PUEBLO, Colo. – Jose Vitor Leme would be streaking down the middle of the soccer field in Decatur, Texas, and he always could expect the soccer ball to already be well on its way to its final destination before Leme was even in his final position.
The reigning PBR World Champion had that much trust in Amadeu Campos Silva.
There was always a sixth sense between the two bull riders whenever they were on the same side of the field during weekly soccer games at Leme’s ranch.
Campos was often playing midfield with Leme, and he would often be the one feeding the ball to Leme to blast into the back of the soccer net or vice versa.
Once the ball swished into the goal, a slew of Brazilians would often yell out, “Amadeu is a good golden boy!” – which was a nod to Amadeu’s father, Flavio, who often used that phrase to describe his son – before bursting into laughter.
Campos then would let out a shy but confident grin toward his Brazilian brothers.
“We were close friends,” Leme told PBR.com on Monday. “He loved to come play with us, we were close friends, he always came to my house to help me with my bulls and with my day-to-day work. He always played beside me in the middle of the field, and we played very well together. We understood each other a lot when playing, when I passed the ball to him, he already knew what I would do next, and that's why our plays always worked.”
Campos passed away on Sunday night less than three days before his 23rd birthday when he was involved in a severe accident during the PBR Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour event in Fresno, California. Classic Man had bucked Campos off in 5.31 seconds in the championship round before Campos' spur got tangled up with his bull rope, resulting in Classic Man’s back leg stepping on Campos' chest. The bull rider was immediately transported to Community Regional Medical Center where he later passed away.
“I will miss him a lot,” Leme said. “News like this comes like a bomb, because we're not expecting that to happen, especially with a 22-year-old boy with a heart as good as his. He was always a nice guy, I never saw him mad at anything or anyone. He liked to hear advice, he liked to learn, he liked to help and be with us.”
A YOUNG BOY WITH A DREAM
Campos grew up in Altair, Brazil, – a small municipality of less than 4,000 residents in Sao Paulo – and he began getting on bulls at 16 years old.
However, Campos was involved in the Western way of life well before he was climbing aboard bulls at various rodeos and bull ridings as a teenager.
Campos’ father, Flavio, was a former bull rider and he quickly engrained Western sports into his son’s life and, more importantly, he and his wife, Rosa, always instilled in Amadeu the importance of family and working hard.
“His daddy made him a strong worker, and he wanted to see him be a World Champion,” Joao Ricardo Vieira said. “Every day he would teach his son to be better and he would tell him, ‘your ability is so special.’
“I was not very close with Amadeu because he did more Velocity and Touring Pro events, but I would see him sometimes at the gym and with his daddy. He was a little shy, but he was a funny guy. He was really good at soccer. He was so friendly, and he had a special energy around him. He was progressing in his riding, and he was getting so good.”
Amadeu was a dreamer even before he started competing as a bull rider.
He was 7 years old when he approached a ranch owner in Brazil in search of work. Amadeu may have always been a somewhat shy little boy, but he was extremely polite and could become friends with anyone.
The 7-year-old had learned his family was about to be evicted from their home, and he wanted to see if he could help milk the cows on the ranch so that his family could live in an empty house that he saw on the property.
The owner approached Amadeu’s parents and asked if this was true, and he decided to give the family work and a home.
“His father told us Amadeu was born a man,” said Vieira, who was one of a group of riders who visited and prayed with Amadeu’s parents in Sunset, Texas, on Sunday night once the family was informed of their son’s tragic passing.
“Amadeu has always been responsible since he was young,” Vieira continued. “He always helped the family. When he started earning money he would come home and ask his mother, ‘What do we have to pay for? I have money here.’”
As he got older and began to progress as a bull rider, Amadeu had a dream.
One day he would go to the United States and win enough money as a bull rider so that he could buy his family a ranch in Brazil, and possibly the exact same one where he offered to milk cows, and give his parents, and sister, Livia, a thank you for being his biggest supporters and advocates in the sport.
“I love you my little star,” Livia wrote on Instagram Monday morning. “I have always been, and always will be your No. 1 fan.”
