The architect

By Keith Cartwright
Posted Tuesday, February 2, 2010

PUEBLO, Colo. (February 2, 2010) - The founders of the PBR dared to dream.

But it wasn’t until they hired an energetic CEO by the name of Randy Bernard, who was only in his 20s at the time, that they made those dreams a reality.

“I think all of us dreamed,” Bernard said, “but I also think that everyone on that board of directors was one of the best in the world. They all dreamed of being a World Champion, and maybe my dreams were more business-oriented, but I think when you mix dreams and passion together, those are the ingredients for success.”

“When we hired Randy we had a vision,” said Cody Lambert, who called the hiring a turning point. “We thought we were reaching for the stars, but we weren’t even looking at it from the same angle, and Randy taught us to reach for the stars.”

Lambert made those comments when interviewed for a special section of the 2008 PBR World Finals Program celebrating the first 15 years of the organization. At the time, Lambert also said, “we tried to surround ourselves with great people.”

Over the years, what the PBR got in Bernard, who submitted his resignation as CEO on Monday afternoon, was not a man who simply had job. Instead, the PBR became a way of life for the California native.

While the founders saw to it that PBR featured a great product – the best bull riders in the world getting on the rankest bulls in the world – Bernard provided a vision, a direction and a tireless passion to make it successful.

In 1996, a year after Bernard was hired, the PBR launched its minor league system with the Touring Pro Division, and awarded a total purse of $1 million at the PBR World Finals. In 2003, they began awarding a $1 million bonus to the World Champion.

Later this year, the PBR will surpass $100 million paid out in prize money to the bull riders.

To date, 20 bull riders have earned in excess of $1 million, and seven of those riders – Justin McBride, Chris Shivers, Adriano Moraes, Guilherme Marchi, Kody Lostroh, Mike Lee and J.B. Mauney – have earned more than $2 million.

Of course, there have countless other dreams that have been realized along the way, but as Lambert said, the goal of the PBR was for cowboys to make a better living.

“The PBR’s goal was always to reward the best bull riders for their talent and sacrifice,” added Ty Murray.

One of those riders who came along shortly after the PBR was formed was J.W. Hart.

The Oklahoma cowboy not only nodded his head in the bucking chute a then-record 157 consecutive events, but he –like the co-founders – tips his hat to the work Bernard put forth.

“He’s a man of vision, because I know that I could have never dreamed of some of the concepts and things that he came up with, and probably none of us old cowboys could have,” he said. “He’s done an unbelievable job, and it would be scary to think where we would be without him.

“Luck was on our side one day – on every bull rider in the world’s side – when Cody, Tuff (Hedeman) and Ty met him and hired him and he said yes to the job.”

“He didn’t know how he was going to get paid,” Hart continued, “but he took the job and ran with it. Every bull rider from Cody Lambert to myself to the kids that will be World Champions 20 years down the road owes a good thanks to him.”

“I think that’s the American dream,” said Bernard, who will remain in an advisory role with the PBR board of directors. “To have a dream and back it with passion and hard work.”

Bernard on the future

“I want our sport to be just like any other major league sport. I want to be able to pick up the USA Today and see it not once every three months – that was a dream of ours just to get there back in 1995 – I want to see it in there on a very consistent basis. I want to see us on Letterman and Jay Leno, the late night shows.

“I want to see international growth. I think we have phenomenal growth opportunities in Europe. Right now we’re broadcast in 85 countries. I want to see it broadcast in every country.

“It’s a great sport. It’s dangerous. It’s easy to understand. I want to see great movies done on the PBR and I want to see the cowboy in a great light. We’re not mainstream. We’ve got a long ways to go, but we’re on the right track.

“I want to see bull riders, well, I don’t want to see one guy make a million dollars, I want to see 10 guys make a million dollars. If the tenth guy is at a million, then maybe the top guy is at 3 or 4 million.

“We have a long way to, and I’m not sure we can get there in five or 10 years, but I just think that those have to be our goals. If you fail, then you have to look at it and try again and, trust me, in the last 15 years we’ve failed on several fronts, but we’ve always just brushed ourselves off and tried to figure out how to do it better.”