Nick Morrison’s story starts on a ranch in Wyoming, where grit wasn’t a lesson — it was a lifestyle. Days began before sunrise, working cattle and training horses alongside his family. When his dad became a pastor on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Nick learned about faith and community just as deeply as he learned about hard work.
At nine years old, he climbed onto his first steer. By nineteen, he was living his dream — a professional bull rider on the PBR Tour. But dreams, like bulls, can turn in an instant. A broken neck. A shattered back. Dozens of concussions. By twenty-one, the career he thought would define his life was over.
It would have been easy to give up. Instead, Nick found purpose in the fall.
When bull riding ended, Nick didn’t stop serving. He turned his passion toward ministry, helping lead one of the fastest-growing cowboy churches in Texas. He built Crossfire Youth Ministries from a small handful of teens into a movement reaching thousands across the Midwest. But behind the growth, Nick was battling a hidden fight — the long-term effects of over forty concussions.
Years later, the symptoms worsened. Memory loss. Blackouts. And finally, a brain stroke that left him completely unable to speak. For someone whose life revolved around connection — preaching, mentoring, and communicating — silence felt like losing everything.
But Nick refused to let his story end there. He started from scratch, relearning how to speak one word at a time. It took endless hours of rehab, faith, and stubborn perseverance. Slowly, his voice returned — not just literally, but with more strength and purpose than ever before.
Nick’s recovery became the start of something extraordinary. He stepped onto a new kind of stage — this time with a microphone, a story, and a sense of humor that could fill a room.
As a nationally touring comedian and keynote speaker, Nick brings authenticity, laughter, and hope to every audience. His journey from bull rider to brain injury survivor to stand-up comic is proof that life’s hardest hits can lead to life’s greatest lessons.
Through his motivational keynotes and his book, Knocked Out But Not Down, Nick shares those lessons with audiences everywhere — showing that resilience isn’t just about getting back up, it’s about how you rise.
Nick’s journey from the rodeo arena to the stage comes to life in his book, Knocked Out But Not Down: One Bull Rider’s Story of Faith and Resilience in the Aftermath of Multiple Concussions. The book dives deep into the physical and emotional battles he faced after a lifetime of injuries — and how faith, humor, and grit pulled him through.
It’s more than a story about recovery. It’s a reminder that even when life takes your voice, your hope, or your footing, you can rebuild from the ground up. Each chapter invites readers to reflect, laugh, and rediscover their own strength in the face of adversity.
Nick Morrison is living proof that it’s not about how hard you fall, but how faithfully you rise. Whether he’s on stage delivering a keynote, performing a comedy show, or connecting through his writing, his mission stays the same — to help people get better, not bitter, and to remind them that every setback can become the start of something greater.
