The Prodigy Who Walked Away From the PBR and Came Back Better Than Ever

Kade Madsen shocked PBR by pausing a meteoric rise for a church mission. Two years later, the 20-year-old has returned with renewed purpose.

Kade Madsen | Bull Stock Media

Imagine Magic Johnson, rookie season, 1980. In the Finals against Seattle, he switches from playing guard to center, putting up 42 points and grabbing 15 rebounds to lead the Lakers to the NBA title. The champagne is still dripping down the locker room walls, and Magic announces he’ s leaving the sport.

Consider Fernando Valenzuela the following October. He’s Rookie of the Year and wins the Cy Young Award. After leading the Dodgers to three postseason wins, he steps away from baseball.

For these athletes, fulfilling lifelong dreams in the grandest moments, the “leaving” part would never have happened. But in latter-day bull riding, it kind of sort of did.

A fresh-faced rookie came on the scene, flashing brilliance, kicking his long legs out like Baryshnikov on a bull. He singlehandedly won a few playoff games. Then he disappeared.  

Two years ago at the PBR Teams Championship, Kade Madsen, a bright-eyed 18-year-old from Utah, went three for five for the Missouri Thunder.  Two of Madsen’s clutch scores in Las Vegas were game-winning rides. If that’s not dramatic enough, they came back-to-back nights in the 3-way, do-or-die Last Chance games. 

First, Madsen and his Thunder beat Kansas City and Nashville when he went for 86.75 points on Chiseled.

The next night, a monster 90-point trip on No Cigar sent Carolina and Kansas City home.

Madsen at the 2023 Teams Championship in Las Vegas | Bull Stock Media

Madsen Makes Pivotal Career Decision

Missouri was eventually eliminated from the tournament. In the media center, Madsen nonchalantly mentioned that this early career-highlight night was bittersweet. He’d be leaving the sport for a few years.

The money rider on a last place team knocking down clutch playoff rides during an incredible Cinderella run wasn’t hurt. His body was fine; no surgeries or long recovery ahead. Madsen simply smiled and said he’d be taking a two-year leave to go on a service mission for the Church of the Latter-day Saints. 

The humble, polite, soft-spoken 18-year-old was willing to put a blazing career on hold for a higher purpose.

Make no mistake, Kade Madsen loved riding bulls. He just loved his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, his Church and serving the community a lot more.

Stardom could wait. His personal brand and earning power could be built another time.  Invincible at 18 and on top of the bull riding world, there was more important business to attend to.  

So, it was off to Tennessee.

Bull Stock Media

Madsen Family Ties

Madsen, along with his brother Briggs and two sisters, was born and raised in Honeyville, Utah, a small town 70 minutes north of Salt Lake City. 

“His upbringing was cowboy hat out of the crib,” said Luke Snyder, General Manager of the Missouri Thunder who was PBR’s Rookie of the Year in 2001. “Kade is a heck of a horseman. He rides bareback broncs, which gives him a great feel for rough stock. He has fast feet, and he’s aggressive – spurs just about everything he rides because that’s what you do in bareback on every jump. He doesn’t settle for just staying on.”

Like older brother Briggs – who also competed in the PBR and rode alongside Kade on the Thunder during the 2023 playoff run – Kade works for his dad’s contracting business, pouring concrete foundations when he’s not riding bulls or horses.

Briggs, 25, last with the Nashville Stampede, appears to be retired in the wake of a brutal off-season wreck in July at Big Sky. He smashed into the bull’s head, and with a collapsed lung, broken ribs and brain bleed, was air-flighted to special care. He has made a full recovery and now works full time for his father, according to Kade. His wife is pregnant, and he’s excited to become a new dad himself.

Over the past two years, Kade served the church in Nashville and surrounding areas. Every day started early with studies of the scripture, then being out and about talking to people about Jesus Christ.

“It was the best thing I could have done with my life, a very good learning experience,” he said. “My perspective changed. It allowed me to mature mentally. I had two years to let my body rest while I realized what a blessing it is to be able to do what you love.”

Introspection is generally not a top trait present in 18-year-old cowboys. Madsen is an exception.

“When you are young, you don’t fully grasp the weight of everything going around you,” he said. “Being in the (PBR) Teams season with the blessings I received, I never fully comprehended all that at the time. Something you love was taken away temporarily; I couldn’t do the thing I loved. But the experience helped me understand there’s a greater purpose, and it isn’t all about bull riding. My heavenly father loves me, and He’ll bless me as I’m giving back to others.”

Madsen stressed that taking time off was a choice he’d easily make again.

“It was a good opportunity for be thankful for the blessings I have and be grateful for the small moments to do the things we love,” he said.

Madsen’s return to PBR last weekend came without ornamental hype. His unpackaged, unheralded transition from the mission to the bucking chutes in St. Louis was a small moment on the wider sports landscape. But it became a very big one on Sunday when he put up an 87.70-point ride on Wyloh Ranch’s Scruggs in the short-go to walk out of Enterprise Arena with the event buckle.   

Bull Stock Media

Putting the Work In Again

Despite his natural talents, evident since riding mini bulls at 4 years old then mastering bareback riding, Madsen didn’t show up cold in St. Louis. A lot of work went into shaking off the rust to top the field. In the past month, mud or cold, he got on close to 45 practice bulls.   

“Leading up to the weekend, things hadn’t gone my way,” he said. “I did a lot of hitting the dirt in the practice pen. It came together at the right time. I see all of it as a blessing.”

Fans will be blessed to see Madsen at the premier Unleash The Beast in Boston at TD Garden, live on Paramount+, on Jan 2 - 3, a qualification earned courtesy of the St. Louis win. Before that, he’ll look to accumulate valuable points at the Touring Pro event in Las Vegas at Resorts World on December 10 -11 and the Velocity Tour stop in Tucson on Dec. 19 -20.

Following PBR’s debut in Boston, the elite tour heads to New York City the next weekend. Madsen says that as a kid one of his dreams was to win at Madison Square Garden. That’s now part of his plan to be the PBR Rookie of the Year in 2026.

But his biggest dream, and the ultimate goal, is PBR’s World Championship Gold Buckle.

When Madsen temporarily left the sport, Snyder admitted his departure would be a big loss. But he was proud of Kade for demonstrating an unwavering dedication to his faith.

“Kade is a born leader, already wise beyond his years when he left two years ago,” Snyder said. “Now he’s back with a whole new perspective.”

The dazzling return in St. Louis was a quiet one. You can be sure fans will hear about Kade Madsen as he rides into Boston.

---