ProRodeo Sports News - January 12, 2018

IN HIS OWNWORDS: J.W. HARRIS

BULL RIDER BACK ON PRCA RODEO TRAIL J.W. Harris won four bull riding titles between 2008 and 2013. He raked in more than $1.8 million in the PRCA while qualifying for nine consecutive Wrangler National Finals Rodeos. Harris is returning to ride bulls in the PRCA. At 31 years old, he is looking to become just the fifth bull rider to win at least five world titles. His first ride out of the chute was at Odessa, Texas, during the Sandhills Stock Show & Rodeo, which ends Jan. 13.

you want to be there. If you’re not happy with your job then you’re not going to do your job to the best of your ability. I can’t wait to get back at it. I haven’t been on anything since the first part of December. I took a month off to let the body heal up and feel better. Man, I feel good. I’ve got everything healed up and ready to tear it up again. I’ve always followed what was going on in the PRCA. I checked results. I’m good friends with bullfighters Dusty Tuckness and Cody Webster, and they’d call and give me reports and let me know how things were going and where they were at, and I’m friends with Cody Whitney. So, I stayed up on the good gossip, anyways. With the four world titles I won and the success that Sage Kimzey has had winning the last four titles, this year’s competition will be even more exciting. I’m not going to pay attention to what Sage is doing and Sage isn’t going to pay attention to what I’m doing. Sage has got to worry about Sage and J.W. has got to worry about J.W. The chips will fall where they fall. We’ve just got to put our best foot forward every time we nod our head, and hopefully it’s enough at the end of the year. There are fewer gold buckles out there than there are Super Bowl rings. I’m a history guy. From calf roping to barrel racing to bull riding, I just love the history of rodeo and everything about it. Those guys who are ahead of me on the gold buckle count, they’re the reason there is rodeo. Don Gay (8 world titles), Jim Shoulders (7), Smokey Snyder (5) and Harry Tompkins (5), that’s history right there. Those are legends. It’s going to be fun. It has been a long time, obviously, since I’ve got to go to rodeos and enjoy everything and show the kiddos where it all started and what it’s all about.

T his weekend (Jan. 11-13) I head back out on the rodeo trail, where I will get to travel to rodeos with my wife and kids. I’m really looking forward to it. I’mmost looking forward to getting to see all my old friends, just to get back to where it all started. My little girl (Aubrey) remembers traveling to rodeos a little bit. She’s 7 now, so she was really young when I last competed in the PRCA. Dillon, my 5-year-old son, was just too little to remember most of it. Aubrey was old enough that she remembers getting to play with all the other kids, and with bull rider Cody Whitney’s kids, Lila and Quaid. Aubrey remembers some of it. She’ll have a memory now that will last her forever. That’s our family (rodeo folk). I went to nine NFRs and made a lot of connections in rodeo. And that fits our lifestyle – rodeo and the rodeo people. We’re all excited about it. I think the kids are more excited about getting to go to Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days and going to the fair and the carnival. My wife, Jackie, she’s never been the one to pressure me into doing anything. She told me, returning to the PRCA has to be your decision. Ultimately, that’s my job, riding bulls. So it has to be my decision. We talked about it. She told me, it’s what you need to do to make you happy and make

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ProRodeo Sports News 1/12/18

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