Paulo Crimber may be one of the kindest, most down-to-earth and honest people in bull riding, but his story began with very little handed to him. Growing up in Olímpia, Brazil, Crimber’s father left when he was 6, and with his mother working, he was often left to figure things out on his own. Bull riding became more than a sport. It became structure, purpose and, in Crimber’s own words, something God used to save him.

He first saw bull riding at 7 years old and was hooked. By 14, he was competing in amateur rodeos. At 16, he was winning money, and at 18 he won the opening round at Barretos, qualifying for the PBR World Finals and becoming the youngest Brazilian ever to compete on the sport’s biggest stage.

Crimber went on to qualify for the PBR World Finals 10 times, win five PBR events and build a career that included more than $1 million in earnings. In 2004, despite competing with a damaged hand, he finished third at the PBR World Finals and then won the average at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas.

But the dream ended earlier than he wanted.

In 2008, Crimber broke his C1 vertebra while ranked No. 1 in the world. Five months later, on his first bull back, he broke the same vertebra again along with his collarbone and sternum. Doctors fused his C1 and C2, and Crimber spent six months sleeping in a recliner while his wife, Maria Crimber, cared for him, their young son John Crimber and a pregnancy with their daughter, Helena.

It was one of the darkest stretches of his life.

Crimber has spoken openly about struggling mentally after the injury and wondering whether his family might be better off without him. Maria helped pull him through it, and that experience only strengthened something that had already become central to his life: being the father he never had.

When Maria first became pregnant with John, Crimber made himself a promise that his children would never wonder how their father felt about them. He has dedicated his life to his family ever since.

That promise eventually produced one of bull riding’s most remarkable full-circle moments.

John grew up learning from his father and became one of the sport’s brightest young stars. After finishing runner-up in the world as a rookie, he fulfilled Paulo’s own lifelong dream in 2026 by becoming a PBR World Champion. John dedicated his first World Championship to his father, giving Paulo the gold buckle he had chased but never won himself.

And Paulo got to experience it from the closest seat possible.

As head coach of the Florida Freedom, he now coaches his son professionally. During John’s 2026 championship season, the younger Crimber even broke out one of his father’s old celebrations — the dance Paulo became known for doing alongside rodeo entertainer Flint Rasmussen years earlier.

For Paulo, bull riding has become a life lived twice: first as a rider, then through his son.

But his impact reaches far beyond his own family.

After his riding career ended, Crimber worked cowboy day jobs to provide for his family before PBR gave him an opportunity to judge. He progressed quickly enough to judge the World Finals in 2010, later served as Chute Boss, became PBR’s official Portuguese translator and eventually moved into coaching. He helped guide the Arizona Ridge Riders during their first two seasons before becoming head coach of the Florida Freedom in 2024.

In 2024, Crimber was inducted into the PBR Ring of Honor, recognizing an impact on the sport that has gone far beyond anything he accomplished on the back of a bull.

For decades, Paulo and Maria have quietly turned their Sunrise, Texas, home into a landing place for Brazilian cowboys chasing the same American dream Paulo once did. Dozens of riders have stayed with the Crimbers rent-free. Paulo helps them learn English, navigate visas, pay entry fees, get to surgeries and rehab appointments and understand paperwork. Maria does much of the same for their wives and families.

Nearly 50 Brazilian bull riders eventually made the Decatur area home, creating a community that can be traced in large part back to the Crimbers.

When Amadeu Campos Silva was killed in a bull riding accident in 2021, Crimber helped arrange for his body to be returned to Texas, selected his coffin and delivered his burial clothes.

That kind of care explains why so many riders view him as far more than a translator or coach.

He knows what it feels like to arrive in America with very little. He knows what it feels like to be injured, scared, broke and far from home. In those early years, before GPS and before he understood English, Crimber would have someone write out every turn of an 18-hour drive to a rodeo on a piece of paper in Portuguese. He would follow those handwritten directions until he reached the arena, then write the name of his bull on his hand and stay ready all night, showing people the name so he knew when it was his turn because he couldn’t understand the announcer.

Because of that, he has spent much of his adult life making sure the next Brazilian cowboy does not have to navigate those moments alone.

Crimber once said America became the father he never had, teaching him responsibility, friendship and how to help others.

Now he has spent decades passing those lessons along.

He is a husband, a girl dad, the father of a World Champion, a former elite bull rider, a Ring of Honor inductee, a translator, mentor and head coach. But the title that may describe Paulo Crimber best is simply the one he has worked hardest to earn:

Dad.