2025 Top Gun Winner T.J. Gray Wanted to Be Like His brother

That path led to big opportunities and big wins

By Susan Kanode

Growing up, bull rider T.J. Gray didn’t have big dreams of being a cowboy, he just wanted to do what his older brother Levi Gray was doing. 

They lived in Dairy, Oregon, just a few miles north of the California state line. Their father, Tim, had a mechanic shop. Most of their mom, Jami’s, days were spent homeschooling and chasing the boys. 

Tim had ridden bulls and it was important to the whole family that the boys be raised in a Godly home and to be hard workers. When the opportunity came to go to a rodeo, they were all in. 

The boys started getting on sheep, then calves. Tim had recorded bull riding on VHS tapes and the boys nearly wore them out. They mimicked those bull riders on the trampoline with Levi being the bull and T.J. riding. Then they traded places. They made several variations of their own bucking machines out of barrels. 

“When we got older, our abilities to build a redneck version of a bucking barrel got better,” T.J. said. “We had some pretty rough barrels throughout junior high and high school.” 

That was also the time that Levi started roping and again, T.J. followed suit. They had some family friends who were team ropers that had a horse they let him use. He wasn’t riding bulls very well at the time and they told him if he quit, they would give him the horse. 

“I seriously thought about that for a while,” he said. “Then I decided that I couldn’t forgive myself if I did that. It was like, if I change my mind, I really screwed up. I couldn’t lie to her about it.”

He never enjoyed roping like he did bull riding and probably never gave himself the opportunity to get good at it. However, he did start taking bull riding more seriously. Even though Oregon is home, when they started competing in the National High School Rodeo Association, they chose to represent California. 

Levi is two years older than T.J. and a highlight for the brothers will always be competing at the National High School Finals Rodeo when Levi was a senior and T.J. was a sophomore. It was a learning curve for T.J. 

“I wasn’t nearly prepared for that,” he commented. “But then at the beginning of my junior year, I was a full-on bull rider. I was doing pretty good and I was starting to realize what I was capable of.”

When they were in elementary school, their parents decided a homeschool program would be beneficial. And, it wasn’t easy for T.J. 

“As fast as you could get the work done, you could go out of the house and do whatever you do,” he explained. “Well, instead of just doing my work, I’d throw a fit. So, my brother would be done with school about noon, and I wouldn’t be done about until about four.”

He figured out that he better do the schooling so he could go haul hay with his dad or work with him. It also gave the boys more time to practice. And another blessing they had was having bulls close enough that they could go learn on live animals. 

There was a bull in the practice set that was considered a big bull. T.J. was 13 and asked his dad if he could get on him. 

“That bull jumped out and turned back and I rode him and jumped off,” he said. “I thought I rode him for a long time. Now when I go back and watch, I rode him a round or two.”

That ride was a confidence builder and one that started his passion for riding bulls. He bought his PRCA card as soon as he turned 18 and entered the first rodeo he could get into – Tehachapi, California – in 2019 where he finished second. Then there was an all-night drive to Payson, Arizona.

“I thought this was as easy as I expected,” he said. “Then in Payson, I got jerked down, hit in the face, and bucked off in like probably less than two seconds. It’s like, huh, this might be harder than I thought.” 

The brothers spent a good part of 2020 – T.J.’s rookie year – traveling together. Levi finished the year in 16^th narrowly missing an opportunity to compete for a gold buckle. Life happened. He got married and two years later welcomed twins into the family.  

T.J. was also experiencing life changes as he climbed up the rodeo ladder. He finished 2023 in 22^nd place then qualified for his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in the lead in 2024. He placed in three rounds and finished the season in fourth place. 

This last year, he started in fifth place and finished as the reserve world champion. And, he won the average, three rounds and earned more money than any of the other 117 competitors. He collected $329,662 in Las Vegas with $295,655 of that counting towards the Top Gun Award. 

Along with that short time team roping, there has been one other time that T.J. has seriously considered hanging up his bull rope. And it’s no surprise that it was due to injuries. Throughout his career, he has had nine broken arms. He was left-handed, then broke that arm and learned to use his right hand.  Now he is as ambidextrous as they come. 

In June of 2021, he tore his abdominal muscles, hip flexor and groins away from his pelvis. That required surgery and he had to take 10 months off. Then, there was a broken collarbone and foot that kept him out of action for a short term. In 2024, he injured his wrist and adapted by changing the position of his hand in the bull rope, just riding through it. 

At the Sisters, Oregon rodeo last June, he broke his ankle and had surgery to stabilize and repair it. He was back at Cheyenne Frontier Days in Wyoming the end of July trying to defend his 2024 championship at the “Daddy of ‘em All.” That didn’t go well, but he had to keep going to qualify for his second NFR. After competing there last December, he had another surgery on his ankle to clear up an infection. 

Now he is healthy and ready for 2026. For a long time, the buckle that T.J. wore was either from riding sheep or calves, and while it was partly to aggravate his fellow competitors, it was also a reminder where he came from. 

If he could go back and give some advice to that younger self who was just getting started, this is what he would say. Today, he is wearing his NFR average buckle. 

“The outcome is going to be what it is going to be. Enjoy it. Enjoy your career, enjoy the path and enjoy the journey. It’s all going to be all right. You are going to make it.”