John Eric PurseBMX Plus! January 1997 Vol.20 No.1 pg.69 (born September 7, 1972 in Orlando, Florida, raised in Spring, Texas U.S.) is an American former professional "Mid School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer. His prime competitive years were from 1990 to 2000.
Nicknamed "The Vigilante" early in his pro career for his alleged dirty riding and fouling competitorsBMX Plus! August 1992 Vol.15 No.8 pg.19 and later and most famously "The Jackal" in the mid-1990s because of his "mad dog" riding styleSnap BMX Magazine November/December 1995 Vol.2 Iss.6 No.7 pg.92 (Balance Advertisement) and for his not backing off and his fighting back.Cash Matthews September 15, 2006 "Vintage BMX" website Interview.
Purse owns several records in BMX racing including the holder of an impressive record of winning the most pro main events in a single season - 25 total AApro wins in the 1998 American Bicycle Association (ABA) season. In 2011 "The Jackal" was enshrined into the National BMX Hall of Fame - Class of 2011https://www.usabmx.com/awards/hall-of-fame/1527
Racing career milestones
Note: All first in Pro Class are on the national level unless otherwise noted.
Started racing: February 8, 1981 at eight years old at Armadillo Downs in Conroe, Texas.John Purse BMX Ultra Interview BMXStars.com Profile of John Purse.
Sanctioning body: American Bicycle Association (ABA)
First race result: Second place.
First win (local):
Home sanctioning body district(s): ABA Texas 3 (Tex-3) (1985);United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA) Texas District 4 (TX-4) (1986)
First sponsor: U-Truck-It 1981.January 2008 Gary Haselhorst interview at bmxactiononline.com.
First national win:
Turned Professional: January 1990 at age 17.Ride BMX December 1993 Vol.2 Iss.6, No.8 pg.30 He forged his mother's signature on the Pro License applications to the ABA and NBL. His mother got wind of it a couple of months later (Purse had been doing quite well as a pro in the interim, including winning his first pro race. See "First Professional race result" below) and complained to both sanctions. She ordered that John to be suspended and prevented from racing pro since he did so without her permission. He found out when he went to sign up to race the NBL Memphis Indoor Classic in Memphis, Tennessee in March 1990. He had to sit out both days of racing.BMX Plus! July 1990 Vol.13 No.7 pg.24 He got his pro papers in order in time to race the ABA Supernationals in El Paso, Texas. He won this last "A" pro race on Sunday (Day 2) April 1, 1990 and was moved up to "AA" pro.BMX Plus! August 1990 Vol.13 No.8 pg.48
First Professional race result: First place in "A" pro at the ABA Lone Star Nationals San Antonio, Texas on January 27, 1990. He won US$525,BMX Plus! May 1990 Vol.13 No.5 pg.22 the equivalent of US$826.26 in 2007 (Cost of Living Calculator)
First Professional win: See above.
First Junior Pro* race result: See above.
First Junior Pro win: See above.
First Senior Pro** race result: Seventh place in "AA" pro at the ABA Mid-America Nationals in Blue Springs, Missouri on May 12, 1990 (Day 1).American BMXer June 1990 Vol.12 No.5 pg.48 (results)
First Senior Pro win:
Retired: He retired from active in Senior Pro competition in 2007. He currently races in Veteran Pro class.
Height & weight at height of his career (1990–2000): Ht:6'0" Wt:~185 lbs.
*In the NBL it is B"/Superclass/"A" pro (beginning with 2000 season)/"AA" Pro/Elite Men; in the ABA it is "A" pro (depending on the era). **In the NBL it was/is "B" pro/Superclass/"A" Pro/Junior Elite Men; in the ABA it is "AA" pro.
Career factory and major bike shop sponsors
Note: This listing only denotes the racer's primary sponsors. At any given time a racer could have numerous ever-changing co-sponsors. Primary sponsorships can be verified by BMX Press coverage and sponsor advertisements at the time in question. When possible exact dates are given.
Amateur U-Truck-It: 1981–1982 Ben's Bike Shop: 1983 Blazer: 1984 Roland Racing: 1985 S.T.U.D.D: 1986 Eagle Snacks/Profile: Early March 1987 – September 1988. At this time Eagle Snacks was still a separate racing team and had not merged with MCS. Eagle Snacks/MCS (Moto Cross Specialties) Bicycles:BMX Plus! September 1988 Vol.11 No.9 pg.28 September 1988 – November 1989. Eagle Snacks formed a joint team sponsorship with MCS Bicycles in August 1988 to defer some of the cost of fielding a BMX racing (or in other cases freestyle) team. This was the modern start of trend of two separate companies jointly sponsoring a team that became standard practice by the year 2000.
MCS Bicycles: November 1989 – July 1990 John turned pro with this sponsor.
