Ty Murray is featured as the host and instructor of his own namesake reality television series on the CMT network, Ty Murray’s Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge. He is a former rodeo cowboy who was born on October 11, 1969 in Phoenix, Arizona. His father Butch used to work as a rodeo hand, while his mother Joy was a member of the National Little Britches Rodeo Association as a young rider. When he was two years old, Murray decided that his ambition was to become a rodeo champion, and he received instruction from his father. He also started to practice riding on the back of the family’s pet dog.
At the age of five, Murray earned his first Buckle. And later on when he was nine years old, he rode his first bull and likewise came out on top during the competition. Just a few weeks after that, he also won his first Junior Rodeo Championship, though he suffered from a broken jaw. Murray was also the successive Arizona All-Around Junior Rodeo Champion each year for almost a decade. He learned more about competitive riding from his mentor, world rodeo champion Larry Mahan. Murray’s accomplishments have been recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records.
(Photo courtesy of Ron Jaffe/CMT)