Professional Bull Riders Heroes and Legends Celebration honors four special divisions of the professional bull riding community. Each award recognizes a substantial contribution to the sport.
Contents
- Ring of Honor
- Recipients
- Brand of Honor
- Jim Shoulders Lifetime Achievement Award
- Sharon Shoulders Award
- References
Professional Bull Riders (PBR), Inc., is an international professional bull riding organization based in Pueblo, Colorado. It began in 1992, when 21 bull riders pooled $1,000 each to found the organization, which was dedicated to bull riding separate from its traditional inclusion as one of several rodeo events. Today, the PBR is one of the top ten fastest growing sports organizations in the world. It sponsors the Built Ford Tough Series, where the top 35 best bull riders in the world compete, along with the best bucking bulls.
Ring of Honor
The PBR Ring of Honor is the equivalent of a Hall of Fame for bull riders. The PBR created this award in 1996 to recognize those who have had a substantial and enduring influence on the sport of professional bull riding. Honorees may be PBR bull riders, but some PRCA bull riders have also been honored, for example, icon Lane Frost. "It is both a physical ring and a fellowship of men." This honor is bestowed upon select bull riders whose contributions to the sport of bull riding have outlasted their achievements inside the sports arena. The award is symbolized by a custom-made, gold-and-diamond ring engraved with the honoree's name and the PBR logo. Recipients are honored with this award during a ceremony at the Built Ford Tough Series World Finals near the end of the year.
It was created in 1996 with the inaugural induction of ProRodeo Hall of Fame members Jim Shoulders and Ted Nuce.
The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA), which sanctions traditional rodeo, has a Hall of Fame, the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. Although there a Bull Riding Hall of Fame located in Texas, it is not associated with the PBR.
Recipients
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
Brand of Honor
First awarded in 2011 to Little Yellow Jacket, the Brand of Honor is awarded to a bull for superlative performance in the PBR. The PBR recognizes that there are two athletes in every ride. Brand of Honor bulls are elite athletes who transcend the sport and few make the cut. In 2016, Bushwacker was awarded the Brand of Honor. This three-time World Champion bucking bull, now retired, is universally considered to be the best in bull riding history.
Recipients
Jim Shoulders Lifetime Achievement Award
This award is named for Jim Shoulders, who won 16 world titles and is recognized in his field as possibly the greatest western-sports athlete of all time. This award recognizes some of the many non-bull riders who have made a tangible contribution to the sport and whose efforts have built the PBR, including stock contractors, contract personnel, PBR employees, and more. It was first awarded in 2011.
Recipients
Sharon Shoulders Award
This award recognizes women who have supported professional bull riding; "those whose work, partnership and faith have been as integral to the sport as the athletes themselves." These are bull rider wives who have shared the burdens of a bull rider in his life and in the sport and helped enable him to contribute to the sport. It is named for the wife of Jim Shoulders. The PBR created his award in 2010 and honored inaugural inductee Tiffany Davis.