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W%ff TIMEWAS,YOU NEEDEDA BUNGEE CORD AND A COUPLE
OF PIERCINGS TO CALL YOUR. SELF AN EXTREME ATHLETE.
BUT THESE TWO COVVBOYS ARE PROVINGTHE REAL ACTTON MTGHTJUST BE ON
THE RANIGE.
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R,IDE'EM COWBOYS!
Richard 0eft) and Akin don't take any bull.
magine being charged by 2,000-pound bull^ horns and hooves in full effect-with nothing but a cowboy hat and a Kevlar vest benveen you and the Great Beyond. Welcome to another d^y on the job for Lee Akin and Grry Richard, members of the Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR). In fact, Akin and Richard are two of the world's top 45 bull riders, and th.y say there isn't much difference bennreen this and any other extreme sport. Of course, there's no homicidal bovine opponent in snowboarding, for instance, but that's exacdy what gets self-proclaimed adrenaline junkie Akin out of bed in the morning. "You can pretty much bet that killing you is the bull's agenda," he says, laughryW - $ ing. And compared to the joy of filling arenas and scoring great ratings, the odd occupational hazard-including a severed retina (Richard) and a torn rotator cuff (Akin)-is no big deal. Still, these cowboys are hardly the impractical tl-rill-seekers of '50s Westerns. Affectionately dubbed the granddaddy of the PBR, 4l-year-old Richard has six children and three grandchildren and worls in the Houston school district. "\4{hen I see tlrese goyr-I8, 22,25 years old-it makes me feel good to be riding...That'grandpa'stuff, it dont bug me at all," he says. And Akin, a rising star at 28, is earning his stripes inside and outside tle arena. Last year, he received his bachelor's degree in biology from Southwestern Oklahoma State University after years of splitting his time bet'ween his sport and his studies. But what the kid from Southern California might not mention is his recent appearance headlining MTV's MADE and his ''iii:
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selection as one of Cosrnopolitan magazine's "The Hottest Hunks in the I-I.S." "Boy, did
I hear it from the guys [for Cosrno)," he says. "It's months lateE and sdll, 'H.y, there's the pretty boy!' I dont think I'll ever live that down."
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In the 10 years since a small group of riders established the PBR, making bull riding the only major sport owned and operated by its a*rletes, the spoft's pize pot has grown to $9;5 million from $250,000 (not including,a co*541,9 sf mil- "
lion in bonuses), and created,fte
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