The bull riding world has a heavy heart at the sad news from Chad Berger that his great bull Pearl Harbor passed away on April 24th. Pearl Harbor was 6 years old. Number one bucking bull in the world at the time of his death, there is no question that Pearl Harbor had the outstanding skill, athleticism and heart to make him a true champion.
You could call it luck or misfortune that Pearl Harbor just happened to come up against that same kind of bovine talent in D&H Page’s Bruiser. In a sport designed with subjective judging, Pearl Harbor and Bruiser put up huge bull scores separated by a fraction of a point throughout the 2017 season. When it was time to crown a 2017 PBR Champion, it came down to the very last out at the PBR Finals. It could have gone either way, but Bruiser came out on top by that fraction of a point. Pearl Harbor was, in the opinion of so many, capable on any given day of winning the battle. And he beat Bruiser for the 2017 regular season PBR Championship.
For Chad Berger, it looked like 2018 just might well be the year for Pearl Harbor to have his turn at the much deserved PBR World Championship. The last out for Pearl Harbor was a 5.89 second dispatch of rider Fernando Henrique Novais that earned the bull a score of 47.5. He sure gave his fans a great moment to remember him by.
Tragedy struck in the form of a blood clot in Pearl Harbor’s neck. And all of a sudden he was gone, leaving Chad Berger with a hole in his heart and a whole bunch of what if’s.
Pearl Harbor’s legacy is one that few bulls have left, or probably ever will, leave behind them. With 61 total outs, he was ridden only 6 times and won 25 of those 61 rounds. His overall average in the PBR is an incredible 45.392. This season, Pearl Harbor had 10 outs with 10 buck-offs and an average bull score of 46.
Chad Berger can be very proud. Pearl Harbor has been compared to bulls like Super Duty, Rooster, Hollywood, and Kid Rock. He was a great bull in his own right. And now he is gone.
RIP Pearl Harbor. We will all miss you.
Terry Lidral
Bucking Stock Talk
Author: Terry Lidral
Terry Lidral is a western writer/journalist who lives in Idaho. She is the publisher and editor of the online magazine Bucking Stock Talk and the online magazine Western Living Journal. Her publishing credits include Storyteller for Real American Cowboy Magazine, writing feature articles for Humps N Horns Magazine as well as a wide variety of national and international web sites, historical magazines and news publications. She is known for her "up close and personal" profiles of celebrities and industry moguls such as NPR's Tom Bodett; PBR's Wiley Petersen and D.H. Page, PRCA's Sammy Andrews, Cindy Rosser and Julio Moreno to name a few. She has been applauded for her way of making a personal connection between her readers and her subjects. She indulges in her love of rodeo by serving as an associate board member for the Caldwell Night Rodeo. She is also an accomplished trainer and handler in dog agility. Her shelties Amelie and Milo are titled in NADAC, USDAA and AKC.
