SAN ANGELO, Texas — Noah Krepps traveled 10 hours to San Angelo, Texas, from Jasper, Ark., to compete in the Bulls of the West competition Saturday.
“I was at a little practice field in Arkansas and I was sitting on the fence and my brother actually fighting,” Krepps said.
Krepps reflected on the first time he fell in love with art of bullfighting, along with the comradery and brotherhood that can’t be matched in the field.
“We really don’t say we compete against each other we compete against the bulls,” Krepps said.
Fighting professionally for the past three years, Krepps stays in shape, training daily, to always stay two steps ahead of his horned opponent. But what happened during the last round of Bulls of the West Saturday, the Arkansas native will never forget.
“If you can fight bulls at Bulls of the West and keep your head then you can fight bulls,” Krepps said.
Krepps was making his last move to put the finishing touches on what was a near perfect performance in the final round of the bull fight, when the thinkable happened.
“The bull caught me in the thigh and it actually hooked me into the barrel,” Krepps said.
Krepps won the competition, but found himself back on the fence (like the one he sat on once before watching his brother ride years ago), when he finally came to realize what happened to him.
“I looked back and there was a pretty good trail of blood,” Krepps said.
Krepps was rushed to Shannon where he went into surgery immediately to aid what Krepps said was a Nerf ball sized gash taken out of his thigh. Krepps' mother, Holly Krepps, who was still in Arkansas drove to be by his side.
“Thinking he was only going to be here a couple a days then the next hours a realizing he be there a couple of weeks,” Holly Krepps said.
Holly said as a mom the situation was terrifying, but she has no intention of stopping her son from doing what he loves and getting back in the ring.
“You want your kids to have purpose…. their purpose and both my boys have that, and this is what comes with having a passionate lif said.
Krepps rises up to walk a lap around the patient floor of the hospital knowing soon enough he will be back fighting coyote-hill bulls once again.