So long, AdrianoThree-time champ honored at farewell banquet |
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Finally there was an answer to a question Adriano Moraes has been asked time and again since announcing earlier this year that he would be retiring at the conclusion of the 2008 PBR World Finals, bringing to a close one of the most decorated bull riding careers of all time.
Moraes has spent the past 10 months telling one person after another that he had no answer. But sitting on a couch – alongside his wife Flavia and three of their four sons – for little more than an hour, as one speaker after another paid tribute to his 15-year career with the PBR, the 38-year-old from Brazil finally had the answer everyone was waiting for.
“You gave me today,” he said, wiping tears from his eyes, “the biggest gift of my life.”
Moraes recalled the time his father borrowed a VCR from their neighbor so he could watch a videotape of highlights from the 1988 National Finals Rodeo.
“That was just a dream,” said Moraes, who, at the time, was a poor tractor driver at a tomato field in Brazil.
Nevertheless, dreams do have a way of coming true.
Moraes, who will retire from professional bull riding in just four days, will do so having been the first World Champion in PBR history, and the only rider to win three world titles.
“This is a hard time,” said Ty Murray, who was one of many to pay tribute. “We’re watching, without a doubt, the best bull rider in the world retire from our sport.”
Joining Murray, who shared two powerful video clips and even joked that had Moraes taken his advice he would be $1 million poorer, in speaking to the capacity crowd inside the Grand Ballroom of the South Point Hotel and Casino were Randy Bernard, Cody Lambert, David Fournier, Michael Gaffney, Dr. Tandy Freeman, Paulo Crimber and Guilherme Marchi.
The Board of Directors also used the occasion to present Moraes with a scaled replica of a lifesize statue of Moraes riding Little Yellow Jacket that sits outside of the PBR world headquarters in Pueblo, Colo.
“I was lost,” said Moraes, of the fact that his career would have never played out as it did had it not been for his wife. “She guided me.”
And guide him she did.
From Cachoeira Paulista, Sao Paulo, Brazil, to their sprawling ranch outside of Keller, Texas, he has claimed two Brazilian titles, three PBR World Titles (’94, ’01 and ’06) and amassed well over $3 million in career earnings.
Bernard, the Chief Executive Officer of the PBR, was the first to pay tribute, pointing out that “When you say ‘Adriano,’ no one says, ‘Adriano who?’”
Describing him as an outstanding individual and a world-class athlete, Bernard also noted Moraes’ vision of excellence as well as his “tremendous impact on professional bull riding as an international sport.”
Crimber, representing on stage the many Brazilians in attendance, called him a “pioneer,” while Marchi, laughing to keep from crying, said, “I have no words for it.”
Moments later, however, it was Moraes who put into perspective his own observation of what it meant for him to be able to inspire a country and, more importantly, provide his fellow countrymen the opportunity of a lifetime.
“I’ll never get a chance to ride with my sons,” he said, choking back tears, as he spoke of Crimber’s early days in the United States, “but I got a chance to ride with a kid who was like a son to me.”
There were plenty of tears and standing ovations, but it PBR Livestock Director Cody Lambert who elicited the most laughs.
Lambert first told a story of seeing Moraes ride at an event Tucson, Ariz., when a not-so-astute observer said the “Mexican” rider didn’t know what he was doing when he put his rope on backwards.
What everyone would soon find out, however, was that Moraes had already won 21 events and two titles in Brazil before coming stateside. Lambert explained that in Brazil winners are not awarded money but instead receive cars and motorcycles for first-place finishes.
“I asked him what the hell is a cowboy gonna do with that many cars and motorcycles,” Lambert recalled, “and he said, ‘sell ‘em.’”
When it was all over Moraes looked at the standing-room-only crowd and took in the moment one last time before proclaiming, “I’m just an ordinary guy who did extraordinary things—because of you.”
—by Keith Ryan Cartwright
