A severed thumb. A broken leg. Several surgeries and a near-death experience.
Plains resident Bruce Knight, 76, collected injuries and accolades over 60 years of riding bulls and roping calves in rodeos across the country. His fervor for the saddle made him apt to ignore medical advice — even when he lost a finger.
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“That is one tough son-of-a-bitch,” a doctor was heard saying after the thumb was reattached. “He didn’t even wince.”
Knight’s devotion to Western life made him a prime candidate for the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame’s 2027 inductees. State lawmakers designated the nonprofit in 2003 to preserve and celebrate the Treasure State’s Western roots, highlighting stories otherwise overlooked.
Knight hails from a long line of ranchers and rodeo competitors. His older brother, Doug, rode bareback horses, bulls and steer roped. Brother Mike competed in team roping, and Knight’s niece, Abigail, is a decorated barrel racer.
But he found mentorship in his Uncle Bud, who introduced him to his first riding companion, a gentle gray burro named Herky. Knight rodeoed with his uncle’s son, Herb, for the next 40 years.
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“I don’t think I ever thought about not doing it,” Knight said. “It was just part of my life.”
Ronnie Burns, who’s known Knight since childhood, nominated him as the Cowboy Hall of Fame inductee for District 10, which covers Flathead, Lake, Lincoln and Sanders counties.
“You just couldn’t take the cowboy out of Bruce,” Burns wrote in his nomination letter.
The only person who came between Knight and his horses was perhaps his wife, Linda, Burns wrote. They have known each other since high school and have been married for more than 50 years.
“I’ve just always called him my cowboy,” Linda said, squeezing his shoulders as they stood inside the kitchen of their Plains home.
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When Knight learned of Burn’s nomination plans, he told him he was nuts.
But then a letter arrived a few months later, inviting Knight to an induction ceremony in Great Falls. He will be honored alongside 11 other living inductees and 12 posthumous inductees on Feb. 13. The late Willard Vernon “Bill” Haynes of Ronan is the 2027 legacy inductee for District 10. His horses happened to be trained by Knight.
“I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around this,” he said.
THE RUSTIC cowboy recalled his glory days as he leaned against the brown marble counter in his kitchen. Filtered sunlight washed over the potted plants next to a window, where a display of porcelain cowboy boots lined up on the windowsill.
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He funded his rodeo career with the prize money he won at previous events. Knight was a four-time runner-up for the Montana Rodeo Association’s traditional all-around cowboy, the rodeo competitor who won the most money in two events.
“My traveling partner usually won it every year,” Knight said. “Bobby Shaw.”
A sly smile spread across his face as he remembered the time he broke his leg in a bronc riding event. He went on to win the team calf roping competition, and then went to the hospital to get his leg cast.
Linda laid out several photos on the counter, which is usually crowded with batches of her homemade jams. Some pictures featured Knight decked out in hunting gear as he rode through the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Others pictured him and several others on horseback, rounding up cattle through tall yellow grass.
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A large black-and-white photo in a wooden frame captured an action shot of Knight in high school at a Montana Rodeo Association event, jumping off his horse to wrestle a calf to the ground.
“That’s just kind of who he’s been,” Linda said. “My dad, I don’t think, was excited when I first started dating him.”
AFTER THEY married, she had just discovered she was pregnant with their second child when the fire happened.
It was summer of 1982, and the couple was out in the fields, hauling hay, when Linda’s mother-in-law sped up to them in a Subaru. She had to be going 100 miles an hour, Knight said.
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“I thought, well, Christ, it ain’t that big a deal, the horses being in here,” he recalled wondering at the time.
His mother jumped out of the car, shouting that their trailer was on fire. But by the time firefighters doused the flames, nearly everything was lost, aside from a few melted trophy belt buckles from Knight’s early rodeo days.
“There was nothing but little parts of the floor and the axles left,” Knight said. “It just burnt clear to the ground, along with all the rodeo pictures.”
A year later, Knight’s mother also lost her house to a fire. More precious memorabilia were lost, but at least his brother had good insurance, Knight said.
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“That really was a bummer, losing all those good photographs,” he said, “pictures of all of the horses we rode over the years.”
But it didn’t slow either of them down. Their solid can-do attitude carried them through every part of life.
Knight was 74 years old when he entered his last calf roping competition. Age wasn’t a factor when he hung up his saddle; rather, it was the shoulder replacement surgery in the months that followed. He could barely lift his right arm.
“Your 10-year warranty’s up,” his surgeon told him.
But Knight disagreed.
A box of hand weights sits next to a pin-cushioned chair in his living room. Every night, he lifted weights until he could raise his arm above his head. To prove his point, Knight lifted his right hand just above his shoulder.
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“That’s about as far as I can raise it now,” he said, rotating the limb clockwise and then counterclockwise.
After Knight sold his last rodeo horse, Hammer, he spends his days watching sports, especially women’s basketball. He and Linda watch the deer chasing each other on their grassy front lawn. A jigsaw puzzle of a bald eagle sits complete in their living room.
“I’ve told other people … he’s my real cowboy,” Linda said. “He doesn’t just rodeo. He’s lived a life.”
Report for America Reporter Hannah Shields can be reached at 406-758-4439 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support.
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Photos of Bruce Knight, 76, are laid out in his kitchen in Plains. The middle picture was from when he competed in a rodeo event for the Montana Rodeo Association. Knight was inducted into the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame for 2027. (Hannah Shields/Daily Inter Lake)
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