Class Act

Within every sports discipline, pundits and backyard philosophers alike hash out their arguments regarding who is the greatest (insert athletic discipline here). Whether these discussions take place on Sunday morning television shows, or over barbecue pits, we all know that these debates are exercises in futility that make for lively chit-chat. That being said, Adriano Moraes is quite possibly the greatest bull rider of all time.

At the age of fifteen, the Brazilian cowboy started his bull riding career like most young men who take up the sport—against the wishes of his parents. Shortly thereafter he began to pile up championship buckles, cash prizes and adoration from fans around the world. Before coming to the U.S. he won the Brazilian national championship twice. It was an encounter with another barrier breaking cowboy, Charles Sampson, which led him to try his hand at bull riding here in America.

The rest, as they say, is history. Adriano’s initial success came riding bulls in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). Only three men on the planet have ever rode all 10 of their bulls at the PRCA’s penultimate event—the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. Adriano did it twice!

In the early 1990s the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) league was formed by a group of bull riders who saw the potential of stand alone bull riding as an avenue to take the sport to the next level and provide better paydays for the riders who risked life and limb to compete. Since the inception of the PBR, along with being part of the organizational leadership, Adriano has been a force to be reckoned with as a competitor. Moraes has won the PBR World Championship an unprecedented three times: 1994, 2001 and 2006. As a side note, he finished a close second in two additional years…he very well could have been a five time world champion!

From a statistics standpoint, Adriano is second on the PBR’s all time money list with $3.5 million in lifetime earnings. Additionally, he is third on the career 90 plus point ride list with X rides. I could carry on for quite some time on his accomplishments but I will digress and encourage you to do some research on your own to learn about his riding accomplishments.

In the last four paragraphs I have carried on about Adriano’s bull riding accomplishments, I would like to finish this piece talking about Moraes as a man. Among other things…he is a devoted husband and father, devout man of Faith, author, rancher, businessman and class act.

At the beginning of the 2008 PBR Built Ford Tough Series Tour he announced that this will be his last year of competitive bull riding. I am confident that as much as he will miss riding bulls competitively, he will enjoy getting out of the rat race and spending more time with his family and his ministry.

As I have mentioned in previous postings, the PBR Built Ford Tough Series made its annual stop here in San Antonio on May 17th for the Ford Best in Texas Shootout at the Alamodome. Last week San Antonio was infested, in a good way, with all of the Tour riders that we watch on the Versus network broadcasts. Last Thursday, May 15th the folks at Cowboys Dance Hall held a special event in honor of Adriano’s accomplishments and contributions to the sport. I was honored to be asked to emcee the presentation.

The initial part of the presentation was a short film created by the PBR production staff. It chronicled his PBR career and showed some touching moments he had with his wife and children after winning his 2006 PBR World Championship. It also contained a monologue where he talked about retirement and shed some tears while discussing the closing of the competitive chapter of his life. At the conclusion of the video, Cowboys Dance Hall presented him with a Bronze and the PBR had a large cake brought in for the entire nightclub to share. Adriano didn’t miss a beat, he whipped out his pocket knife and began cutting the cake and passing out pieces to everyone.

Friends, rodeo and bull riding are the remaining professional sports where fans have almost unfettered access to the competitors. Throughout the weekend I watched as Moraes interacted with fans and fellow bull riders, without a doubt he is a class act. Whether posing for pictures with fans ranging from adolescent to geriatric, he was always gracious. During the Friday night bull riding at Cowboys Dance Hall he was behind the chutes chatting with young bull riders and “pulling ropes” for competitors. When was the last time “A-Rod” showed up to a little league game in a city where he was playing?

As this chapter of his story comes to an end, Adriano is surely eager to begin penning the next words of his adventures to follow. Without a doubt, he is a class act who will never be duplicated, my hope is that more and more people will try to emulate him.