Amadeu loved his family, which was one reason why he even turned down an opportunity to pursue a career as a soccer player (which was another dream of his) as a teenager.
He was known as one of the most talented players in his town, but Amadeu had a love for bull riding and he was not ready to leave his family’s side.
Flavio would often accompany Amadeu to various bull ridings all over in Brazil. The two were inseparable.
Father and son.
Coach and pupil.
Flavio would often tell people, “My son was born to ride. He is a good boy.”
Amadeu and Flavio were a duo of joy, and Amadeu’s friends quickly learned that he got his warm-hearted personality from his father.
Mauricio Moreira first met Campos and his father when the two 18-year-olds were competing in the Liga Nacional de Rodeio in 2017.
It is common in Brazil for riders to not stay at hotels like they do in the United States, and usually groups of riders will stay together at a house or a ranch.
Moreira can remember the long nights the two teenagers would sit over a homecooked meal by Flavio talking about their dreams of one day joining the PBR in the United States or just laughing about random silly things as boys would do.
Endless amounts of rice, beans and steak were consumed by the hungry riders with dreams to the moon and jovial laughter.
“He and his dad would go to the rodeos together at the LNR,” Moreira said. “He was a really good person at the rodeos. He was a funny guy. He was a joker always in the bucking chutes. He always had me laughing.”
They battled inside of the arena, with Campos finishing runner-up for the Liga Nacional de Rodeio title in 2018, while growing into close friends behind the chutes.
“Amadeu was such a funny guy,” Moreira said. “It was really fun to be together as kids telling stories and all of that. Before we made our dream come true of coming to America, we were in a championship final in Brazil and Amadeu told me, “I’m going to try my career there in the United States.”
“I then told him, ‘Get ready. I’m going too.’”
THE JOURNEY TO THE UNITED STATES
Campos made that dream a reality in 2019 when his second-place finish in the 2018 Liga Nacional de Rodeio in Brazil earned him a chance to compete at THE AMERICAN Semi-Finals in Fort Worth, Texas, when No. 1 rider Keny Roger was unable to secure a visa.
Amadeu and his father packed their bags and made the journey to Fort Worth, Texas.
Another friend of Amadeu’s had also decided to make the trek to North America around the same time as Amadeu – Junior Patrik Souza.
“We had only arrived in America for a few days, and everything was new,” Souza recalled. “Every time we wanted to take pictures, and we were thrilled when we saw some riders that we only saw on television before in Brazil.”
Souza was six years older than Amadeu, and he would often tell Flavio that he and the rest of the older Brazilian contingency would keep an eye on the youngster who Flavio continuously called a “good boy.”
“Amadeu was a boy that everyone liked because he was a very polite and gentle boy,” Souza said. “His mother and father moved here to accompany him in his dream. His father was always with him training almost every day. And if he wasn’t, we all looked out for Amadeu. We would take care of him, give him good advice, and try to strengthen him every day.
“This seems like a nightmare for all of us, and this pain increases when I imagine his parents who left everything in Brazil to come here to support him in his dream, but unfortunately this tragedy happened.”
Campos competed in 13 non-premier series events in 2019, going only 3-for-21 on American soil, before returning to Brazil in June where would finish second at the 2019 PBR Brazil Finals.
NOT GIVING UP ON HIS DREAM, REACHING THE PREMIER SERIES & EVEN RUNNING OUT OF GAS
Campos was not discouraged about his lack of quick success in the United States. If anything, it gave him that much more fuel to work harder with his father on a return strategy to America.
He had already found success in Brazil at all of the top rodeo associations – PBR Brazil, Ekip Rozeta, Circuito Rancho Primavera and the LNR.
Campos and his parents moved back to the United States at the beginning of the 2020 season.
Flavio and Rosa took a job working on a ranch in Texas to support their son as he pursued his dream of riding at the PBR World Finals.
Amadeu would make his premier series debut with a 16th place finish in Manchester, New Hampshire, on January 18, 2020, riding Fuzzy Bones for 84 points, as an alternate.
“I just want to ride good and make the Finals,” a shy Campos told PBR.com in Manchester.
