Written by Monica Stewart, free-lance reporter Western Media and Sports

Tennessee native cowboy, Cody Nance, just made the eight-second
whistle on a great ride in Albuquerque, New Mexico, one of the Professional
Bull Riders’ many tour stops during the year. His wife Korie and youngest boy
Nash stand on their feet on the sidelines cheering in excitement. Cody made his
way over and leans over the fence to give his son a big high five to celebrate
the ride. This was a memory the family will never forget. As the twelve-year
professional bull rider explains, “My best memories aren’t about me winning,
they’re about spending time with my family and getting to experience things
that most people don’t get to, because of my career.” With amazing love and
support for one another, this couple is staying busy and cherishing every
moment they can.

How They Met

After spending two years in Hawaii as a nurse, Korie was
back home spending time with her family when she got an invite from her brother-in-law,
who grew up with Cody over the years. He told her they should go, and it would
be fun as Cody was having an event nearby at his house. Not sure of what the
event really was or giving it much thought, she decided to go.

“I decided to go but I actually had to beg someone to take
my shift, so I could go.” Korie said.

After, watching Cody fall flat on his back after a ride, he
ran over to the fence and that’s when her brother-in-law took full advantage of
the moment.

“I got a nurse! Do you need a nurse?” he yelled jokingly.
After the event when Cody and her brother in law were visiting, she could not
help but notice how charming, polite and respectful the bull rider was.

 “He had the most
beautiful eyes I had ever seen,” Korie said. From then on, the two were
inseparable. After meeting up after Cody’s flight back to Nashville one day,
they went out for dinner and got to know each other. She bought him a beer and
as Cody states, “that was it, I knew”.

Before the Bright Lights

Korie Nance grew up in a caring home with her mom a respiratory
therapist and dad as a police officer. She attended college where she played
soccer and followed her dream of obtaining a nursing degree. After much thought
on what she wanted to do with her degree, she settled on open heart surgery and
has been happy with that choice ever since. She was then signed up to do travel
nursing but has put that life on hold as she has been mainly traveling around
the country with Cody for the PBR tour. For Cody, things have been a race to
the top ever since he was a little boy.

“I was two years old when he came into my life, he rode
bulls and I thought he just hung the moon,” Cody described about his stepfather
who started his initial passion to ride. 

When his stepfathers’ friends would come over to practice on
the dummy, Cody knew he would soon get to practice too. As his mom has told
him, he was always glued to the fence once it was time for the bull riding at
the rodeos.

“Bull riding was just the one thing that stood out to me,”
Cody said.

Cody Nance, PBR Springfield, MO photo: Addie Hilldenburg / Hillenburg Productions / Western Media and Sports

Cody grew up with horses and riding which he believes helped
him become the rider he is today.

“I guess that created a foundation so whenever I started
riding bulls it wasn’t as hard for me as it may have been others because I knew
how to use my legs and balance and I could understand animals and how they
moved,” Cody said.

 He was constantly on
the back of a horse, but finally got to try his hand at riding a bull when he
was 15. After much convincing to his mom to let him try, he had the opportunity
to ride a few bulls at a practice arena.

“My step dad, he did some convincing. He told her I’d probably
get bucked off and stepped on and wouldn’t want to do it anymore,” Cody laughed
as he explains how he got lucky enough to go ride.

 After riding his
first bull successfully he realized he never got the chance to practice how to
get off. He soon had to improvise and pull his hand out of the rope and pushed
back and scooted back on his hips and let him kick and when he kicked he threw him
straight up in the air and landed straight on his back. When asked by his
mother how he liked riding he responded, “I love it!”. Cody laughed, “That was obviously not what she was hoping for!”

After unsuccessfully covering his second one out of the
chute, he thought to himself that he knew this is what he wanted to do and was
already feeling a passion for the sport.

Cody Nance vs Bruiser photo Eva Scofield / Scofield Photography / SmithPRO LLC

He kept the momentum going by participating in high school
rodeo and had great success in it by making it to National High School Rodeo
Finals in Wyoming three years as a member. On December 23, 2005 Cody turned 18
and his father-in-law bought his PBR permit. He turned down a scholarship to
college and teamed up with a mentor that took him under his wing to get
practice in.

