[2] Champion is the son of Greg, a hotel company executive, and Lori, a consultant who competed in show jumping while she was in college.
He showed much talent as a rider, prompting mounted shooting world champion Annie Bianco to invite him to train with her.
[1] At the end of his senior year in 2011, Champion won the Texas High School Rodeo Association bareback title.
In 2013, he traveled with world champion bareback rider Kaycee Feild, learning valuable tips on mental preparation.
...] To not do that and just to ride bucking horses and do what I love is amazing.”[5] This was before The American was sanctioned by the PRCA, meaning Champion could not use his earnings to qualify for the National Finals Rodeo, which selects competitors based on their prize winnings for the year.
Cowboys with financial interest in any other rodeo association would be denied membership in the PRCA beginning with the 2016 season.
Federal district judge Barbara Lynn denied the preliminary injunction in February, during the multi-day Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo.
Although Champion had been leading the bareback riding field, he was forced to withdraw from the competition and return prize money he had won in the initial rounds.