Interview With Willy Ropp At St. Louis PBR

February 25, 2006

By James Johnson

I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with the up and coming Willy Ropp at the St. Louis PBR event held this weekend.  Willy has a very positive and winning personality, here are some of his thoughts on his newly started PBR career.

After the cordial introductions, I asked Willy how it felt to compete with the best of the best.  He said “You ain’t nobody unless you get to the Finals.”  He went on to say he feels real confident in himself and feels real good about his chances on the PBR tour.  In the last 6 weeks he says he has ridden as good as he ever has.  Willy sees himself staying on tour as long as they (PBR) give him a chance.  With an easy smile he feels like he could and should ride any bull they throw underneath him. “We can’t rid’em all, but we are darn sure gonna try.”

I asked Willy what the difference was in riding with the PBR and the NFPB.  He told me the NFPB is a great circuit, but here in the PBR there is just so much more money in it, everyone is going into so many directions, including the sponsors.  “We get on bulls from the East coast to the West coast.  The PBR is just a lot bigger with more money.”  He also added when the PBR comes to the larger cities, the fans know and recognize who the riders are.  “When the announcers say our names, and the fans screaming and hollering we the riders feed off their energy, it makes you feel good, and it gives you goose bumps.”

Willy wants to make a name for himself, but says everyone else does too.  “All you have to do is try, if you ain’t got no try, you ain’t never gonna get nowhere. I am gonna try as hard as I can every time I nod my head.”  He emphasized that he feels great about his chances. “The short round is where we want to be-that is where the top guys are.”

My next question to this easy going cowboy was how is the camaraderie among the bullriders in the PBR?.  Willy smiled and said with a laugh and told the story of last weekend in Portland , Oregon how He, Sevi Torturo, Brian Canter and JB Mauney bunked together, and they all had the good fortune of making the short go.  “We are like brothers, we fight amongst each other from time to time, but in the end, we are all here just to help each other out, we are here for the same reason.

After what seemed a very short time I had to wrap up my conversation with this young up and coming superstar.  The last thing I discussed with Willy before he had to go prepare for his second round match-up was what his long term goals were, and how he felt about competing with the likes of Chris Shivers.  He replied with that Willy Ropp smile, “I want to ride long enough to make a name for myself.”  “Chris Shivers ain’t got nothing in his goals that I don’t have in mine, and that is a world’s title, and that is what everybody is here for.”  “Some people try harder than others, our goals are the same, and that’s to ride every bull you get on.”