Laurens Electric Cooperative member Eddie “The Hitman” Rigney takes on the world in the international sport of jousting.
Photo by Matthew Franklin Carter
Some may say he’s a man more suited for medieval times, but Laurens Electric Cooperative member Eddie “The Hitman” Rigney may very well be a modern-day Evel Knievel.
Much like the stars-and-stripes stuntman who spent the 1970s flying through the air on a motorcycle, Rigney is a flag-waving daredevil fortified with the gumption, sheer stubbornness and misguided belief that nothing can defeat him—even when broken bones and concussions prove that, occasionally, gravity wins.
After a lifetime of doing just about everything possible in a rodeo ring, Rigney found fame over the past 20 years on the list (the medieval name for a jousting field). The 53-year-old is now considered one of the top jousters in North America.
“I’m jousting. I’ve rode bulls, broncs, bareback. Gone all over the world. If I get killed, what else is there to do?” Rigney says. “I’ve had a pretty full life. I’ve done a lot of things a lot of people will never experience.”
He stands about 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighs around 200 pounds, making him one of the smaller competitors in the sport, but that doesn’t faze him when he’s wearing 160 pounds of metal armor atop his massive horse named Skull Crusher, or Skully for short. In his hand is an 11-foot lance, and it’s Rigney’s hope the two-inch-thick oak pole breaks when it strikes his opponent’s ecranche—the small metal shield affixed to the top left chest and shoulder of each rider.
Think of two vehicles both traveling 25 mph, the speed most horses reach before the lances hit, delivering 7,200 pounds per square inch of force, all of it targeted within the shield’s small diameter. “It sounds like a car wreck,” Rigney says of the moment when jousters make contact.
Riders must hit the ecranche consistently in order to win. Hit the target, score three points. If the lance breaks, you earn five points. Take the other rider off their horse? Ten points. In a typical match, riders face off five times. A tie? Riders will continue until the tie is broken. Rigney says he’s gone up to 20 passes before.
Rigney practices each morning and night in the rolling fields behind his home near Laurens. He estimates he’s been “de-horsed” about 10 times, and most of those times both riders came off their mounts. Rigney credits his ability to take the hits to his days in rodeo.
“I’m comfortable with being thrown off a horse,” he says. “I’ve been there millions of times.”
Rigney grew up on a horse farm and spent most of his formative years alongside his employer, Ken Treadway, the man he considers his father. The 84-year-old Treadway is a rodeo contractor who provides the horses, bulls, steers, calves, competitors, personnel and equipment for rodeos around the Southeast.
“He’s old school,” Rigney says of his mentor. “He’ll tell me, ‘If you want something bad, you have to be willing to take the pain for it.’ I don’t ever want to do something and just be somebody who does it. I want to be the best at it.”
And there’s been plenty of pain. Rigney says he’s lost count of the number of broken bones. There have been more than 30 concussions. But he says, “I love what I’m doing” and that he’ll keep jousting as long as he can get up on a horse.
Fellow competitive jouster D.J. Coburger, an actor and entertainer based in Utah, first met Rigney when they were filming the Knights of Mayhem television series for National Geographic in 2010. They’ve been friends since.
A retired Marine who competed for 18 years, Coburger respectfully calls Rigney’s devotion to jousting “totally insane,” recalling a competition where Rigney suffered a severe facial cut.
“He was standing there in the side-view mirror of a pickup truck with a portable vet kit, and he’s stitching himself back together,” Coburger says. “I was like, ‘Dude, why don’t you go to the doctor for that?’ And he’s, ‘Eh, it’s just a couple stitches and I don’t want the blood dripping into my face for the next show.’”
“Eddie’s a competitor,” Coburger continues. “If he puts his mind to something, he just goes out and does it, good, bad or otherwise.”
Rigney, who’s been riding horses since he was 3 years old, says he feels most at peace in a saddle. When he’s not competing or working horses, you’ll probably find him riding alone in the Badlands of South Dakota or searching for long-forgotten Pony Express stations in Nevada.
“I don’t care if it’s a rodeo or jousting in front of 1,000 people. When you have the right horse, there’s a connection. It’s almost spiritual,” says Rigney. “I may not have cash, but I consider myself rich.”
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Editor’s note: Shortly before this issue went to press, Rigney traveled to Denmark to compete in the 2023 European Jousting Championships held on the grounds of the 16th century Spøtrrup Castle. Facing riders from 20 different countries, Rigney placed second in the heavy armor division.
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Eddie “The Hitman” Rigney
Hometown: Laurens.
Age: 53.
Claim to fame: He’s considered one of the top North American jousters in the heavy armor division of the International Jousting Association.
Medieval must-see: Rigney says A Knight’s Tale is a must-watch movie for those who love the Middle Ages and jousting. Rigney, who has appeared on several TV and web series, says he’s been approached to do more on-camera work, but it’s not his thing. “I look my best when my helmet is on.”
Trusty steed: Skull Crusher, aka Skully, is a cross between a thoroughbred and Percheron. He’s fast, reaching speeds up to 25 mph, and massive, standing 17.2 hands high. “He’s my rock. No matter what I ask him to do, he does it.”
Co-op affiliation: Rigney is a member of Laurens Electric Cooperative.