“A guy named Jeff Tilley let me come down and live with him.
He raised so many good bulls and that was an opportunity for me to just go and
be about bull riding,” Cody said.

Soon after, Cody had the opportunity to work for a friend by
the name of CJ, hanging guardrail.

“I lived in a walking horse barn with five other guys and
built guard rails. It was cool, kind of like a bull riding camp and eventually
I could ride everything he owned,” Cody reminisced.

While there, his mentor made a phone call that got Cody
lined up to go to his first event at the top level. It quickly became a turning
point in his career. He ended up placing and kept the moment going with more
wins to move into the tour soon after. Cody shared advice from his experiences,
“Keep working and don’t give up, cause if you keep pushing and keep pushing,
God will bless you like he blessed me. If he can do it for me he can do it for
anyone.”

Cody Nance, PBR Springfield, MO photo: Addie Hilldenburg / Hillenburg Productions / Western Media and Sports

Juggling Travel and Family

Korie and Cody have been busy ever since the start of this
journey together as part of the PBR tour and making life work with now having a
family as well. Korie soon realized that being busy had a brand-new definition.

“I give props to Cody and all the guys in the PBR,” Korie
said. “Cody has been doing this for ten years and I have only been doing this
with him for two years. It can get really overwhelming! You sacrifice time
elsewhere to do what you love, which is your profession.”

When the couple does get a chance to be at home they rush to
get errands, chores, and visiting time in as much as possible. When time to
themselves does make its way around, the Nance’s like to fish, hunt, and
anything else they can do with their kids as well.

“We love having the kids with us! When they’re with us, it’s
like our favorite thing in the whole world,” Korie said.

Cody also shared that the family has a camper they take with
them when they are traveling, and the kids love when they take it along. When
the married couple thinks about the lifestyle they have built they try to
remember that this is temporary and in the future the Nance family be able to
relax more and have more time to do some of the things they have wanted to do.

The couple’s three kiddos sure do carry the same passion for
rodeo and riding following in the footsteps of their father. Their little girl
loves the horses and the two boys love talking about bull riding and
participating in the mutton busting.

“Nash, our three-year-old, rode a sheep this summer and he
had no fear, he was like a little Cody! Wyatt, he is six now and he will get on
a small bull, but he was terrified as a muttin’ buster, he would not get on
that little sheep! He would cry and just refuse to get on. But he will get on a
bull and we have a little zebu as well and he and Nash love it.”

When the family is home it is either spent outside with the
animals or down at the Kentucky lake by their home to cool down and take a swim
in the summer months. Korie and Cody cherish the kids a lot more when they are
with them after traveling so much with the PBR’s demanding schedule.

What PBR Means to Them

Sheri Smith, PBR Sports Agent believes Cody is a talented
athlete. “Cody is known for throwing his handkerchief into the stands to a
lucky fan,” Smith said.  “He is a
gentleman and truly kind to those he interacts with.”

The sport has made a lot come true for the Nance family and
continues to be a great career choice for Cody.

“Bull riding has given me everything and PBR has been great
as I would be working 9-5 without it and I have everything I have now because
of it,” Cody said.

The PBR professional’s wife describes her husband as very
determined and so passionate. Korie says it best when asked what is most
important to her and her family, “The most important thing to us is our faith.
Without God we wouldn’t be able to do any of this. We know when we fail there
is a bigger plan, through all of this we know that there is God’s plan and we
know that even through the hardest and darkest times, God can use this for
good. And maybe not in our lives but in someone else’s life. Cody ideally to me
is a Man of God and he is how a man should be strong in his faith and my biggest
hope is that kids can see that in him and want to be better and more like
Christ. Life traveling is a lot easier when you have support and love. Our
family supports us and this life so much; my family never owned anything
Wrangler before Cody!”

For more info click on the links below.
https://pbr.com/
https://pbr.com/en/riders/profiles/c/cody-nance.aspx
https://www.facebook.com/CodyNanceProfessionalBullRider/
https://www.instagram.com/codywnance/
https://twitter.com/CodyNancePBR

https://www.facebook.com/WesternMediaSports/
https://www.instagram.com/westernmediasports/
https://twitter.com/WesternMediaSp