Sharon Shoulders Award Recipient Maria Crimber Honored for Tireless Work and Support of Brazilian Wives
By: Darci Miller
OKLAHOMA CITY – When Brazilian bull riders come to the United States to compete in the PBR, they often bring their wives and girlfriends with them. Beginning a new life in a foreign country where most don’t know the language, the adjustment can often be difficult.
But one pioneering wife has made it her mission to ease others’ transition into a new culture.
Nearly two decades ago, Maria Crimber was that wife making the adjustment with her husband, Paulo Crimber.
Now, she’s essentially the matriarch of a big Brazilian bull-riding family, interpreting for a new generation of wives when they’re in the hospital giving birth.
“She and I go to the same doctor in Decatur, and he was telling me what a godsend she is because all the Brazilian wives, when they go to the hospital and deliver their babies, she interprets for them,” said Leanne Lambert, wife of PBR co-founder Cody Lambert. “She’s a very supportive wife, mother, and I want to be just like her.”
At the 2023 PBR Heroes and Legends celebration at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Crimber was presented with the Sharon Shoulders Award.
Created in 2010, this award recognizes the great women of professional bull riding, those whose work, partnership, and faith have been as integral to the sport as the athletes themselves. It is named for the heroic wife of the legendary Jim Shoulders, whose tireless support enabled her husband to bring bull riding to millions.
These women provide an unwavering support system to help their husbands pursue their dreams. They are fiercely loyal and inspire their husbands by example, motivate and challenge them to achieve their goals and keep them grounded in reality.
“For her to be over here, for her to go from the ground up, when it wasn’t as easy as it is now – not that it’s easy now, but for her to go through it back then, one of the original pioneers, I look up to her,” said Tiffany Davis, wife of PBR co-founder Jerome Davis and the 2010 Sharon Shoulders Award recipient. “She’s a survivor, a warrior. And through that, she’s always helped other people.”
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Chief among those she helped is her husband. During his career, he broke his neck and was laid up for months, only to re-break his neck and collarbone on his first bull back.
“Maria, she is the reason I’m alive,” Paulo said. “She was pregnant, and John was 3 years old. She has to get up every four hours, I think, to give me pain medication. When I was in bed, lying down, I didn’t have a way to make any money. My life was gone, right? She handled herself, pregnant, with the baby, taking care of me. She still helped me get out of that bad, dark spot. She’s one-of-a-kind, for sure.”
Maria grew up a city girl in Brazil and was entirely new to the Western way of life when she met Paulo in February of 2001. They were married by the end of that year, and she was soon beginning a new life in the United States.
“She didn’t know nothing about cowboy culture, and when we came over, she didn’t know a word of English,” Paulo said. “And she learned everything. She was willing to learn our culture. She’s just a kind person and a really, really capable woman.”
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In 2004, Paulo finished third at the PBR World Finals and then won the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. He and Maria bought a home in Decatur, Texas, setting down roots and building a home where they’d raise their children, Helena and John Crimber, who’s just beginning his PBR career.
Today, nearly 50 Brazilian bull riders live in the Decatur area. While Paulo welcomes the men into their home, helps them with their travel and rodeo entry fees, takes them to and from rehab, and teaches them English, Maria does the same for the women.
Paulo estimates that she’s helped Brazilian wives deliver 10 or 15 babies.
“She kind of makes sure those girls feel comfortable, feel at home, feel confident, feel pretty, and just kind of motivates them to do it and believe in themselves,” he said.
“She truly instills her lights on you to where you want to be a better person, like Sharon Shoulders, for example,” Davis said. “And so when you’re around her, you leave happy and a better person.”
When Maria took the stage in Oklahoma City, it was only fitting that she did so beside her husband, who translated her words from Portuguese, supporting her as she’s always supported him.
“There’s just gratitude in my heart to all the wives that are part of the bull riding world,” Maria said. “Every woman has a role in supporting all the husbands behind the scenes to do good, to be great, and to be a better man. I want to thank God for giving us strength and guiding us to go through a lot of hard, difficult times, but never give up. I’d like to thank everybody who’s here today, all our friends, our new American family and Brazilian family, for the welcome and always receiving us with open arms and making us feel at home. To my husband, we went through a lot of difficult times, but we always put our family in first place. Thank you, and God bless you all.”
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
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