PUEBLO, Colo. -- PUEBLO, Colo. – It’s the PBR’s 30th anniversary season, and all year long, PBR.com has been celebrating the league’s history and the legends of the sport.
But a milestone year like this one wouldn’t be complete without a definitive ranking.
Who are the best bull riders in PBR history?
It’s a question PBR Top 30, presented by Pendleton Whisky, will officially answer. Each week this summer, head over to the PBR’s Facebook and YouTube pages to watch the latest episode and reminisce about the top riders and bulls the world has ever seen.
This week, the rider countdown entered truly elite territory with Nos. 10-7.
And no countdown of the greatest of all time would be complete without two-time World Champion – and dragon-slayer – J.B. Mauney.
Mauney is on most of the PBR’s all-time leaderboards – he’s tied for the most premier series event wins in PBR history, for starters – and is known for riding the rankest bulls.
He’s also a two-time World Champion, battling it out in a legendary rivalry with Silvano Alves to take the crown in 2013 and 2015. His win in 2013 includes what is widely considered to be the biggest comeback in PBR history. But we’ve already talked about that.
Today, PBR.com’s From the Vault series takes a look at some of Mauney’s other accomplishments that are sprinkled throughout the record books. While they may not have directly given him gold buckles, they made him arguably the biggest bull-riding star of a generation.
“He had the mentality that, if you’re going to be the best, you’ve got to ride the best,” PBR co-founder Cody Lambert said, “and that’s why he wanted to ride the best bull.”
Mauney makes World Finals history (2009)
FORT WORTH, Texas ― It was a race unlike the PBR had ever seen.
Over the course of 10 months, Kody Lostroh battled J.B. Mauney and Guilherme Marchi one Built Ford Tough Series event after another from the East Coast to the West Coast and back again, before concluding with eight rounds at the World Finals in Las Vegas over the course of 10 days.
Between them they had won 11-of-31 regular-season events.
They were the only three riders in the Top 40 who had ridden more than 60 percent of their bulls, and only Lostroh and Mauney had been atop the world standings at any point in the season. However, it was Lostroh who arrived at the Thomas & Mack Center having been ranked No. 1 for the past 20 events.
Yet, when the Finals began the three of them - Lostroh, Marchi and Mauney - were separated by a mere 785 points.
Every time Lostroh had looked poised to separate himself from the other two, either Mauney or Marchi would step up and challenge him, and so went the story of 2009.
Was there any reason to believe the finale in Las Vegas would have been any different?
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Mauney conquers Bushwacker (8/18/13)
Tulsa, Okla. ― "It's about time," proclaimed an elated J.B. Mauney, who said he's never felt as great as he does Saturday night in Tulsa, Okla., where he won his first Built Ford Tough Series event of 2013 with a ride that will go down as one of the most memorable nights in PBR history.
It took nine times, but finally the 26-year-old from Mooresville, N.C., made a full 8-second ride on Bushwacker.
After bucking off a PBR-record 42 consecutive riders at BFTS events, and 56 overall, Mauney made the whistle on a bull that has done everything he can to establish himself as the greatest, to the tune of 95.25 points.
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Mauney wins third consecutive BFTS event (10/13/13)
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. ― J.B. Mauney capped the greatest second half surge in the 20-year history of the PBR with his third consecutive Built Ford Tough Series win.
The 26-year-old from Mooresville, N.C., rode Shotgun Red in the Built Ford Tough Championship Round to beat out Guilherme Marchi 343.75 to 341.75 points at the Hard Rock Live venue. Mauney is the first man to win three straight BFTS events since Chris Shivers did it back in 2000.
More importantly, Mauney moves within 538.5 points of Silvano Alves, who could only stand behind the chutes and watch the championship round after bucking off his first two bulls at the Cooper Tires Invitational.
"I feel great," said Mauney, who couldn't help but watch the replay of his final ride on the big screen located above the backside of the chutes. "There is no better feeling."
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Mauney sets PBR record for consecutive rides (1/12/14)
CHICAGO ― Once he nodded his head and the gate opened there wasn’t a question of whether or not J.B. Mauney was going to make the 8-second whistle.
The reigning World Champion had a perfect seat on the back of KISS Destroyer.
The 85.75 points was good enough to split fifth, sixth and seventh place in the opening round of the Chicago Invitational. However, more importantly, it gave the 27-year-old sole possession of the all-time streak for consecutive rides on the Built Ford Tough Series with 16.
Mauney tied Terry Don West last week in New York with his round-winning effort aboard Jack Daniel’s Winter Jack in the championship round.
“Man, it feels like all the cards are falling into place,” said Mauney.
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Mauney becomes third rider in history to reach 500 rides (1/6/18)
NEW YORK – There was always only one goal for a young, aspiring bull rider in Mooresville, North Carolina, named James Burton Mauney.
“I just wanted to be a World Champion bull rider,” Mauney said. “That is all I had planned. I didn’t think about a lot else. I just wanted to do that and that is all I thought about.”
In the early ‘90s, Mauney grew up idolizing the likes of fellow Tar Heel bull rider Jerome Davis, two-time World Champions Chris Shivers and Justin McBride, and PBR Iron Man J.W. Hart.
Someday Mauney hoped to follow in the footsteps of the PBR legends.
Now 13 years into his own PBR career, Mauney is considered a legend in his own right, and the 30-year-old accomplished something during Round 1 of the Monster Energy Buck Off at the Garden that none of his idols ever did.
Mauney became the third rider in PBR history to reach the prestigious 500 qualified ride mark on PBR’s premier series by riding All The Way Up for 87.25 points.
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Mauney takes sole possession of second-most qualified rides all time (526) by riding through torn rotator cuff (8/17/19)
HOUSTON – The sweat began to trickle down two-time World Champion J.B. Mauney’s neck shortly after 6 p.m. inside the Fertitta Center.
Mauney was participating in a dynamic warm-up with Director of PBR Sports Medicine Rich Blyn to help prepare for Round 1 of the WinStar World Casino & Resort Houston Invitational, presented by Bass Pro Shops.
The 32-year-old sprinted up and down the back hallways of the arena four times.
He jogged in place and did hamstring kicks.
The 13-time PBR World Finals qualifier did a series of squats and jump squats.
He lunged forward. He lunged backwards. He lunged sideways.
The North Carolina cowboy even did pushups against the concrete wall.
1999 PBR Ring of Honor inductee Jerome Robinson walked by and said with a smile, “That is the most I’ve ever seen him workout like that.”
The warm-up took roughly 12 to 15 minutes with the goal of having Mauney’s muscles firing and activated well before he crawled into the bucking chutes.
Mauney was committed to making the 8-second mark on Saturday night, and he was going to do whatever necessary to make sure he took care of business.
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Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
