The bull by the horns: when knocked down, Jerome Davis helped other Tar Heel cowboys mount up.

• Author: Otterbourg, Ken
• Position: PROFILE

It has been 16 years since Jerome Davis broke his neck riding a bull named Knock 'em Out John in Fort Worth, Texas. The injury left him unable to walk, ride and make a living at the only job he ever had, which consisted of wrapping a piece of rope around his hand and trying to stay aboard a snorting, bucking animal for 8 seconds. While some might have left the sport after such an injury, Davis, 41, stayed to raise a new generation of Tar Heel riders and bulls. "The problem," the Randolph County resident says with a laugh, "is that I didn't know how to do anything else."

Though it lacks the reputation of Texas or New Mexico, North Carolina has become a breeding ground for professional bull riders. Brian Canter and Josh Faircloth are from nearby Archdale and Randleman, respectively. J.B. Mauney of Mooresville won the 2013 Professional Bull Riders title. Part of that success stems from the abundance of lower-level competitions in rural communities in central North Carolina. "Five out of seven days, you can be nodding your head to win," Davis says. But Tar Heel bull riders also owe a big debt to him. "He won the [Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association] championship in 1995, the first [rider from] east of the Mississippi to do it," says Adam Bolatto, president of the North Carolina High School Rodeo Association and a former bullfighter (rodeo clown). "That was a big deal. An eye-opener for a lot of younger people."

Davis rode his first bull at age 11 and was hooked, competing in 12 to 15 events a year as a teenager. He was North Carolina State Rodeo champion in 1990 before taking a rodeo scholarship to Odessa College in Texas, winning the college title while there. He left school after his freshman year to turn pro.

In 1992, Davis and 19 other riders each chipped in $1,000 to create Professional Bull Riders Inc., which is based in Pueblo, Colo. They were taking the risks, he says, but the promoters were getting most of the money. They recruited sponsors and sold broadcast rights at a huge discount to get on TV but bought the rights back in 2001 for $6.5 million with the help of Thomas Teague, president of Winston-Salem-based Salem Leasing Corp., who put up about half the money. That enabled the riders to cash out six years later, when they sold controlling interest to New York-based Spire Capital Partners LLC for an estimated $80 million. Davis used some of the money to build a house, with an elevator, where he lives with his wife, Tiffany. He...