Coy Lutz died in an accident at the Cowtown Rodeo opening weekend on May 28, 2016. He will be remembered as a respectful, fun-loving rider.
Less than eight seconds had passed before Coy Lutz was bucked from his horse. He rolled out of the way and got up, as any rider would do.
However, instead of being angry and leaving the arena, he turned and tipped his hat to the animal.
"It was his way of saying 'Hey, you did better than me this time, I can't be mad,'" Lutz's father, Doug, remembered, noting that his son often tipped his hat to the animals. "He was always respectful like that."
The 19-year-old cowboy died over the weekend at the Cowtown Rodeo opening weekend when the horse he was riding bucked him.
Doug Lutz remembered his son fondly. Doug stirred up his son's interest in rodeos after years of riding in them himself. While serving in the Army, stationed in Germany, Doug said learned about the sport and began riding bareback. After coming back to the States, he stopped bareback riding and picked up "bull fighting," so he could focus on raising a family. As a bull fighter, it was his responsibility to lure the animal away from the rider so they could safely exit the arena.
"Coy was attached to my hip from the day he was born," said Doug. "Anything I did, he was right there with me. Since I was working as a bull fighter, he got a lot of exposure to the rodeo."
Although when Coy first expressed his interest, his father was against it.
"I didn't want him to go through the hardness and wear and tear on his body that the rodeo can cause," he said. "He was a good baseball player so I thought hey, maybe he just stick with that."
"But, he ended up being really good at riding," he added. "So, what could I do?"
With a sincere interest in the sport and a natural talent, Coy began training with Dave and Tyler Waltz and quickly started in high school rodeo competitions as a bull rider.
Competitive bull riders start off on the bull with one hand in a rope and the other in the air. Once the gate is opened, riders have to stay on for as close to eight seconds as possible to earn points.
"[While competing as a bull rider] at the national high school finals in Wyoming, Coy hit his face on the bull's horn and broke his jaw," recalled his sister, Laura Lutz. "That's when he decided bareback horses were the way to go."
Bareback riders ride the horses without a saddle using rigging which is essentially a saddle without the seat. Riders put their hand in the rigging, using a sticky substance called rosin and hold on as the horses buck. These horses can weigh-in at up to 1,250 pounds.
"It's so much harder than bull riding, which most people don't realize," Laura. "It's amazing that Coy excelled at it right away. He really had a gift for the sport."
After making the switch to bareback, Coy started to shine as a rider. With the help of his father, and the coaching advice from Tyler Waltz, Coy was becoming a young superstar in the rodeo community.
Coy competed in the high school rodeo associations for both Pennsylvania and New York, where he rode and qualified for nationals all four years. Coy also participated in the Pro Riding Association's competitions during his senior year.
"That's how he won money," said Laura. "When he wasn't asking my parents for money, that's how he got it."
A rodeo coach from the University of Tennessee at Martin noticed Coy's talent and passion for the sport and recruited him for the team, landing Coy a full-ride scholarship.
Throughout his freshman year at UT Martin, Coy rode for the school's rodeo team where he registered points in seven different rodeos, setting career-highs across the board in bareback riding.
"He absolutely loved it there and made friends that became family," said Laura. "What's even better is that Tyler was down there helping coach. His role model was there to push him along the way closer to his dreams."
At the 48th Annual UT Martin Spring College Rodeo on the weekend of April 14, Coy tallied 78 points in the first round and 76 points in the short go for a 154 average. His opening round total was best in the field while his average score was tied for the top total in the event, according to the UT Martin website.
"I wasn't able to go but in April, the whole family went down to watch him compete," said Laura. "The rodeo at UT was like a football game at colleges around here, it was a whole big deal."
She added that was the last time their sister Melanie would see Coy.
With his entire family supporting his dreams, Coy traveled up and down the east coast competing wherever he could.
"It became his whole life," said Laura. "If you were talking to him, rodeos and riding would come up. If he was relaxing at home, he'd have the laptop out playing clips from competitions so he could better his own technique. After his competitions, he'd watch his runs and see what he could have done better. He loved it and he wanted to be great."
More than 2,200 spectators were in the crowd, gathered for the show.
"Normally, I was right there with him," said Doug. "I'd drive him to the rodeos, be back behind the scenes with him, which I loved, I loved seeing him be so respectful to the animals and the other riders, if anyone needed advice on anything, he'd help them. He was such a positive person like that, he didn't care who they were. But I think he wanted to prove that he could do it on his own, so this time he did it on his own."
Coy drove himself to the rodeo, more than 200 miles from his hometown of Howard, Pennsylvania.
"I went to help with his rigging and he was happy that I was there but he gave me the 'what are you doing, I can do this on my own' face. And he did, he did it without me," said Doug.
During his ride, Coy was bucked from his horse. The horse, named H3, was bucking in a tight circle in a spinning motion instead of bucking while in a forward motion.
"The horses don't buck to get the rider off, the rider ins't hurting them," said Laura. "The horse is bucking to get the flank strap off of its rear-end. Coy fell off the horse, and he knew how to get out of the way."
The bucking horse landed a hoof down on Coy's chest. Arena staff were able to get the horse away from Coy and came to the cowboy's aid. He was able to be escorted from the arena and taken to The Memorial Hospital of Salem County in Mannington Township where he was pronounced dead.
Over the years, numerous cowboys have suffered broken arms, legs and ribs while competing, but Coy's death was a first at Cowtown.
"But he died doing what he loved," said Laura.
According to his family Coy will be remembered in the rodeo community as a respectful, kind-hearted person who was always there to make everyone smile.
"After he would get bucked from his horse Coy would throw his hands up and say "are you not entertained," recalled Doug. "The first time he did it he came running back and said 'did you see that, did you see what I did? Russell Crowe in "Gladiator,"' and it just became his thing. It was so positive, so him. So, I'm sure he's looking down from heaven saying it now, 'are you not entertained, that was my best one yet,'" said Doug.
He added, "we wanted to raise him to be better than we were, and we did that. He was a better man than I'll ever be and I'm grateful for that."
Caitlyn Stulpin may be reached at cstulpin@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitstulpin. Find NJ.com on Facebook.