PUEBLO, Colo. – Aaron Williams is known for two things: his intense – and loud – celebrations when he makes a qualified ride, and his truly fantastic mustache.
He, like many of us, started growing out his hair when the world went into lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’d split my chin open like a week before, so I had some stitches, so I couldn’t shave and kind of had to let it go,” Williams said. “And then when COVID started, I was driving home (from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo), and I just looked at my wife, and I said, ‘Well, looks like we’re going to be in the house for quite a while, so I think I’m just going to let this facial hair go, if it don’t bother you.’ And she said, ‘Doesn’t bother me now, but I guess we’ll see in a couple weeks.’ That’s kind of how the mustache came to be.”
Three years later, the mustache is still around. He happily confirms that his wife, Brigette, is indeed still a fan.
“She told me, she said, ‘I had a dream that you shaved your mustache. I wasn’t sure about it, so I think it’s here to stay,’” Williams said with a laugh. “And I said, ‘Yeah, no, you’re right, it’s here to stay, but thanks for the reassurance.’”
If Williams has his way, he and his mustache are both here to stay in the PBR. While he had a cup of coffee on the Unleash The Beast in 2021, he made his first extended run on the elite tour in 2023, competing in 11 events, including two in his home state of California.
“My mom and dad came, and I had some I consider family, people that just really helped to bring me up and whatnot,” Williams said at the PBR SoCal Showdown in Los Angeles in February. “They say it takes a village. It does. Whether people admit it or not, it takes a village, and so there was a good portion of that village here supporting me.”
Williams went 7-for-26 (26%) on the Unleash The Beast and finished the regular season ranked No. 47 in the Unleash The Beast standings – just outside the cutline for the 2023 PBR World Finals on May 12-21 in Fort Worth, Texas.
A blow, for sure, but he’ll head to the 2023 Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Finals on May 5-6 in Corpus Christi, Texas, for a final shot at snagging his first World Finals qualification. Round 1 from Corpus Christi airs on Friday, May 5, at 8:30 p.m. exclusively on RidePass on Pluto TV.
Williams is ranked No. 21 in the Velocity Global standings despite competing in just nine events, thanks to a fourth-place finish in Palm Springs, California; a second-place finish in Portland, Oregon; and the first Velocity Tour event win of his career in Bakersfield, California.
Note the Top-2 finishes in California.
“Oh shoot, it’s nice to be close to home, get to go to my own bed after the event,” Williams said in Los Angeles. “That’s pretty nice. But shoot, for me, it don’t matter where we go. It’s another glorious day on the job with glorious coworkers, so to speak, and fans and support and everything that goes with it. I love all of it. So it’s even more great to be at home, and it’s great to be anywhere else.”
Williams hails from Pismo Beach but grew up in Norco, which is affectionately called Horse Town, USA. He’s the first cowboy in his family but grew up in an environment ripe for fostering a love for the Western way of life.
“We have fenced dirt trails instead of sidewalks, and I don’t know if it is now, but it was a city ordinance at one point – every business had to have a hitching post and water for horses,” Williams said. “So you could ride your horse everywhere, from the grocery store, dry cleaners – you wouldn’t need to go to the gas station, but you could go there too if you wanted.
“So I grew up in a rural town, and so the town kind of backed me and supported me coming up as I was working at it and being successful as a kid and junior. So that was my upbringing in it, but really, without the support of my parents and Steve Diaz, we wouldn’t be at the level we’re at today.”
It was a bull riding put on by Diaz that caused Williams to fall in love with the sport. When he was 3, his parents took him and his three brothers to the Norco Valley Fair, where Diaz was putting on an event with junior bull riding and sheep riding for the kids.
Williams told his dad he wanted to try it, and he got on a sheep.
“Rode him for about five feet, fell off, and they gave me this little trophy of a bull, and I carried that thing in my cowboy hat around with me every day ever since,” Williams said, laughing. “I’m just kidding. That trophy’s at my folks’ house.”
When the Velocity Tour Finals come to a close, hopefully, Williams will have a nicer trophy to carry around with him.
The season has had its ups and downs, but Williams is thankful for all of it.
“It’s been a little bit rough as of late, but the rough parts have been great learning experiences for me, in performance and mentality,” he said. “We’re picking it up. We’re improving. Not neglecting anything that needs to be improved upon, and being honest with myself where I need to improve, and not making excuses. It’s really good to be up here, and that drive comes from my buddies who are up here and ride just as good.”
And as the stages get bigger and the stakes get higher, Williams will keep things as simple as they once were back in Norco.
“My goal, first and foremost, simply put, is to ride everything that I get on,” Williams said. “So, one bull at a time, ride my bulls. Win. And for me, winning is riding my bulls. It’s a personal win. The points and everything, that’s out of my hands. But a personal win is riding all my bulls. I keep all my goals just to that. I want to ride everything that I get on, and that’s the main goal.”
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media