sons. “My parents put me on calves and steers when I was like 4 years old.
“I can’t remember not ever getting on something.”
For the past four years, Miller has continued to have a coach in his father at Sam Houston State. It’s a dual role, where Bubba Miller is guiding a pupil who is also his son. It’s a mix that seems to be working. Bradlee Miller has qualified for the College National Finals Rodeo in each of his first three seasons and is the top-ranked bareback rider in the Southern Region heading into the spring semester.
“It’s kind of a tough job for him whenever I got on the team, because there’s a time to be a coach and a time for him to be a dad,” said the younger cowboy, who has also ridden bulls; in fact, he was the region champion riding bovines his freshman season that wrapped in 2022. “He’s done a really good job of balancing the two. Whenever I need it, he can be a coach and get on to me. Whenever I just need to talk to him as a dad, he’s pretty good at switching roles.”
Every member of the clan has a part in Miller’s success, including his sister, Sonilyn. Tammy Miller, a school teacher by trade, provides the perfect mental approach to keep her son at the top of his game.
“She’s definitely the encourager in the family,” Bradlee Miller said. “She’s always cheering, even if I’m not doing any good, but it’s no different in her eyes.”
Each piece of his support system has been crucial to Miller’s development. He understands the work it takes to be physically and mentally prepared to battle, which will come in quite well when he arrives in the Nevada desert for the world’s richest rodeo. The NFR features a $12.5 million purse, and winners will collect nearly $34,000 per round over 10 nights.
Bareback riders will also test their talents and their mental aptitudes against 100 of the best bucking horses, which were selected by the cowboys in the competition. That’s where his consistency will come into play.
“I believe I was 4 years old when my dad got the job as rodeo coach, so we spent a lot of time at the college practice arena growing up,” he said. “That’s what my life’s been wrapped around since I was really young. I got to see what it took to be a winner, and I also got to see what made a loser.”
Being able to differentiate the two should come in handy as he works to become one of the elite bronc busters in the sport. Making the NFR is just the first step; the next is continuing that trend while also challenging himself to get better physically and mentally. Rodeo wasn’t the only thing he’s done, but he’s excelled at it. He earned all-around points through a variety of Western events but also played football, baseball and soccer as a youngster.
“My parents are the main reason I did a lot of that,” Miller said. “I really enjoyed football, I didn’t like baseball at all, and I don’t remember enough about soccer to know if I liked it or not. I think my parents were trying to give me an opportunity to do something other than rodeo if I wanted.
“My passion pretty much stayed with rodeo; whenever it came time to either play football or rodeo, it was a pretty easy decision.”
As he matured, Miller focused his attention to riding bulls and broncs. A series of head injuries that came about because of bull riding helped him decide to turn his attention toward the horses. He hopes to return to bull riding after the NFR wraps, but his past is still a vital cog in what made his 2024 season so powerful.
“Bull riding helped me a lot in my beginning stages of riding bareback horses, because if you’re riding a bucking animal, it makes it easier switching events,” he said. “I have a very low buck-off percentage, and I think a lot of that is because of bull riding. You have to have a no-quit attitude in bull riding, and I think that carried over to bareback riding.”
When he wasn’t leaning on family for support, Miller found another mentor in his traveling partner, fellow bareback Garrett Shadbolt, who sits 12th in the world standings and is returning to the NFR for the third time in four years.
“He did a great job of encouraging me throughout the year,” Miller said of the Nebraska cowboy. “He’d already made the finals twice, so he knew what it took, and he helped me stay prepared mentally. If I was in a slump or was in a spell of drawing bad, he was really good about helping me keep my head up.
“He kicked my butt all year long, but somehow in the last month of the season I pulled past him by $250. That’s the best $250 I’ve ever made, because it’s cool that I have a lower (NFR) back number than him even though he is the one who really helped push me make it to the finals this year.”
The opportunity before him now is to take advantage of the situation and cash in as much as possible in early December. The NFR features a record-setting purse, and this is the best time to make a substantial profit for his business venture.
“I’ve talked to some people who were from generations before me, and they said if you weren’t in the top five at the end of the year, you didn’t have anything to show for it financially,” Miller said. “Because of those people and they way they have pushed and endorsed the sport of rodeo, we’re able to ride for the money we do now. The the top 25, maybe the top 30 in bareback riding, were able to make a good living doing it this year.
“That’s awesome and completely credited to those who came before us and made it what it is today.”