Sunday, April 11, 2021

 April 11, 2021, column:

Bullfighter shares testimony to help lead rodeo athletes down right path

By Mike Haynes

            With a classroom full of college students surrounding him, finishing up their loaded baked potatoes and pieces of cake, Frank Newsom pored over a thick Bible in front of him, his felt hat tipped slightly down toward the white plastic table, a tanned, crooked finger carefully tracing verses that he planned to cite in a few minutes.

            It wasn’t the first time the brown leather-covered book had been open to this spot; the adjacent page was torn from use.    

Professional bullfighter Frank Newsom
speaks March 30 to a group of
Clarendon College rodeo and ranch
horse team members.
(Photo by Mike Haynes)



            Newsom had given his testimony many times in the past decade or so, including about once a year to the cowboys and cowgirls in these Clarendon College rodeo and ranch horse programs. But the 46-year-old had driven four hours from his home near Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, on a recent Tuesday night and wanted to be sure to get it right.

            He didn’t want these kids to ride the same path he had followed during his rise to the top of the rodeo and bull riding world.

            Newsom is a professional bullfighter, one of the best ever. Bullfighters used to be called rodeo clowns, but even then they had a serious job: protecting cowboys from 2,000-pound animals that are angry after bucking them off.

             The Granbury native grew up working on ranches, sometimes riding bulls, and was captain of his high school football team. Once he gravitated to bullfighting, he set high goals.

            “I outworked everybody around me,” he told his Clarendon College audience of almost 50. “I would lay my body down more every day in that arena. It made me excel.”

            Newsom said he has worked National Finals Rodeos and since becoming a fixture in the Professional Bull Riders organization has been selected for the PBR Finals 18 times. He made it to the top, faltered because of his lifestyle, then reached the top again. He gives the credit for his giving up drugs and alcohol to Jesus Christ.

“Following my instincts got me to be one of the best bullfighters there is, but it also got me into all the sin that you can ever imagine,” he said. “And there ain’t nobody that’s any stronger or tougher; it wasn’t that I was a weak person.”

Frank Newsom works to distract a bull from a bull rider on the ground
during a professional bull riding event. (Provided photo)


One of Newsom’s worst days was in 2000 when he was scheduled to work at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, which had been his highest goal. Instead he was sitting in jail.

Talking to the college students, he pointed to his shiny, big belt buckle. “This is a good target, guys,” he said. “I don’t want you to think, ‘Oh, I don’t want to go win a buckle.’ But don’t let this be the only thing.” Touching his open Bible, he continued, “It says, ‘Do not worship idols.’ God created y’all, he gave you all these talents. And he goes, ‘Worship me, and I will bless you. Read in my Word, and I will help you every day. Be strong. Be the best. But don’t worship that idol.”

Newsom went to rehab more than once, but it never stuck. He said it took more than that for him to escape his downward spiral.

“The only way those chains got broke was by me stepping forward and saying, ‘Jesus, I want you. I want you to be my king. I surrender. And that was a word I never … You couldn’t get me to surrender. … But Lord, I surrender. And that’s when the chains started gettin’ broke. He starts moving. God starts putting people in your life.”

            Two of those people were Randy and Bobbi Stalls, with whom Newsom lived for about three years near McLean, doing ranch work, attending church and witnessing to jail inmates. The Stalls couple has led the rodeo ministry at Clarendon since it started almost 10 years ago along with other volunteers from Clarendon and McLean churches.

Frank Newsom speaks March 30 to a group of Clarendon College rodeo and ranch horse students.
(Photo by Mike Haynes)

            The group meets on Tuesday nights during the school year, with meals brought from the McLean Methodist Church and guest speakers ranging from cowboy preachers to nationally known rodeo stars. Each year results in several baptisms, usually in a stock tank dragged onto the dirt of the college rodeo arena.

            Newsom has a busy life with a wife and children in Oklahoma, teaching young people his trade and still putting his body on the line for the PBR. A few weeks ago, he was interviewed on the Christian Broadcasting Network’s “700 Club,” where he said his motivation as a bullfighter now is more than his own success:

            Man, if I can save this guy’s life, maybe that’s one more day that gives him an opportunity to be saved so he can spend eternity in heaven. He can go home to his wife and kids and lead them in a good direction. Trust the Lord right now without having to hit rock bottom.”

            He has a similar purpose with college students. ““I’m 46,” he told them. “Y’all are at the startin’ line. Trust what I’m telling you; think about it. Before you walk out that door, know what you think. Who do you believe in?

            “Don’t follow the crowd. Don’t just follow your instincts. Show publicly your commitment to Jesus Christ. Ask him to show you the truth. And he will.”