The legends of Lane Frost and Red Rock live on in the Redding Rodeo Arena

REDDING, Calif. — History was made in the Redding Rodeo Arena 30 years ago when the world's top cowboy mastered the world champion bucking bull and the legend of Lane Frost vs. Red Rock goes on.

Stock contractor, John Growney came up with the idea of the Champions Challenge in 1988. Growney knew it would be something special, but he didn't know just how special.

"History was made and it's been the greatest thing," saidGrowney of the Growney Brothers in Red Bluff as he fondly remembered his world champion, Red Rock. The red, tiger-striped brindle Brahma-Hereford mix dislodged 309 bull riders before they could reach a qualifying 8 seconds.

Red Rock was born on a ranch in Sisters, Oregon in 1976. His mother died when he was born and the family used a milk cow to nurse him. He became a bucking bull at the age of two when he was sold to Mert Hunking, a local stock contractor. In 1984 Growney had the opportunity to buy Red Rock.

"We knew we had this really great bull but we didn't know how great he was," Growney said; adding his bull was known for his "victory lap" around the arena before he was then shooed into the gates.

From 1984 to 1987 Red Rock made it to the National Finals Rodeo. Still undefeated, Growney retired the bull at the end of '87. That same year Frost won the World Championship in bull riding. Growney knew Frost well. He also knew Frost would never feel like he truly won until he defeated his most respected rival, Red Rock.

"So we had the 1987 bucking bull of the year and the world champion versus each other and we called it the Challenge of the Champions," Growney said.

Red Rock would first buck Frost off in Red Bluff, then again in Clovis. But match #3, taking place in the Redding Rodeo Arena, was when Frost finally completed an 8 second ride against Red Rock.

"There's a lot of mental preparation in riding bulls, and remember, Red Rock had bucked him off four times, so here he came with a good set of mind and he was rodeoing with Tuf Hedeman and Cody Lambert at the time and they had been discussing it and had it on film and they started figuring out tricks to ride him," Growney explained.

The challenge would come to an end in match seven in Spanish Fork, Utah. Frost and Red Rock were tied up three to three. The judge's watch stopped when Lane dismounted the bull at 9.63 seconds, ultimately defeating Red Rock 4 to 3.

"I had an empty feeling because I had taken something away from this bull. He was past his prime in his life. He had retired and we knew that if we let Lane get on him enough that he would eventually figure out how to ride him," Growney recalled his mixed feelings over the match.

Frost was killed in 1989 in Cheyenne, Wyoming at age 25 by a bull named "Takin' Care of Business." Red Rock later died in 1994 as a ProRodeo Hall of Fame bucking bull who retired from the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, both legends forever cemented in the history of rodeo.

"If we hadn't have done that match, Lane and Red Rock both would have just sort of passed in time and nobody would have known who they really were," Growney says associations such as the PBR and the BRO have immortalized both Frost and Red Rock. "Because of Lane's death and other things, bull riding is a stand-alone event by its self now."