A televised feature on bull riding legend Jerome Davis is scheduled to air Saturday, May 10, at 10 a.m. ET during NASCAR Now on ESPN 2.

 

Davis was the 1995 PRCA World Champion, and a top athlete in the PBR before being paralyzed in 1998. He has gone on to be a successful stock contractor, and served for many years on the PBR’s Board of Directors. An inductee into the PBR’s Ring of Honor, the genial North Carolinian has served as a coach for many of bull riding’s best young talents, including Brian Canter and J.B. Mauney.

The Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR) is excited to unveil its newest investors--two of the sporting world’s most renowned athletes. National Football League (NFL) Hall of Famer John Elway and National Hockey League (NHL) Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky are two of the PBR’s newest shareholders through Spire Capital Partners, L.P., the PBR’s partner and private equity firm.

Randy Bernard, PBR CEO, shared his excitement, “The PBR is extremely proud to have these two incredible athletes associated with our organization. This is another way the PBR can become more visible in the world of mainstream sports.”

Former Denver Bronco, John Elway, is still revered as being one of the best NFL quarterbacks of all time. He holds many records, one of these being 148 games won as a starting quarterback, as well as holding the record of being a 5-time Super Bowl starting quarterback.

“To be associated with a group of people like the Professional Bull Riders, and my good friend Wayne Gretzky, is a win-win situation for me,” said Elway. “I really look forward to being involved with this great group and sharing in our successes together.”

Gretzky, widely considered the greatest player in the history of the National Hockey League, still remains the most statistically dominant player in the history of North American team sports. He captured 61 NHL scoring records during his 20-year career, and continues to hold or share these records. “The Great One” also won four Stanley Cups, as well as many international competitions. Following his final NHL game on April 18, 1999, Gretzky became the first and only player in NHL history to have his jersey number retired by all member clubs.

“Coming on board with the Professional Bull Riders is an exciting and unique opportunity,” said Gretzky. “Their success as an entertainment vehicle has been well documented, and to be a part of such a well-respected and up-an-coming venture is thrilling.”

Spire Capital Partners completed its partnership with PBR in April 2007. Spire Capital Partners, L.P., is now the majority investor of PBR, the leading, global professional bull riding organization.

There’s a reason the PBR is known as the Toughest Sport on Dirt.

A trio of riders – Kasey Hayes, Austin Meier and Chris Shivers – had a pretty rough go of it in back-to-back weeks, but as the dust finally begins to settle on the Built Ford Tough Series events in Chicago and Des Moines, all three cowboys are doing better than when they were last seen.

“I’m doing great and I feel good,” said Meier, when reached earlier today on his cell phone while fishing. “I’m a little sore, but it ain’t nothing nobody else has dealt with as far as being sore."

Meier was taken to a local hospital in Des Moines after the event to be evaluated, and x-rays all came back negative. He was diagnosed with a concussion, but he already feels well enough that he said he “will be in San Antonio.”

In fact, he’s making plans to enter an Enterprise event in Liberty, Texas, on Thursday and Friday before taking part in the San Antonio event.

“I tell you what,” he said, “I came out pretty clean out of that mess.”

Hayes, who is in good spirits, is still at a local Des Moines hospital after undergoing surgery to fuse his C5-C6-C7 vertebrae, and is expected to be released sometime Monday.

Following the long surgery, doctors noted that there is no neurological damage and he is expected to be out action for three to six months.

Likewise, Shivers will not be riding in San Antonio.

He is currently doing well at his home in Jonesville, La., while recuperating from surgery to repair his broken left cheek bone and eye socket.

For more information on injuries related to any of the Top 45 riders in the world, please long onto http://www.pbrnow.com/riders/injury/.

—by Keith Ryan Cartwright

Executives from the PBR and officials from the City of Pueblo, Colo., announced plans yesterday for "Wild Wild West Fest," to take place in Pueblo in May of 2009.

The five-day event will be anchored by a nationally televised Built Ford Tough Series competition that will put Pueblo on the map as the host of a major festival.

“If everybody does their part it has success written all over it,” said PBR Chief Executive Officer Randy Bernard.

Exhibits will located throughout downtown, and the event – which is in its initial planning stages – will also feature a Western art show, golf tournament, cowboy mounted shooting, cowboy breakfast, mock gunfights, Little Britches Rodeo, parade, team roping, Rocky Mountain oyster feed, mutton bustin’, and a concert performance by The Bellamy Brothers.

The PBR has become the most popular brand in the Western lifestyle. Its annual two-week World Finals brings an estimated $32 million in non-gaming revenue to the city of Las Vegas.

During the press conference, which took place in a "Western saloon" setting was attended by upwards of 200 people, Bernard also made two special announcements.

One was to state that the PBR will hold its annual induction into the Ring of Honor - a Hall of Fame ceremony which normally takes during the World Finals - in Pueblo during the Wild Wild West Fest.

He also announced that the PBR is contributing $50,000 to the Wild Wild West Fest charity fund.

—by Keith Ryan Cartwright