Tough guy Graves fights through pain

Steer wrestler Lee Graves is competing in his 10th National Finals Rodeo and over the years has gotten to know Las Vegas pretty well.

Bulldoggers such as Graves are the biggest, strongest and arguably the toughest competitors in rodeo.

And none are manlier than the Canadian, who tied for third in the NFR's third go-round Saturday night before a crowd of 17,612 at the Thomas & Mack Center.

But lower-back pain can bring even a big guy like Graves, who is 6 feet 2 inches and 230 pounds, to near tears.

The resident of Calgary, Alberta, can't tell you how many steers he's pinned, but he'll never forget losing to a rental car.

He stopped by the Thomas & Mack early Friday to feed his horses and injured his back. For several hours, the 2005 steer wrestling world champ in the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association thought his Finals might be over.

"I guess I just jammed my back getting out of the car," he said. "When you get any kind of damage in your back -- I don't care how tough you are -- you can't grit through it."

Graves knew that NFR announcer Randy Corley's brother was a chiropractor, so he placed a call to him. It turned out a major convention for chiropractors was being held at the Flamingo so he went and received what he called state-of-the-art treatment.

"I got stretched out and it felt a lot better after they worked on me," Graves said.

Then came real pain. He and his girlfriend hauled trash cans of ice back to their room to fill the tub for an ice bath.

"That was painful," he said.

But it worked.

Graves, 38, was leading the tight race for the world title when the Finals began. He tied for fourth Thursday and won $6,150 Saturday to move up to second, about $4,800 behind leader Luke Branquinho of Los Alamos, Calif.

Graves said he arrived in the best shape he's been in for the Finals. He has added motivation after major knee surgery kept him from qualifying last year.

"I can't back off hurt or not," he said. "They'll have to drag me out of here."

In other events, third-round winners were: Justin McDaniel (Porum, Okla.) and Jason Havens (Prineville, Ore.), bareback riding; Shawn Greenfield (Lakeview, Ore.), steer wrestling; Travis Tryan (Billings, Mont.) and Michael Jones (Stephenville, Texas), team roping; Cody Wright (Milford, Utah), saddle bronc riding; Clint Robinson (Spanish Fork, Utah), calf roping; Sherry Cervi (Marana, Ariz.), barrel racing; and Douglas Duncan (Alvin, Texas), bull riding.

• NOTE -- It's a good thing reigning bull riding world champion J.W. Harris started the Finals with a lead of more than $100,000. The resident of May, Texas, fractured his right, riding hand Friday. He missed Saturday's go-round and will not compete today.

Contact reporter Jeff Wolf at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247.