BELLE FOURCHE - Bareback rider Lyle Tibbitts has a pure passion for rough stock rodeo.

The sophomore to be at Little Wound High School brings plenty of good old-fashioned cowboy try to the rodeo arena. He also carries with him a willingness to accept whatever hand is dealt to him, be it good or bad, and bounce back just a little more determined the next time out of the chute. During Friday's opening performance of the South Dakota State High School Finals Rodeo, his grit and determination were good enough for a 60-point winning ride in the morning round of the first go-round.

Not bad for a cowboy who only two weeks before at the Sturgis Regional Rodeo left the arena on a stretcher bound for the emergency room after a bad wreck on a very unfriendly bull.

"I don't know for sure what happened," he said following Friday's winning ride. "I guess I hit my head really hard on the ground. Friends tell me I got up and took off running and then just fell down again. I don't remember any of that. All I know is that when I came to I was in the ambulance. They said I had a slight concussion and told me to sit out a week or so."

On Friday, he was more concerned about a damaged right hand that has been plaguing him for some weeks, necessitating a switch of his grip hand from right to left.

"When I first got hurt I was pretty disappointed. I wanted to do well as a freshman and I want people to recognize who I am and know I'm a good rider," Tibbitts said. "I'm just an Indian kid from Kyle and no one knows who I am, but I want to be better than what I have lived around me, and if I want to be somebody, I have to push myself more than what other kids will."

Clearly, Tibbitts likes the challenge of getting into the chute and on to the back of a critter that would prefer otherwise.

"For me, when I put my gear on an animal that is easily a 1,000 pounds heavier than I am and way stronger than I am, I know I have to use my mental and physical strength to do my best to compete with that animal," Tibbitts said. "When that gate crashes, it's all about me and that animal one-on-one."

For the present, Tibbitts said nothing would make him happier than to earn a spot on the South Dakota team that attends the National High School Finals Rodeo. And down the road, college perhaps, if he can rodeo there, otherwise he is determined to give pro rodeo a try.

Marvin Garrett, a Belle Fourche resident and four-time world champion bareback rider, said Tibbitts may have the stuff to make the dream a reality.

"I think Lyle Tibbitts has a future. He's a kid with a lot of guts and a lot of try in him. It's sometimes hard to tell with kids this young, but Lyle really wants to do it and that's the way I was at a young age, too," Garrett said. "When I was in the 4th grade the teacher asked me what I wanted to do and I told her I wanted to be a rodeo cowboy. The ones like Lyle who have talent and are really gung-ho about it can make it work for them."

The state rodeo continues today with two second go performances scheduled for 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.