This List of Professional Bull Riders Champions provides lists of all the year-end champions of the Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR). There are the World Champion bull riders, World Finals event champions, World Champion bulls, and Rookie of the Year, for example. Also listed are the winners of various awards that are given out at the end of each season. The Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR) is an international professional bull riding organization based in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. In the United States, PBR events are televised on CBS and streamed live for free on RidePass on Pluto TV. PBR events are also televised on TUDN and streamed on Vix Premium; both for Spanish-speaking viewers in the United States and Mexico.[3]
More than 800 bull riders from the United States, Canada, Brazil, Australia and other countries hold PBR memberships.[4][5] This article lists all the various champions and awards that have been bestowed since the founding of the PBR in 1992.
• Bodacious was also the 1994–1995 PRCA Bucking Bull of the Year. When Sweet Pro's Bruiser won the PRCA Bucking Bull of the Year award for 2017, he and Bodacious became the only bulls to win both the PRCA and PBR titles. Each bull won their two titles in the same year. Bodacious won both of his titles in 1995, while Sweet Pro's Bruiser won both of his titles in 2017.[9]
•• There was actually a tie between Sweet Pro's Bruiser, Sweet Pro's Long John and Pearl Harbor, which was resolved by taking the sum of the bull's best eight outs for the season. That is done according to the PBR rules as the first way to resolve a tiebreaker.[10]
Note: This tour debuted in 1995 as the Touring Pro Division. In 2001, it was renamed the Challenger Tour. 2009 was the last year in which this tour had a year-end finals event, and in 2010, it was changed back to its original title of the Touring Pro Division.
The PBR has some secondary awards, in addition to the World Championship, given out annually, some named after bull riders fatally injured during competition.[23]
The Rookie of the Year award goes to the rookie (first full year of Premier Series competition) bull rider who wins the most points of all first-year competitors.
The Stock Contractor of the Year award goes to the stock contractor who has supplied the best bulls to Premier Series events. This award is given based on a vote among the top PBR bull riders.[23]
The Bull of the World Finals award goes to the bull who scores the highest points combining all his outs during the PBR World Finals.
The Lane Frost/Brent Thurman Award is for the highest-scoring single ride at the World Finals. It is named for Lane Frost, the 1987 Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) World Champion bull rider who was fatally injured at the Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo on July 30, 1989; and Brent Thurman, a rising star in pro bull riding and co-founder of the PBR who was seriously injured at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas on December 11, 1994, and died six days later.
The Glen Keeley Award is for the Canadian bull rider who earns the most points throughout the entire Premier Series season. It is named for Glen Keeley, the 1989 Canadian Professional Rodeo Association (CPRA) champion bull rider who died of injuries sustained at the PBR Bud Light Cup Series' Ty Murray Invitational on March 24, 2000, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The Mason Lowe Award is for the highest-scoring single ride during the regular season of the Premier Series. Mason Lowe was an American bull rider who died of his injuries after being stepped on by a bull on January 15, 2019, during a PBR Velocity Tour event held in conjunction with the National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colorado.[24]
The Team Series Regular-Season MVP is awarded to the individual rider who earned the most points during the regular season of the PBR's U.S. Team Series.
The Team Series Fan Favorite Bull is awarded to the best performing bull during the regular season of the U.S. Team Series and is decided by fans who voted online.
The Great 8 Award is for the individual rider with the highest riding percentage of 20 outs or more during the regular season of the U.S. Team Series.
The PBR also has recognition awards in the Heroes and Legends Celebration. Some of these like the Ring of Honor and the Brand of Honor are the equivalent of a Hall of Fame recognition.[25] In 2019 and 2020, the Mason Lowe Award was presented in the arena during the PBR World Finals, but it became a part of the Heroes and Legends Celebration in 2021. However, by 2022, it was now awarded during the opening gala the day before the beginning of the PBR World Finals. From 2011 through 2019, and again in 2021, the Heroes and Legends Celebration took place just before the start of the PBR World Finals. However, as of 2022, said ceremony is no longer a part of the PBR World Finals. Beginning in 2023, it will be held at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in September during the week of Freedom Fest, the annual PBR Team Series event in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Stock Contractor of the Year
1995 – Terry Williams
1996 – Terry Williams
1997 – Terry Williams
1998 – Terry Williams
1999 – Terry Williams
2000 – Herrington Cattle Company
2001 – D&H Cattle Company
2002 – D&H Cattle Company
2003 – D&H Cattle Company
2004 – D&H Cattle Company
2005 – D&H Cattle Company
2006 – Page & Teague Bucking Bulls
2007 – Chad Berger and Larry Ryken
2008 – Chad Berger and Clay Struve
2009 – Chad Berger and Clay Struve
2010 – Jeff Robinson
2011 – Jeff Robinson
2012 – Jeff Robinson
2013 – Jeff Robinson
2014 – Chad Berger and Clay Struve
2015 – Chad Berger and Clay Struve
2016 – Chad Berger and Clay Struve
2017 – Chad Berger and Clay Struve
2018 – Chad Berger and Clay Struve
2019 – Chad Berger and Clay Struve
2020 – Chad Berger and Clay Struve
2021 – Chad Berger and Clay Struve
2022 – Chad Berger, Clay Struve and D&H Cattle Company
The Golden Barrel Award recipients were decided by fans who voted online. The categories were based on moments that occurred during the Premier Series regular season. The Best Celebration award was for the rider who gave the best celebration after completing a successful qualified ride; the Best Winning Ride award was for the rider who gave the best ride of the regular season; the Best Save award was for the bullfighter who put out the best save of a rider from a bull; the 7 Seconds of Agony award was for the rider who gave the best seven-second ride; and the Best Breakthrough Performance award was for the rider who gave the best comeback performance after recently going through some professional setbacks. The final category was added in 2022. 2021 and 2022 were the only years in which these awards were given out.
This article presents a list of major champions and honors won by Professional Bull Riders. The Heroes and Legends Celebrations have their own article which lists the Ring of Honor, Sharon Shoulders Award, Jim Shoulders Lifetime Achievement Award, Brand of Honor, and Ty Murray Top Hand Award.
