PUEBLO, Colo. (October 18, 2010) - [Editor’s Note: The PBR Built Ford Tough World Finals will be a six-round event this year after encompassing eight rounds the past six years. Before we look ahead, let’s take a peak back at some of the great moments from the 2004-09 Finals. Writer Chris McManes – who’s been covering the PBR since 1996 – will feature eight achievements until the start of the showdown in Las Vegas.]
Justin McBride and childhood friend John Howell used to dream about what they wanted to accomplish when they grew up. Howell wanted to play on a Super Bowl hampion team, and McBride yearned to be a World Champion bull rider.
Pretty heady dreams for a pair of kids who used to play eight-man football together at Mullen (Neb.) High School.
Howell reached his goal first when the team he was playing for as a reserve safety and special teamer, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, won the 2003 Super Bowl. Less than three years later, McBride joined his pal in the dream-fulfilled department when he won the 2005 PBR World Championship.
McBride had been close to the top many times before, finishing third, fifth, second and fourth in the final world standings between 2001 and 2004.
McBride, then 26 and living in Elk City, Okla., came out guns blazing at the 2005 Built Ford Tough World Finals and won Round 1. He was the only cowboy to cover his first three bulls and increased his pre-Finals lead over Guilherme Marchi from 956.5 points to 1,450.75. Heading into the final day of competition, he had built a 1,560.5-point advantage. He was also leading the event aggregate.
As he made his way from the bowels of UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center up to the press room, the former UNLV student was less than 24 hours from realizing his dream. Still, he knew anything could happen.
“It’s been tough to deal with this past two weeks,” he said. “The championship is so close, I can taste it, but yet it’s still so far away.”
Marchi nailed an 89.75 in Round 7 and McBride answered with an 86 on Chad Berger and Larry Ryken’s Little Lobo. That sealed the deal for McBride because it guaranteed that he’d place high enough in the aggregate to prevent Marchi from passing him. He was officially recognized as 2005 World Champion after he hung on the side of Camo (Boyd, Floyd, Paradise Farms).
“I think that everything that led up to tonight helped me out,” McBride said a short time later. “I walked into the locker room and they sprayed me down with beer and everybody was cheering. But I also know what it’s like to walk into that locker room and nobody say a word to you.
“So I think everything along the way really helped me deal with the whole week.”
McBride also credited his good friend Ty Murray for helping him cope with the stress of contending for a world title in Las Vegas. Murray won all nine of his PRCA World Championships (seven all-around, two bull riding) in the same building.
“When you look at Justin’s experiences as a bridesmaid, that can do one of two things to you: It can make you stronger or it can drag you down,” Murray said at the time. “I think Justin showed the true champion that he is by learning from all those bad experiences and making himself into a World Champion.”
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