Lane Frost Said Four Words Before the Tragic Bull Riding Accident That Cut His Career Short

Lane Clyde Frost was a professional bull rider who reached the highest level of sport in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. In 1987, he managed to earn the PRCA World Champion bull riding title.

Sadly, he passed away from a bull riding accident at just 25 years old on July 30, 1989. Lane Frost's last words have been lauded as "simple yet profound."

Prior to his final ride, which culminated in a horrific accident that caused internal injuries so severe that he passed away shortly after, Lane said four words.

While seated atop a Brahma Bull named Takin' Care of Business, Lane turned to another professional bull rider, Tuff Hederman, and said, "Let's go do it."

Papers Owl wrote about the significance of such a terse statement and how Frost embodied the approach of prioritizing action over speech. "These words encapsulate Frost's approach to life and rodeo. They reflect a mindset of courage, determination, and a readiness to face challenges head-on," the piece states.

Furthermore, the piece's author states that the words carry an additional significance when one considers the stage at which Lane was in his career. Bull riding had itself a marketable and lovable star in Frost. Heralded as being simultaneously charming, handsome, and extremely talented in his sport, Frost was the face of rodeo riding.

In fact, nearly 36 years since his death, Frost is still remembered in the sport today. PBR penned a memorial piece for the rider which highlighted a conversation Frost had with fellow rider Cody Lambert. While aboard a plane with Frost and three other riders, Lambert said that they had the plane mostly to themselves.

They discussed their respective families and how Ty Murray, a 19-year-old bull-riding phenom at the time, had "matured" in the year and a half that Frost had known him.

Lambert said: "There were a lot of things going on in both our lives. We talked about our wives and my young son and we talked about Ty and I rodeoing together. Lane talked about how much fun it looked like we were having and how Ty looked like he had really matured in the year and a half since he had known him."

He added, "It was just one of those slow, easy laid back, but serious at times, conversations. I had no idea it would be our last really good talk."

Lambert went on to state that a lot of the competitors had stayed up late into the night, so the following morning before the event, many of the men decided to "take a good nap" before hitting the showers and getting out into the arena to ride bulls.

As for Frost's accident, Lambert stated, "I don’t remember much about it. I remember not doing that good, but I remember the bulls the other guys rode. Tuff rode a bull called Ambush and made a really good ride and then Clint Branger rode a bull called Stinger … and all this time I was getting ready to pull Lane’s rope and we were talking."

When it came to what happened to Frost, Lambert said, "Everybody knows what happened after that."

While riding Takin' Care of Business, Frost dismounted from the bull and landed in the mud. Afterward, the bull turned and knocked the man to the ground, digging one of his horns into his back and dragging him against the floor.

Lane had initially gotten up and waved to the fans in the arena. However, after taking a few staggered steps, he collapsed back to the ground. No autopsy was conducted, but it's believed that the bull had crushed one of Lane's ribs. The snapped bone presumably severed a major artery inside of his body, causing critical internal injuries.

As a result, the face of bull riding passed away in the summer of 1989 in Cheyenne, Wyoming at just 25 years old. The impact he's left on the sport is still felt to this day.