By: Amy Wilson

As the Bull Riding Hall of Fame welcomed its class of 2017 this past weekend, it recognized greats who have made an impact on the sport and deserve a place in history.​ Among this year's 10 honorees was Denny Flynn​, a 10-time NFR qualifier (1974-82, 1985) ​who shares the record for most bull riding average titles won at the NFR (1975, 1981-82).

I'm tickled to death to be in there with those guys, and I'm very, very honored to be chosen to be in it," Flynn said ahead of Sunday's induction ceremony in Fort Worth, Texas. "There's a lot of great bull riders that are already in it. With (fellow bull riders) Lane Frost being inducted and Chris Shivers, it's a very good crowd to be inducted with.

Flynn is especially grateful to be inducted with his idol, Bill Kornell, "I have a picture -- and I'm going to take it and get him to sign it -- from here at Fort Smith when he rode and I was 17 or 18 and standing on the back of the chutes watching his ride. And then my good friend Randy Magers that I traveled with so long -- and we still talk every day -- he's being inducted."

Those relationships are proof of why Flynn gave his daughter, Ari-Anna, this advice: "Just be humble and let the winning take care of itself. Just go out there and have a good time."

As Ari-Anna is on pace to make her own appearance at the NFR this year, Flynn and his wife, Lynn, are part of the family affair of creating great barrel horses.

"We raise our own horses," Flynn said. "I'll get them broke and riding good, Lynn will start them on the barrels, and Ari-Anna will finish them."

Flynn is known for his bull riding career, but he was an all-around cowboy growing up and even made it to the high school finals in the steer wrestling.

"I always wanted to be a calf roper, but I just wasn't mounted," Flynn said. "That gave me the incentive to start raising and training performance horses -- roping and barrel racing."

Flynn credits his dad, who worked at the stockyards and would always have something he could get on, with getting his start in bull riding, "My dad didn't rodeo but he sure did enjoy it." And he credits Harry Vold with helping make his decision to specialize in bull riding.

Flynn became known as the most talented bull rider to never win a world title, although he came really close -- he finished second in the PRCA season standings three times, and third in the world three times. When asked why the world title eluded him, Flynn replied with a laugh, "Well the biggest reason was a guy name Donnie Gay who won it eight times. That's riding with some tough competition." He then went on to explain more about his career and summed it up by saying, "It's my fault I guess that I didn't win the world because I didn't go as much as some of the others. Looking back I wish I would have."

Flynn was also known for his toughness. Inevitably, there are injuries associated with the event, but he described his worst injury, which happened in Salt Lake City in ​1975. "[The bull] kind of turned me over, and I was coming down stretched out over the horns and his head came up and pierced my stomach and went up through there 10 inches. It missed my heart by a half inch, as the story goes. But it tore my intestines out, and honestly I thought I was going to die. I didn't think I was ever going to get on another bull. Two months later the doctor released me and told me I could do whatever I wanted to."

Miraculously, Flynn was able to ride again and he won enough to make it back to the NFR.

"I guess the toughness is coming back from that injury, but God had another calling for me or something," Flynn said. "He let me get into the finals [NFR] in 13th place."

Flynn then made the most of the opportunity, "I rode nine out of 10 bulls, placed in six go-rounds, and won the average. To me, that's probably one of the greatest feats that I accomplished. I'm very proud of it. With a lot of luck I was able to live through all that."

Flynn's best ride was yet to come. In 1979, he rode Tommy Steiner's Red Lightning for 98 points in Palestine, Illinois. It remains the second-highest score in ProRodeo history in any roughstock event.

"One good thing about it is Butch Kirby, a world's champion bull rider, and another bull rider, Joe Bonner, was judging," Flynn recalled. "They marked me 98 points and they gave me a perfect score on the ride and I guess docked the bull a point a peice. They give me the score sheets, and I have them framed there in my house. I'm very proud of being able to accomplish that."

Flynn got to relive some of these moments during his speech at the Bull Riding Hall of Fame. He was joined at the induction ceremony by his fellow class of 2017 honorees: bull riders Dick Griffith, Randy Magers, ​Frost, ​Kornell​, and Shivers​; bull fighter Rob Smets; legends Clem McSpadden and Bob Tallman; and bull Bodacious.​

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