OKLAHOMA CITY – On Friday night, before the Florida Freedom’s debut at PBR Wildcatters Days, presented by Travel Oklahoma, John Crimber couldn’t sleep.
The 18-year-old was overwhelmed with excitement to finally don the red, white and blue and climb into the chutes for his new squad.
But Crimber admits that he’s not immune to all the eyes on him.
“I feel like it’s a lot of pressure on me now,” he said.
That’s an understatement.
Crimber burst onto the scene last summer as soon as he turned 18 and was old enough to purchase his PBR card. The son of 10-time PBR World Finals qualifier and 2024 Ring of Honor inductee Paulo Crimber, John was a blue-chip prospect the likes of which the PBR has never seen before.
He won 10 events on the Challenger Series and PBR Canada before making his Unleash The Beast debut, where he went 29-for-66 (43%) with one event win, finishing the year ranked No. 2. He fell short of the 2024 World Championship, which went to Cassio Dias, by just 238.5 points in a race that came down to the final bull.
“It was kind of a learning season, I think, just for being a rookie and stuff,” Crimber said. “The beginning was a little rough, but we got it rolling. In January and February, everything started rolling again, started having fun. It was really cool to experience riding at AT&T Stadium, especially since I rode there since I was riding sheep. It was a cool feeling going 95 points, especially in front of that big a crowd. Pretty nice to know that I was in the race until the last bull, and that was what decided it, was the last bull. For me to handle all that pressure at just 18 years old, it meant a lot to me.”
It made Crimber the easy No. 1 draft pick in the 2024 PBR Camping World Team Series Draft just a week and a half later.
With his father as the head coach, Crimber ending up on the Freedom seemed like destiny.
But as he said, it means some pressure.
Crimber joins other No. 1 draft picks Jose Vitor Leme (2022) and Sage Steele Kimzey (2023), who have a combined nine world titles. Leme is also the two-time reigning PBR Teams regular-season MVP.
It’s a caliber of rider that’s a hell of a lot for an 18-year-old in his rookie Teams season to live up to.
“I’m going to use (the pressure) to my advantage and go out there to stay on my bull,” Crimber said. “It’s my first year in the Team Series and I’ve always liked the team format deal, and I just want to do good for my team. I feel like when someone sets the tone off, that’s when everything gets rolling. I’m the last one to get on, but I like it a lot because that means I get to decide if we win or not. It’ll be pretty cool.”
Indeed, Crimber has been designated as Florida’s closer. The squad had a bye on Friday night at Wildcatters Days, and began the season with a loss to the Carolina Cowboys on Saturday. However, the teams combined to go 9-for-10 in the highest-scoring game in PBR Teams history, and Crimber contributed 81.75 points, continuing to spur even after Black Jack stumbled during the out.
“John came back and rode,” Paulo Crimber said. “That bull fell down, and when he got up, John came back spurring him. You can’t get no better than that.”
On Sunday, the Freedom returned to work against the 2022 PBR Teams Champion Nashville Stampede, notching their first win, 173.75-87.25.
Crimber improved to 2-for-2 in his PBR Teams career, riding Stryker for 88 points.
Not bad for a weekend of work.
Crimber has barely had time to process the last few months. Immediately after returning from the World Finals, he was off to the Texas High School Rodeo Association State Finals, where he won two of three rounds to qualify for the National High School Finals Rodeo.
“It felt pretty cool showing up,” Crimber said. “A lot of them kids I grew up with, and me going to World Finals and going to state finals, it was kind of a humbling moment going back to the roots, where it all starts. It was pretty cool.”
The day before making his Teams debut in Oklahoma City, Crimber had to travel to Wyoming to check in for the NHSFR. He’ll be competing there on Tuesday morning and Thursday night, with the short round this coming Saturday.
Immediately after that, Crimber will compete at the Camping World PBR Last Cowboy Standing at Cheyenne Frontier Days on July 22-23.
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“It’s going to be pretty busy, but I love getting on bulls, so it’s fun,” Crimber said with a grin.
Also crammed into Crimber’s packed summer was a trip to Florida to bond with his team and get acquainted with their new home in Sunrise.
“It was really fun,” Crimber said. “I’ve always wanted to go to Hard Rock Stadium over there and meet the Miami Dolphins. We actually got to meet some of the cheerleaders, got to go out there to the suites, check out the inside and stuff. It was really cool. Then we went to the beach, and that’s what I thought was the most fun, going to the beach and having a good time with the boys. We went deep-sea fishing, too. I caught, I think, two fish. It was rough at first, but then we got it rolling.”
The Freedom will host Freedom Days in Amerant Bank Arena on Aug. 2-4.
Crimber’s got a whole lot going on before then, including a bid at a third national high school title and the chance to compete at the Daddy of ‘em All.
But he has some big dreams for his first Teams season.
“For myself, I really want to be the guy that rides the most bulls out of everyone,” Crimber said. “I want to be the MVP. And I also want the Florida Freedom to go out there and win it all. That’s the whole plan. But we’re just going to go bull for bull and weekend for weekend and go on from there.”
Photo courtesy of Bull Stock Media
