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.
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.”
