FORT WORTH, Texas ― In South America, a gaucho is the loose equivalent of what we call a cowboy here in North America.

Just as it is here, gauchos, like cowboys, are commonly associated with the 19th century as opposed to modern day, but, that said, Brazilian Guilherme Marchi proudly proclaims, "Yes sir, I am a cowboy."

However, the 30-year-old who turns 31 on July 22 could have just as easily wound up a professional surfer.

"It's a funny story," Marchi said.

He grew up in the country outside the city Itupeva ― a rural local in the state of Sao Paulo ― on a farm with horses and cows.

"My momma is a funny gal. She's smiling all the time. She likes to talk and stay with people and my daddy also. He's very good people."

When he was 12, his parents ― Ademar and Marcia ― moved to the family to the coastal town of Bertioga and opened a restaurant and a hotel. It was a big change for a soon-to-be teenager.

Like other kids in his new town, Marchi played soccer and learned to surf.

In fact, he surfed every day before school.

"I made friends at the beach," he recalled, "and everybody just talk about soccer and surf."

Unlike his new friends, he had a mechanical bull at home.

His older brother Juliano ― who briefly competed in the U.S. in 2006 and again in 2008 ― was already riding bulls and their father produced a few bull riding events near their beach community, so, at 15, it came as no surprise that Marchi wanted to ride bulls like his brother.

Their father, however, was adamant that he would not let his younger son ride bulls.

"I said, 'Daddy, I want to get on the bull' - real bull, big bull - and, he said, 'No. You're too young to get on the bull,'" Marchi recalled of the day he finally changed Ademar's mind. "I said, 'No. I want to get on daddy.'

"They had a bronc horse and, he said, 'No. You're not going to get on the bull. You're going to get on the bronc horse.' I get on the horse with no saddle ― nothing ― only the mane and the horse bucked me off really fast. I was mad and I said, 'I want to get on the bull right now.' The next day they put (me on) a real good bull. He was one, two jumps and come turn into my hand and I rode that bull and after that I never stopped."

But first Marchi left to finish school in the town of Jacarei.

After graduating he started competing at open bull ridings and, in 2001, Adriano Moraes invited him to an event he was producing.

In 2002, Marchi was the Brazilian champion and then a year later, in 2003, he finished as the reserve champion. The following year, in 2004, he came to the U.S. and made his Built Ford Tough Series debut later that season.

A year later ― his first full season competing on the BFTS ― Marchi finished second in the world for the first of what would be a three-year run and then, in 2008, he won the world title in dominating fashion.

He set career marks for qualified rides with 74, riding average with 74.8 percent, BFTS event wins with five, 19 Top 10 finishes, 15 Top 5 finishes, 13 90-plus-point rides and $1.5 million in earnings.

Naturally the 2008 World Champion said, "I want to be champion again."

Last year, he finished second in the world standings for the fourth time in his career. After a slow start, in 2013, he's come on in recent weeks to record three Top 10 finishes in the past five BFTS events and has ridden at least one bull in each of those weeks unlike the 0-for-the-weekend stretch he had in three of the previous four weeks.

Marchi remarked that he's "having fun again" and, more importantly, breathing and sweating, which ― for him ― is a sign that he's feeling good and ready to compete.

In fact, for a guy who typically doesn't enter Touring Pro Division events, he's doing so this week.

"I want to ride more," said Marchi, who is ranked No. 13 in the world and said he's preparing for the Last Cowboy Standing like he has for no other event. "That's why I'm going to (TPD) events right now. I'm going to prepare myself to ride six bulls.

"I hope I draw good bulls and I don't care where they're going. I'm riding really good right now, both ways. I've put it in my head that I can ride to the left ― away from my hand ― too."

Immediately following the Last Cowboy Standing he will return to Brazil for the summer.

But that doesn't mean he won't be competing. There are three Brazilian events that will count 50 percent of the points as opposed to the other TPD and international events that carry only 25 percent of the total points toward the world standings.

"I miss Brazil," Marchi admitted. "I miss my family, my friends and I miss the bull ridings."

In addition to competing on the weekends, Marchi said he plans to spend a lot of time with his extended family taking part in trail rides, team roping and hosting BBQ cookouts every day at his ranch in Leme, which he bought in 2001, with friends and family.

He'll also make time to do some surfing, which he calls a good sport, but he feels more at home on a ranch.

The ring at the Marchi's ranch.

His parents no longer own the hotel they purchased nearly 20 years ago, but his parents and grandmother still manage another popular restaurant.

As a matter of fact, popular is a pretty commonly mentioned adjective when describing the Marchi family. Some of his Brazilian friends have said that when he finally retires from bull riding - Marchi figures he has another two years left in his career - he should run for Mayor.

They weren't kidding.

He recently helped campaign for the current Mayor and numerous citizens in Leme ― population: 100,000 ― asked if they could vote for Marchi instead of the candidate he was endorsing.

He laughed off the notion of politics and responded, "I say, 'No way. That's too tough.'

Marchi's popularity comes not only from having achieved the American dream ― he's earned nearly $4.3 million (second on the all-time list) and won a world title ― but, more so, from his charitable contributions.

He has raised tens of thousands of dollars for a local orphanage in Leme.

This summer Marchi and his wife Patricia will host several charity events at their ranch, including team roping competitions and a champions bull riding event in which former champion bull riders will face off to raise money for the orphanage in Leme.

In another event, Marchi will train a former World Champion bronc rider to ride a bull and, in turn, he will teach Marchi how to ride a bronc.

"I think I'm a blessed guy," said Marchi.

His only disappointment is that he won't see his younger sister Giovanna, who lives with her husband in Boston, Mass., until later this year during the holiday season. She owns a cleaning business and is pregnant with their first child, so she will not make a trip to Brazil this summer.

Marchi said he talks on the phone with her daily.

He joked that if she has a boy he plans to buy him a cowboy hat, boots, spurs and chaps in hopes that he becomes a bull rider like his World Champion uncle.

He said all three siblings are like their parents.

"My momma is a funny gal," Marchi said. "She's smiling all the time. She likes to talk and stay with people and my daddy also. He's very good people."

This summer his own children ― Manuela and Joao Gabriel ― are looking forward to spending their days with the extended family.

Marchi hinted that although he owns a sprawling ranch in Ferris, Texas, once he's done competing they'll likely return to Brazil and that he and Patricia are considering building a new house for themselves with enough room to personally care for some for some of the orphans at their home.

"I hope one day I can do that too," he said, before concluding, "Like I said before, I have a blessed life."

Follow Keith Ryan Cartwright on Twitter @PBR_KRC.