8 Seconds Rodeo showcases Black Cowboy Culture and History 

More than a rodeo: 8 Seconds Rodeo makes it debut in Philadelphia, a city rooted in Cowboy culture with over 8,000 faces in the crowd 

WRITTEN BY: Kristina Vo

On any other Saturday, you can catch a basketball game, rap artist, or comedy show at the Liacouras Center. Oct. 11th was not your average Saturday –  the Liacouras Center hosted the 8 Seconds Rodeo for their East Coast debut. This rodeo celebrates Black athletes and Black culture in an otherwise white-dominated sport.

 The 8 Seconds Rodeo got its name from the rules of bull riding: riders must stay on a bull for 8 seconds for a successful, qualified ride. All it takes is 8 seconds – you can become a champion, you can die, you can change the whole course of your life.

The founder of the rodeo is Ivan McClellan, who has worked as a creative director for big brands you hear about every day, including Nike and Adidas. He stumbled upon Black cowboy culture and fell in love with it. Growing up in Kansas, the idea of ranches and cowboys weren’t new to him, but seeing a cowboy who looked like him was something he couldn’t imagine. 

He began traveling with Black rodeos. He focused on capturing athletes’ stories. It didn’t take him long to realize the disparities between white and Black rodeos. White athletes were making thousands of dollars, while Black athletes, also risking their lives and exhausting their bodies for the sport, were only making a couple hundred dollars. The 8 Seconds Rodeo has a total of $60,000 in prize money, this way Black athletes are celebrated on purpose, and paid fairly.

Bringing the rodeo to Philadelphia wasn’t easy. Two million pounds of dirt had to be hauled in overnight, and bulls and broncos were transported from a ranch in New York. The Liacouras Center was filled with spectators of all ages dressed up in their cowboy and cowgirl gear. For some, this was their first rodeo, but rodeo and cowboy culture is not new to Philadelphia. 

The 8 Seconds Rodeo didn’t just showcase cowboy culture; they made it a show. Philadelphia’s Concrete Cowgirl, Erin Brown, Executive Director of Philadelphia’s Urban Riding Academy, opened the event as white and red strobe lights lit up the dirt and Kendrick Lamar’s hit song “TV Off” played through the speakers. The crowd joined in to sing “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the Black national anthem, alongside the Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church before the excitement of mutton bustin’, bareback riding, bull riding, and barrel racing began.

The Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club and stables have been around for more than 20 years, providing a space for a new generation of cowboys and cowgirls. Ellis , a 12-year-old cowboy from the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club who came to the rodeo, said, “It means a lot to me. To see so many people come together to see one big show, connecting all of us to be one.” Ellis was born into rodeo culture. Ellis has generations of his family participating in rodeo presentations, including his mom. Ellis’ grandpa, Ellis Ferrell (“El-Dog”), created the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club in 2004.  These  stables in Strawberry Mansion have been teaching kids how to take care and ride horses for more than 20 years. Ellis tells the story of how his grandpa, “born in Tallahassee, Florida started riding because he wanted the community to put the guns down and help kids get out of the streets.

Tank Adams, a bull and bareback rider from Oklahoma rode to stay off the streets “ I moved from New Lima, which was a country town, to Shawnee which was a city. I was trying to run with all my friends in the streets, I started selling drugs, took the wrong route and got caught up in trouble.”Next summer  my mom made me hang out with my grandpa. He’d only go to rodeos. I saw the bull riding and I was like ‘I think  I wanna try bulls.’ ”

Tank continued to go to rodeos and one day his grandpa introduced him to Darnell Tipton, a world champion. When Darnell won that night, he threw Tank his envelope filled with multiple hundred dollar bills. Tank’s grandpa told him bull riding was the real hustle, one he couldn’t go to jail for.

“So for the longest I was a weekend cowboy. Through the week I was in the streets, and when the weekend came I was with my grandpa then we hit the rodeo. My grandpa ended up passing away through a surgery and that gave me the motivation to do this and that I can do this. I started being a cowboy every day.” It was only after Tank’s grandpa passed that he changed his mindset and stepped into the full responsibility of a cowboy.

“I ended up getting a scholarship to Oklahoma State. I rode bulls at Oklahoma State for 2 years, after that I got my pro card. This is where God got to me.”

Tyler Torrey, a bull rider from Convoy, Ohio explains his pride in being a part of a Black Rodeo, “To showcase to people that forget our culture really created some of the first cowboys ever. Influencing each city that the rodeos come to, brings a whole different meaning to it. It brings everybody together. It’s one big family.  ” 

In the show there was mutton bustin’, where young kids held onto sheep for as long as they could for a grand prize of $500. Then came bareback riding, where cowboys held onto broncos bucking every second, and finally barrel racing. Barrel racing requires a strong connection between rider and horse, as riders navigate a cloverleaf pattern around three barrels.  

Competing in barrel racing was Philadelphia’s very own Amber Perez. Perez competed alongside her mother on Saturday, with the horse  Perez has had for 13 years. She described how growing up in Philadelphia impacts her riding, “I think my Philly roots are the confidence thing. I’m very confident not a lot rattles me. I got ice in my veins.”

 Savion Strain 19, from Spencer, Oklahoma was  competing in the last event, bull riding. “ This is all I’ve ever grown up around. This is where we show our roots. It feels amazing to share this with other people and to create your own legacy, you never know what’s in the book for yourself ”.  Savion went on to win 1st place in bull riding and in the finals walking away from the rodeo with a grand prize of 11 thousand dollars. 

Tank Adams also won the grand prize of 11 thousand dollars for bareback riding, said  “I get kids who walk up to me saying they’ve been watching me since they were kids and I’m like bro you’re still a kid. They are 16 years olds now. It  makes me really feel good to know that kids are paying attention to bull riding like ‘Oh that’s Tank Adams’. You see them crawling up on the fence just to see me riding.”

Savion Strain hopes that viewers of the event learn to appreciate cowboy culture. Strain hopes,“The event puts a smile on their face and they think they might drive hours or take a flight to go see it in Oklahoma or Texas. I hope they decide to come see more. ” 8 Second is not an event you want to miss the next time it’s in town.