Bridger Chambers is a native of Stevensville, but we are doing our best to claim him hear in the Mining City. 

He is a world-class cowboy who made two appearances in the National Finals Rodeo, making folks in his home state proud from Eureka to Ekalaka. 

Bridger was a three-sport star at Stevensville High School, and his favorite sport was usually the one that was in season. But he fell in love with rodeo at a young age.

He could have played quarterback in college, but he first opted to join the rodeo team at the University of Montana. Eventually, the 6-foot-5 Bridger transferred to Montana Western in Dillon, where he played basketball for coach Steve Keller while rodeoing for Olie Else. 

At Western, Bridger became the first — and perhaps still the only — athlete to compete in the NAIA National Men’s Basketball Tournament and the College National Finals Rodeo.

After college, Bridger taught for a year in Three Forks before going into business with his father, Keith, who was a long-time boys’ basketball coach at Stevensville. Then he settled into family life in Butte with his wife, Kristen (Tuttle), and their children, Mattie, Hudson, Crew and Chase.

He still rodeoed, but it was not a full-time gig. In 2018, though, Bridger found some early success on the circuit, and that led him to go all in to chase his dreams of competing in the NFR. He said he was going to swing for the fences as he competed in more than 100 rodeos that year.

That December, Bridger finished as the No. 2 steer wrestler in the world at the 10-day rodeo in Las Vegas. To prove it was no fluke, he did it again the next year, even if it was more of a grind to qualify for the NFR.

Today, Bridger, 36, is busy selling real estate with the McLeod Real Estate Group. He is also following around his young sons, Crew and Chase, in their activities while watching his step his step-son Hudson Luedtke star for the Butte High Bulldogs.

Bridger is also an ambassador for the sport he loves so much. He helped lead the effort this past Montana legislative session to successfully make rodeo the official sport of Montana. 

He is still competing in steer wrestling, though not quite like he did in 2018 and 2019. He will be back in action in January. 

Listen in as he talks about playing basketball for his father and how he and his other coaches helped shape the athlete he is today. Listen in to hear about Bridger’s run to the NFR and how he was fulfilling a goal that he made in a letter to himself that he had to write in school.

Listen to hear why rodeo cowboys do not sit out a competition with a pulled hamstring or strained calf muscle like your favorite stars in other sports.

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The episode is also available YouTube.