Sandy Lumley named manager of Ridley Block Operations in Buffalo

Sandy Lumley Sandy Wayne Lumley, (yes that is his real name), was appointed manager of the Ridley Block plant in Buffalo on July 1. Lumley has been with Ridley Block for ten years where he served as plant supervisor until his promotion. Ridley Block Operations manufactures and markets low-moisture nutritional blocks for livestock.

Although running the plant is how he makes his living, Lumley’s lifelong love is bull riding and bull fighting. Growing up in Mesquite, Texas Sandy claims learning to rodeo was as natural as breathing. He graduated from Mesquite High School in 1972, the same as his friend Donny Gay, eight-time World Champion Bull Rider.

Bull Fighter of the Year for ten years.

Gay’s father, Neil, was also a championship rodeo performer and owner of the Mesquite Rodeo. Lumley began riding bulls during high school and was a regular at the Mesquite Rodeo. He said Neil Gay would bring bulls in two or three times a week and Lumley and Donny would get to break them in.

Oil painted mural which depicts how Sandy Lumley spent 24 years of his life as a rodeo clown/bull fighter. Sherry’s Shots Along with bull riding, Lumley was an award-winning bull fighter and clown. His wife, Vicki, said he often wore his clown suit under his chaps. He would be one of the first riders out of the shoot and then clown for the rest of the riders.

Lumley rode bulls for twenty years. He clowned for 22 years and was Bull Fighter of the Year for ten of those years. Although he wore a clown suit, his job was serious: to protect the bull rider. It was also plenty dangerous, but Lumley shrugs that part off, stating, “I got several breaks, bumps, bruises and a few stitches, but nothing life- threatening.”

An impressive collection of belt buckles which Lumley won during his bull riding career. Sherry’s Shots Always a good sport about his effeminate-sounding name, Lumley said with a grin “You’ve heard of ‘A Boy Named Sue’? Well, I’m a boy named Sandy.”

Lumley and Vicki moved to Buffalo from Elmo, Texas about twelve years ago. He had been with Pinnacle Gas Company and moved to Leon County during the oil boom of the mid-nineties. After Pinnacle sold to Anadarko, Lumley was without a job. He told Vicki that they would probably need to look somewhere else for employment. She told him “You can find something somewhere else if you want to, but I’m staying here.” That was when he found the job with Ridley Block.

The Lumleys have two sons: Cole, a firefighter who is married to Jillian and lives in Houston; and Chase, an electrician, who lives in College Station.

The following song was recorded by Donnie Gay for the rodeo album “American Cowboy”, and seems appropriate for this story. “God Bless the Rodeo Clown” He’s got bright red bandanas tied to his belt loops; holes in his hat and a painted-on smile. He travels the circuit like so many cowboys; He knows every long lonesome mile. He’s a dare-devil hero, and angel of mercy; a bullfighter standing his ground While some fallen rider scrambles for safety; God bless the rodeo clown. He makes it look easy but we know the truth; He’s risking his life to save me and you. He’s there when a cowboy goes down; God bless the rodeo clown.