ATHLETES & STARS
Four-time PRCA world champion, JW Harris has left the
building. The 2014 PBR Rookie of the Year announced on
January 7, 2018 that he has decided it is time to return to
his cowboy and rodeo roots this year following four seasons
in the PBR and pursue a fifth gold buckle in the PRCA.
“I have a lot more friends rodeoing than I did going to
PBRs,” Harris said. “[Rodeo folks] were more like family
than friends. They are people I trust with watching my kids
for a week. That is a big part of the reason.”
Harris and his wife Jackie want to make sure their kids,
Aubrey and Dillon, have great memories of driving up and
down the rodeo road now that they
are getting to the age where they can
remember. Plus, Harris just didn’t feel
excited about the PBR.
on Honey Hush in the championship round. Harris
said that ride inside the Thomas & Mack Center will go
down as his favorite PBR memory.
Harris doesn’t expect to make a PBR return in the
future as of now.
“Hell, I know I left it all out there every time I got on
a bull. Yeah, I wanted to win a world title and it was
obviously not meant to be,” Harris said. “That is one
thing I don’t have is any regrets because I do leave it
out there every time I get on one.”
“I got to where I just didn’t like coming
to them anymore. It really is not my
thing, I guess you could say. All of
the lights, cameras and drama, I was
trying to be something that I wasn’t.
I was trying to be a PBR bull rider
instead of a rodeo cowboy,” Harris
said.
So at the beginning of the 2018 PBR
season, Harris took his leave.
“It feels good. No added pressures
but going to the events and riding
bulls. When you're the reigning world
champion there's a lot of added
pressure and you've got a lot of
media intrigue, there's a lot of stuff
going on that I wasn't used to.”
Harris was 28 years old when he
accepted an invitation to compete
in three premier series events in
March 2014. He went on to finish
2014 ninth in the world standings
after going 4-for-6 at the PBR
World Finals.
He finished only 95.13 points
ahead of Gage Gay in the closest
Rookie-of-the-Year race since the
PBR switched to a points-based
system in 2013.
The comeback was highlighted by
Harris’ caree r-high 93.25 points
Photo by Frontier Fortitude Photography
www.rodeofame.com
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