Sport: The New Bronco Breed

Tom Ferguson, 23, is a surprisingly mild individual for a man who makes his living as a champion steer wrestler and calf roper. Unlike the ornery, untamed cowboys of rodeo lore, he does not brawl his way from one prairie town to the next. His rodeo skills were honed not on a hardscrabble ranch but on a college campus. Even so, almost every time Ferguson grabs a rampant 800-lb. steer by the horns to "bulldog" it to the turf, or smoothly lassoes a speeding calf, he places in the money. So far this year...

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