Campos returned to the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour for two months before his second-place finish in North Charleston, South Carolina, put him back on the Unleash The Beast full-time on March 6.
Once the COVID-19 pandemic began to affect the 2020 PBR season, many Brazilians understandably decided to return home to their native country. Campos, though, stayed in the U.S. with his family and continued his pursuit of his dream. He refused to let a worldwide pandemic stop him.
Campos continued to perfect his craft, and he was selected to ride for Team Pendleton Whisky at the Monster Energy Team Challenge during the summer break, and he left a lasting impression on coach and two-time World Champion Justin McBride, and his teammates.
The rookie had been competing with unstable shoulders since moving to the United States, and Campos never wanted to use his shoulders – or the pain he was feeling – as an excuse.
There were multiple instances during the team bull riding competition, and regular season, where Campos’ shoulders would dislocate during a ride, and he would come back 10 minutes later ready to compete again.
“There may have been a language barrier between us, but I could tell right away there was a willingness to compete, and he was ready to learn,” McBride said. “He was really excited to be a part of it last year, and he really wanted to do good. Injuries were really holding him back. There were plenty of guys checking out of that event, and he was a guy who we explained what we were trying to accomplish, and he committed. His shoulder was coming out the first jump, and he was not trying to quit. He was trying to get on more bulls to help his team keep advancing. It was really insane almost. He would get right back on. I don’t know if I ever seen anybody like that. It is pretty crazy because I had dislocated shoulders in my career, and they hurt. To see somebody have one come out the first jump of a ride and for them to turn around, get it put back in, and get back on a bull is something people will never be able to comprehend."
2018 World Finals event winner Marco Eguchi added, “As a captain of the team, I couldn't have asked for a better warrior. He was always ready for everything. He died doing what he loved to do, there is no doubt that. All of us are sad for the family and his early passing.”
Moreira could not help but laugh on Monday while remember Campos’ life and career.
In between the Monster Energy Team Challenge regular season and playoffs, Campos and Moreira headed to Stamford, Texas, to compete at a Touring Pro Division event over the Fourth of July holiday.
Following the bull riding, Moreira asked Campos if they needed to fill up their truck with gas.
Campos assured Moreira they had nothing to worry about for their 150-mile drive home, but Moreira was skeptical.
“We drive an hour-and-a-half and the truck stopped in the street and we ran out of gas,” Moreira said with a hearty laugh. “Ohhhhh my goodness. We had to call the guys’ to come pick us up. We had nothing near us. We didn’t know where we were. We were just stuck in the middle of nowhere with little cell phone service. We finally got Wallace (Oliveira) to come pick us up. This was so funny. We were scared at first because it was nighttime and there was nothing but the street.
“Funny…I will miss moments like this...”
REFUSING SURGERY TO FULFILL HIS WORLD FINALS DREAM
There was no question about it, Campos needed both of his shoulders surgically repaired.
Yet the boy who once offered to milk cows for his family’s well-being refused to give up on his dream. Campos was going to make the World Finals no matter what, and, sure enough, he did.
Campos qualified for his first career World Finals as an injury replacement as the No. 39 ranked bull rider in the world. It wasn’t pretty by any means, but Campos 10-for-53 showing at all levels was enough.
To this day, Campos grit to qualify for the World Finals amazed his peers. Yes, Campos only lasted two rounds before his right shoulder came out of socket again, but that didn’t matter.
Moreira let out a deep sigh Monday.
There were so many moments he has cherished with Campos, and he is proud of the duo fulfilling their dream of qualifying for the World Finals together that they set three years ago, but their story was not complete.
“He was still young, and he was just beginning a good career here,” Moreira said. “I'm proud of him making happen what he always dreamed of, and he died doing what he loved the most.”
Marcelo Procopio Pereira met Campos at a soccer game in Decatur in 2019, and he called Campos an inspiration because of who he was in and out of the arena.
“Talking about Amadeu Campos is very easy,” Pereira said. “He was a humble boy, a friend of all. In a few words, he had a heart bigger than a giant. He was a golden boy. He was always dreaming. He was a fighter. A warrior. Even with his shoulders dislocated, he managed to make the World Finals.
