PUEBLO, Colo. – Before there were the Carolina Cowboys, there was the Carolina Cowboy.
PBR co-founder and 1995 PRCA bull riding world champion Jerome Davis – who calls Archdale, North Carolina home – found himself at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City several weeks ago, perusing the brand new PBR Hall of Fame exhibit.
He rolled slowly down the halls of the museum, soaking in the Western sports history he’s been such an integral part of.
This is the first time in the PBR’s 30-year history that it has a physical Hall of Fame.
The exhibit currently includes several artifacts and an interactive video screen where guests can select riders and bulls to relive some of the greatest rides in PBR history.
“I think it’s really cool,” Davis said. “It’s pretty exciting to see all this coming into one place, and we’ve got somewhere like that that’s going to show all the stuff that we’ve got going on. I’ve seen the first vest that Cody Lambert wore back in the day (in the exhibit), and I remember that. I remember when he was at the NFR the first year, and he showed up with that vest on. So it was kind of neat to see that vest over there and just think back how many years ago that’s been. I guess it’s going to be a lot bigger (in the future), and that’s even more exciting.”
When asked if he looked for himself in the video library currently available, Davis laughed.
“I didn’t really look to see if I was on there, but it was cool to see, though,” he demurred. “I’m just excited that the PBR’s got a spot like that.
“It’s good for our sport and for the history, and now that we’ve got a few years behind us, it’s neat that we can have somewhere like this. As more exciting things happen, we can have somewhere to display it for everyone.”
It’s been a wild ride for Davis, who was the youngest of the PBR’s 20 co-founders when they gathered in the Scottsdale, Arizona, motel room in 1992.
Davis won his world title three years later at 22, becoming the first rider from east of the Mississippi to claim that world title. He also finished No. 3 in the PBR world standings in 1994 and 1996, when he won the most money to date in the PBR.
“That (world title) was a really big deal to me back in the day because, as a kid growing up, there wasn’t a PBR,” Davis said. “When we went to bed dreaming of bull riding, it was being a World Champion in the PRCA. So when I finally achieved that, something I wanted to do all my life, that was the big deal.”
His dream of winning a PBR World Championship was cut short, though, when he was paralyzed in the arena in 1998.
“I just love bull riding, at the end of the day. It’s been the best thing that’s ever happened for me and the worst thing, you know what I mean?” Davis said.
From that low, though, came the gift of other opportunities. While he couldn’t ride anymore, Davis and his wife, Tiffany, became stock contractors and now own one of the country’s most prestigious bucking bull outfits.
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Davis has been a fixture of the PBR ever since and has served as a mentor to young riders, both unofficially and officially. He was assistant coach for Team Mexico at the 2020 PBR Global Cup before making it official as the head coach of his home state Carolina Cowboys.
It was, of course, the only fitting landing spot for the Carolina Cowboy.
“I enjoy the coaching gig,” Davis said. “It brings that old winning mentality back, wanting to get out there and win. I don’t know if I still could get up and go if I wouldn’t be wanting to ride. It gets you fired up. I enjoy being a part of it. I think it’s going to be the future of the PBR, though. Before it’s over, I think it’ll take over. I really think it’ll all be Teams one day, before it’s all said and done. I think it’s going to get that big before it’s over.”
Davis and his Cowboys will be extra fired up this weekend at their annual homestand, Cowboy Days, held for the first time at Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. Action begins Friday, Sept. 22 at 8 p.m. ET on RidePass on Pluto TV.
It’s been an inconsistent season for the Cowboys, who are fifth in the standings with a 9-10 record.
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“We started like a ball of fire at Cheyenne, and then our guys started getting hurt. Daylon (Swearingen) gets crippled up with his hip, and Sage (Kimzey) gets hurt the next day right after. I feel really good about our team. We’ve just got to get our main guys healed back up and get them back on our roster, and I think we’ll see some great things happening.”
In some fortuitous timing, Kimzey is back in the lineup for the Cowboys. He will take on Mike’s Motive (31-11, UTB) in Carolina’s opening game against the streaking No. 6 Arizona Ridge Riders (9-10).
Davis is optimistic his team can make a late push for the 2023 PBR Teams Championship in Las Vegas on Oct. 20-22.
But you can be sure he’s appreciating the ride the whole way.
“The PBR – you just never know what’s going to happen next,” Davis said. “It’s been a rollercoaster ride from the very beginning when we got involved, and when we all pitched in $1,000, I had $500 at the time. I told them I’d give them the other $500 in a couple weeks. And it just worked out. Man, it’s exciting. It’s exciting for bull riders, where the money’s getting at and where our sport’s going. Who would have ever thought back in the day, when we had a vision, that we’d come this far?”
Photo courtesy of Josh Homer/Bull Stock Media
