CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (September 30, 2010) - Paulo Crimber is the first Brazilian to judge a PBR Cup Series event. He might also become the first of Brazil’s native sons to judge at the Built Ford Tough World Finals.
Cody Lambert, a PBR founder who has both competed and judged at the World Finals, thinks Crimber could be selected this weekend when the Top 40 riders in the world choose the four judges they want assigning scores in Las Vegas.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they voted him into the Finals,” Lambert said. “He’s done a good job.”
Crimber, whose bull riding career has been on hold since he broke the upper cervical vertebrae (C-1) in his neck for a second time more than two years ago, made his judging debut at a PBR Brazil master event in March 2009. He then worked the Barretos International Rodeo and the PBR Brazil Finals. He’s also marked bulls and riders at the past two World Cups.
This year and last he was voted Brazil’s No. 1 bull riding judge.
In late March 2009, Crimber attended a judges’ seminar Lambert conducted in Albuquerque, N.M. – a requirement before judging a PBR contest in the United States. His first U.S. judging experience came at an ABBI event in Fort Worth, Texas, on Dec. 31, 2009. The 30-year-old worked his first Built Ford Tough Series contest in Tulsa, Okla., in mid July. His second one came this past weekend at the Charlottesville (Va.) Invitational. He’s enjoying his new line of work.
“I’m loving it,” said Crimber, who makes his U.S. home in Decatur, Texas. “I really want to try to ride again at some point in time, but if it doesn’t happen, this is what I would like to continue doing. I think [because] I was a bull rider for 12 years, I know a lot of what’s going on – in the arena, in the bucking chutes, all that kind of stuff.
“I understand what the rider is going through and know what to look for.”
After placing ninth in the world in 2007, Crimber broke his neck for the first time in St. Louis on Feb. 23, 2008. On his first bull buck back – June 6 in Orlando, Fla. – he fractured the same bone, ending his season and possibly his career. He was riding 69.2 percent of his bulls and had four Top-5 performances in 2008 – including a victory – in just 10 events. He’s made more than $1.1 million riding in the PBR.
If Crimber gets assurance from medical professionals that he has no greater chance of being paralyzed than any other rider, he’s liable to rosin up his rope and strap on his chaps.
“I still want to do it; I know I can do it,” he said.
