Justin McBride

Justin Travis McBride (born August 7, 1979) is an American former professional rodeo cowboy who specialized in bull riding.

In his career, he competed on the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) circuit.

When he qualified for the main PBR tour in 1999 (then known as the Bud Light Cup Series), he finished fourth in his first-ever Premier Series event, which was held in Bakersfield, California.

He claimed his first win in his next event, which was in Odessa, Texas.

Coupled with two more third-place finishes (one in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and one in Reno, Nevada), he qualified for his first PBR World Finals and finished 14th in the world in his rookie year of 1999, with $89,007 in earnings.

In 2000, McBride had several top finishes, but no wins.

His biggest successes of that year came when he won the Mossy Oak Shootout twice - once in Greensboro, North Carolina, for $15,000, and again in Houston, Texas, for $30,000.

He finished ninth in the world in 2000, with $144,764 in earnings, and was named the Mossy Oak Shootout Champion that year.

In 2001, McBride stepped up his game and won five events that year, putting himself into a three-man race for the PBR World Championship title against Adriano Moraes and Ty Murray.

Unfortunately for McBride, he faltered at the World Finals (as did Murray) and the Brazilian, Moraes, ended up winning his second world title that year.

McBride finished third in the world that year, winning $302,217 for his efforts.

In 2002, McBride did not get to match the success he had in 2001, but he still won the Bud Light Cup event in Nashville, Tennessee, and finished fifth in the world overall that year.

He made $181,546 that year.

2003 saw a whole new Justin McBride.

He put himself into a tight two-man race between himself and Chris Shivers for the world title that year, winning two Built Ford Tough Series events in the process (Anaheim, California, and St. Louis, Missouri).

McBride was in the lead for the world title going into the Built Ford Tough Series event in Grand Rapids, Michigan, but unfortunately, disaster struck.

He was stepped on by a bull named Mission Pack in the short-go of that event, breaking two ribs and puncturing a lung.

Many thought McBride would not make it to the World Finals, but he did go.

He won the first go-round and very nearly took the title away from Shivers, but when McBride bucked off of Mossy Oak Mudslinger in the short-go of the Finals, Shivers was awarded the PBR world title and the first ever million-dollar bonus that was awarded to a world champion.

McBride finished second overall in 2003 with $281,606 in earnings.

In 2004, McBride picked up where he left off and won four events that year.

His main rivals for the world title that year were Adriano Moraes and Mike Lee.

He stayed in second place for most of the year, but due to a new points system implemented for the Finals that year, it would be possible for him to catch the leader (who at that point was Moraes, who had a 1,800-point lead heading into the Finals).

However, for the second year in a row, disaster struck for McBride in Grand Rapids.

This time, in that event's Mossy Oak Shootout, the bull named Lefty stepped on his right ankle as he was bucked off, breaking it.

McBride would need surgery and again, people thought he would not make it to the World Finals.

He did, three weeks later, and turned in some heroic performances early on.

He was a two-time PBR World Champion (2005 and 2007), has a record 32 career PBR Premier Series event wins, and was the first professional bull rider to earn more than $5 million in the course of his career.

Since retiring from bull riding, McBride has been a color commentator for the PBR's Premier Series (known as the Unleash the Beast Series since 2018) telecasts on CBS Sports Network.

Since 2022, he has also been the head coach of the Nashville Stampede during the PBR Team Series season.

He also had a brief career as a country music singer-songwriter, releasing two studio albums and one live album.

In 2023, McBride was ranked No. 1 on the list of the top 30 bull riders in PBR history.

Justin McBride was born and lived in Belton, Texas, until he later moved to Mullen, Nebraska, with his parents and older brother.

His father, who worked on a ranch and rode bulls; his maternal grandfather was killed in a bull-riding event the year before McBride was born.

McBride excelled at bareback horse and bull riding, played eight-man football and wrestled.

He attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on a rodeo scholarship; he left after a year to go pro at 19.

He later moved to Elk City, Oklahoma.

McBride currently lives in Whitesboro, Texas, with his wife, Jill, and two children.

Prior to marrying his wife, he was formerly in a relationship with sports reporter Michelle Beadle.

McBride recalls his debut in the PBR's rookie league, the Challenger Tour, as 'rough'.