Berger Cherishes Record-Setting Eighth Stock Contractor of the Year Award during Emotional Night

By: Justin Felisko
November 07, 2018

LAS VEGAS – Reigning Stock Contractor of the Year Chad Berger is normally a man of many, many words.

Berger, though, had a hard time finding any words on Tuesday night as a wave of emotions overcame him inside the Showroom at the South Point Hotel Casino & Spa during the 2018 PBR Heroes & Legends Celebration.

The 57-year-old could not contain his sadness as he sat at his table listening to PBR Director of Livestock Cody Lambert rattle off a series of impressive facts of about the late Pearl Harbor’s legacy.

Lambert compared Pearl Harbor to legendary athletes such as John Stockton and Barry Sanders and how they ultimately fell short of a World Championship, but are still remembered today as some of the best athletes in their respective sports.

“Dick Butkus never won a World Championship in football. There are some other ones. Earl Campbell, Eric Dickerson, Jim Kelly, Dan Marino,” Lambert said. “Pearl Harbor also an Oklahoma State connection, one of his owners is an Oklahoma State alumni. The greatest running back I have ever seen, Barry Sanders, does not have a World Championship.

“In the rodeo world, the greatest two bull riders that I never saw win a World Championship were Denny Flynn and Clint Branger. Pearl Harbor never won a World Championship, but he is respected like Denny Flynn and Clint Branger as one of the best and one of the all-time greats.”

Berger tried to laugh off his sadness when he first got on stage to receive the 2018 Brand of Honor Award in recognition of Pearl Harbor’s legendary career.

“Don’t mind me. I cry at happy movies. Sad movies,” Berger said before trying to control his sobbing.

“That was just a special bull,” Berger continued. “The hardest thing I had to do was call Cody Lambert and my partners and tell them about what happened to that bull. He was a special kind of bull and he meant a whole lot to my family.”

Berger went on to say he believes two-time World Champion J.B. Mauney’s 94.5-point ride on Pearl Harbor in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 2017 may just be the greatest bull ride in PBR history.

The Mandan, North Dakota, stock contractor wanted to praise his bull, but it was just too hard for him.

“The Native Americans believe that when one of their good horses died that they took a bullet for a family member, so I am going to go with that,” Berger said. “I have my whole family behind me. My mom and dad are still alive.

“I will take that trade every day, but I still miss that bull.”

Berger then ended his speech.

He was overcome with too much emotion to say any more.

Frankly, Berger is still mourning the loss of Pearl Harbor.

Pearl Harbor was the No. 1-ranked bull in the 2018 World Champion Bull race with a World Champion Bull score average of 46.25 points at the time of his passing. The 6-year-old bovine superstar was 10-0 with a career-best, 46-point average bull score on the 25th PBR: Unleash The Beast.

Pearl Harbor was 40-4 on the PBR premier series and 55-6 at all levels of competition. He averaged 45.39 points per out. Pearl Harbor qualified for the PBR World Finals four times, and finished 2017 runner-up to World Champion SweetPro’s Bruiser.

He also was the reigning regular-season bull of the year.

Berger understands finding or raising a bull of Pearl Harbor’s caliber is sometimes a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“It is still hard for me to talk about it today,” Berger said. “He was such a great animal. Yeah, it really hurt. For a couple of weeks, I didn’t feel like doing anything. It was just hard. I would give back all my trophies and the stock contractor awards.”

Tuesday night was a reminder of just how hard the loss of World Champion Bull contender Pearl Harbor was for him.

It is why, that for as honored as Berger is to have won the 2018 Stock Contractor of the Year title, he would trade it away to have Pearl Harbor back in his life.

PBR’s top bull riders voted Berger the 2018 PBR Stock Contractor of the Year for a fifth consecutive season. Berger has won a PBR record eight Stock Contractor of the Year titles overall.

“Our whole family is real happy to win it eight times,” Berger said. “Winning it one time is a great honor, but to win it eight times is pretty big for us. Five in a row is a pretty amazing feat. You have to work at it every day if you want to stay. Them guys are gunning for you and taking a run at you. I still have a day job, and I work all night to keep putting these bulls together and having a strong pen. It really drives me. It drives me all the time. Good competition makes you better, and I have great competition out there. They all make me a better stock contractor because you know what you have to do to try and win.”

Berger set a PBR record earlier this year when he hauled 75 bulls to Tacoma, Washington.

“We work all year to try and put the best set of bulls together we possibly can and let the chips fall where they may,” Berger said. “I thought this year I had probably the best set of bulls I ever had. It turned out so did the bull riders.”

Lambert said, “If anybody else would’ve won it, it would’ve been ridiculous. He has to keep working like he does. If he slows down, he’ll get caught within a year, because the bulls get old fast and you’ve always got to be looking for new talent. He raises some bulls, but he’s always looking for a new one. He’s always looking for the best one, and he’s always looking to buy more bulls.”

Berger knows he would not be at the top of the sport without the investment from partners such as Clay Struve, Julie Rosen, Mike and Christina Heald, Ken Barnhard, David and Mary Miller, David Currey and others.

He also is extremely thankful for the support of his wife, Sarah, his children and the efforts of all of his staff and bull men, including Rex Meier.

“I always say I feel like I am the head coach and I call the plays,” Berger said. “I have the best team in the world and they know how to execute the play. Without Sarah, we wouldn’t be talking about this. She is the driving force of our family.”

Berger will never know if Pearl Harbor, who concluded the regular-season as the No. 1 bull in the world, would have won the 2018 PBR World Championship this week at T-Mobile Arena at the PBR World Finals.

He is back to the drawing board to try and find his next great superstar, but Berger also knows there is still a shot for him to leave Las Vegas on Sunday with a World Championship.

His bull Smooth Operator heads into the World Finals on Thursday night right behind reigning World Champion Bull SweetPro’s Bruiser in the 2018 championship race.

“He looks really good and seems ready,” Berger said. “We will see how the chips fall.”

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko

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