DES MOINES, Iowa — Bull riding is not for the timid.
Cowboys strap themselves to a 2,000-pound bull built to toss them like flies, knowing they must overcome a gnawing fear to stay on top of a fierce, bucking brute of an animal.
Nobody has displayed the grit it takes to conquer that moment like three-time world champion Adriano Moraes. But the end is coming for one of the Professional Bull Riding tour’s original stars.
Moraes announced in January this will be his last season in the PBR. The 38-year-old Brazilian, the tour’s oldest active rider, is revered by riders and fans for his skill and flair.
“I’m going to miss the riding because I love it so much,” he said. “It’s a part of me that’s dying, and it hurts. It hurts every time I think about it. I’ve cried a thousand times, and I know I’m going to cry a thousand more times.”
For the last two decades, bull riding has been Moraes’ life.
Moraes matured from a boy mastering calves on a farm to a two-time national champion in Brazil.
He was crowned the PBR’s first world champion in 1994, and he followed with titles in 2001 and 2006. He’s now second on the circuit’s career money list at nearly $3.5 million, behind Justin McBride, and he’s still the only man to win the PBR world championship three times.
Moraes also has been an outspoken proponent of the sport’s growth, serving as its international ambassador.
“He’s accomplished more in sport than anyone else has,” PBR chief marketing officer Sean Gleason said. “His career is the epitome of what a PBR career should be.” That career has come at a painful price — nine major operations.
They include facial reconstruction and work done to fix a shattered ankle and broken collarbone, nose, ribs, femur, tibia and fibula.
Moraes bounced back every time.
He is a role model to the PBR’s up-and-coming riders, who marvel at his ability to excel even as he gets older.
“Adriano’s a superstar,” rider Cord McCoy said. “For being the best bull rider in the world, he’s pretty down to earth. Bull riding is a pretty humbling sport, and you realize that when you talk to the champ.”
But as Moraes prepares to hang up his rope, he struggles with regrets.
He acknowledges he wasn’t always fully committed. He often coasted on the natural skills that led from the farm to fame until his early 30s, when the toll of all those injuries caught up to him. His renewed commitment to conditioning paid off with his third title in 2006.
“If I was a little more committed since I got here at age 23, 24, I could and I should have accomplished a lot more,” Moraes said. “I can make excuses for my failures if I want to. But I’m not a man of excuses.”
Moraes’ legacy, in any case, seems assured. He’ll be remembered for his toughness, his unprecedented success and his showmanship.