“I was sure he would be more ready than ever to return to the PBR premier series this year and show all of his ability. This time at 100% after surgery on both shoulders.”
A RETURN TO COMPETITION & A LEGACY THAT WILL LIVE ON THROUGH HIS FRIENDS
As Pereira mentioned, Campos opted to get surgery following the 2020 PBR World Finals last year on both of his shoulders.
He had just returned to competition this past month on the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour with a second-place finish in Springfield, Massachusetts. A week later, his father hopped in the truck with he and Leonardo Lima as Campos competed in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
“Amadeu is a good boy, we traveled to two rodeos together,” Lima said. “After he came back, he was a little scared at first and he asked me if it hurts because we had the same surgery, I said to him, ‘I didn't feel anything, he should be carefree.’ During the trip I told him, ‘Now you'll go back to riding as you get better and you will earn a lot of money.
“He was a young man with so many dreams. So humble. His dreams were sealed, and may God receive him with his angels.”
2018 World Champion Kaique Pacheco expressed his condolences Monday, and said that Campos had a an amazing future ahead of him.
“It is very sad this tragedy that happened to Amadeu,” Pacheco said. “He was an excellent friend. A very young man who had a great talent and a bright future ahead, who unfortunately will now live with God. We are all in prayer for him and for his family.”
A rider’s first career victory is supposed to be one that will forever live on as a prideful moment in their career.
Unfortunately, Adriano Salgado will always remember his 3-for-3 performance at the Fresno Invitational as an event that saw his dear friend die in competition.
Salgado and Campos competed at various rodeos in Brazil together, and they developed a close friendship. Campos even tagged Salgado in what would be his final Instagram story on Sunday afternoon.
Unlike Campos, Salgado left the U.S. last season once the COVID-19 pandemic began until he returned this year, and he was looking forward to traveling up and down the road with Campos in the second half as they both pursued a late-season push at the 2021 World Finals.
Salgado heard the news about Amadeu’s passing late Sunday evening, and he made a promise.
“Amadeu and I have always been very close to each other,” Salgado said. “We did many things together. In Brazil, we traveled a lot to PBR events, our dream was to be here in the USA. We were going to battle for a World Championship together. He was always a brother to me.
“We both got along very well, and today I want to make a promise, “Every bull I ride I make will be in memory of my great friend, Amadeu Campos.”
OUTPOURING OF SUPPORT CONTINUES FOR CAMPOS
“I didn’t know him on a personal level, but I know everyone in the locker room feels like they’ve lost a friend and family member right now. I was only around him a little bit, but he seemed like a nice guy.” – 2016 World Champion Cooper Davis
"I didn’t know Amadeu, but the bull riding world is a small one and every loss is felt. Prayers to his family and friends. And a reminder to live every moment to the fullest because no one knows when that moment will be the last. RIP brother." - 2009 World Champion Kody Lostroh
“A bull rider’s life is tough and not easy. It is very dangerous. I know Amadeu a little bit because I was still riding bulls in the United States, and I heard about Amadeu. When I come back to Brazil, I saw him a couple of times. I know his daddy well. He is a very nice guy. Amadeu is a very nice guy too. He was very young and full of dreams. He ride well too. It is hard to explain. We are all at a loss of words. I am sorry about him. I just pray for his family.” – 2008 World Champion Guilherme Marchi
“I remember that back in Brazil he challenged me to ride some calves he had on his farm, and I always wanted to go there, but it never worked. I remember when my family took him to ride at the PBR event in Goiânia, it was a long trip, and we were laughing the whole trip. It was a lot of fun.” – Thiago Salgado
“He was a good boy with a very good heart. Everyone liked him. My memories with him, every week we played soccer together. We went hunting sometimes too. I liked him a lot because he was such a good person. He was a person who liked to be happy. He was always smiling and playful.” – Dener Barbosa
“This is a very difficult time for all of us, especially for his father and mother. I have few moments with him, but I knew he was a boy with a huge heart. He rode very well in Brazil and came here with a dream. I can tell you that I prayed to God to comfort his family and to have him in a good place.” – Eduardo Aparecido
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