Professional MCS Bicycles: November 1989 – July 1990 By November 1989 Eagle Snacks had largely dropped its BMX effort. MCS did merge part of its team with Vans team having Terry Tenette, Pete Loncarevich and Danny Millwee on that team, but MCS also had a team that was separate from the Vans/MCS effort. In July 1990 MCS dropped its BMX team except Terry Tenette causing Purse to pursue another sponsor.Go October 1990 Vol.1 Iss.12 pg.15 S&S Racing (Bicycle Shop): Late 1990 – August 1991 ODi (Ornate Design, Inc.) /Revcore: September 1991 – November 1992 ODi/GHP (Greg Hill Products) Late November 1992-through September 1993‡) Balance: 1994 – May 1996 Redline Bicycles: May 1996 – March 30, 2001. After missing much of the 2000 and early 2001 racing seasons due to injuries Redline decided to exercise its clause in the contract with Mr. Purse that stated that they had the right to let him go if he missed so many races unless he agreed to accept a new contract not as advantageous to Purse and gave him until March 30, 2001 to accept. Purse didn't and moved on to Profile Racing. Profile Racing/Troy Lee Designs/Marzocchi Steering Systems: April 1, 2001 – December 2001 Troy Lee designs/EVS: January 2002 – October 2002 Marzocchi/Troy Lee Designs/Intense Racing: October 2002 – January 2003 Marzocchi/Specialized:May 16, 2003 bmxonline.com interview Mid January 2003 – February 5, 2003 Hyundai/Mongoose Bicycles: February 5, 2003 – December 2005 Redline Bicycles: April 4, 2006 – June 2006. This was a short two-month sponsorship that was intended as a fill in for Redline's regular sponsored pro the injured Bubba Harris, who was laid up with a shoulder injury that was slated to take him out of racing for two months.FatBMX article on John Purses substituting for Bubba Harris Sandersclinic.com: June 28, 2006 – late September 2006 Redline Bicycles: Late September 2006 – 2007. This is John Purse's third stint on Redline. GHP/www.SandersClinic.net/PowerBar: January 2008–present
‡The latest known date he was known to be sponsored by that company
Career bicycle motocross titles
Note: Listed are District, State/Provincial/Department, Regional, National, and International titles in italics. "Defunct" refers to the fact of that sanctioning body in question no longer existing at the start of the racer's career or at that stage of his/her career. Depending on point totals of individual racers, winners of Grand Nationals do not necessarily win National titles. Series and one off Championships are also listed in block.
Amateur National Bicycle Association (NBA) None National Bicycle League (NBL) 1985 12 Expert Grandnational Champion 1987 15 Expert President's Cup Champion.*
*The President's Cup was an amateur only non points invitational race held in conjunction with the Christmas Classic National during the last week of December after Christmas and before New Year's, usually on a Tuesday or Wednesday.
American Bicycle Association (ABA) 1985 12 Expert Winter Season Texas 3 (TX-3) District Age Group (DAG) No.1*
*DAG District Age Group, NAG-National Age Group In 1985 the ABA experimented with dividing the district points season from one year lasting from January 1 to December 31 to three four-month-long time periods at which a racer could earn a plate number for that time period for their district overall and/or their age group and could race the rest of the year with it. The experiment lasted only for a year before the ABA reverted to a single year-long points gathering season in 1986.
United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA) 1985 Texas District 4 (TX-4) 20" and Cruiser Group No.1 1986 TX-4 Cruiser Group No.1 International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)* 1987 14 boys Silver Medal (2nd) World Champion 1988 15 boys World Champion 1989 16 boys World Champion
Fédération Internationale Amateur de Cyclisme (FIAC)*
Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)* None
*See note in Professional section.
Professional National Bicycle League (NBL) 1995 Mid Year Series Champion 1996 Pro Class and Pro/Super Award Grandnational Champion 1995, 1996 National No.1 Pro. 2003 Elite Men National No.2 2009 Elite Nasters Grand National Champion American Bicycle Association (ABA) 1992 "AA" Pro and Pro Open Race of Champions Champion (Double) 1997 National No.1 Pro. 1997 ABA Pro World Champion. 2003 "AA" Pro National No.2 2008 Veteran Pro Race of Champions Champion International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)* None Fédération Internationale Amateur de Cyclisme (FIAC)* None (defunct) *None (FIAC did not have a strictly professional division during its existence). Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)* 1997 UCI Elite Men World Champion USA Cycling: 2009 Masters Class First Place National Champion
*Note: Beginning in 1991 the IBMXF and FIAC had been holding joint World Championship events as a transitional phase in merging which began in earnest in 1993. Beginning with the 1996 season the IBMXF and FIAC completed the merger and both ceased to exist as independent entities being integrated into the UCI. Beginning with the 1996 World Championships held in Brighton, England the UCI would officially hold and sanction BMX World Championships and with it inherited all precedents, records, streaks, etc. from both the IBMXF and FIAC.
Independent Pro Series Championships and Invitationals
Notable accolades He is a consecutive three-time winner of ABA's BMXer magazine Golden Crank Award for Pro of the Year in 1997, 1998, and 1999.Winner of Golden crank Award In 1998 he set the single season record of most wins at 25.Mongoose.com congratulating John Purse for his 2005 season He is a 1998 BMX Plus! Racer of the Year Award winner.BMX Plus! August 1998 Vol.21 No.8 pg.66 He is a 1999 BMX Plus! Racer of the Year Award winner.John Purse's Website. He is a 1999 winner of Snap Magazine's Number One Rider Award (NORA) Cup*. In 2005 he set the most mains appearances record at 308 becoming during that time the first to break the 300 mains barrier. As of May 2006 his mains appearance is up to 310. His Senior Pro career is a contiguous 17 years, the longest BMX pro career in its history.
*The NORA Cup was an award first created by Bicycle Motocross Action magazine in 1978, with Bobby Encinas being the first recipient, until its demise as Go magazine in 1992. Gary Ellis was the last winner in 1991. Snap BMX Magazine revived the award in 1998, with Gary Ellis being its first winner and rewarded it to Racers, Dirt Jumpers and Freestylers until its demise as Transworld BMX with the January 2005 issue. The NORA Cup is now owned by Ride BMX Magazine.
BMX product lines 1999 Redline John Purse signature series frame. Product Evaluation: Snap BMX Magazine August 2000 Vol.7 Iss.8 No.46 pg.87 Snap BMX Magazine December 2000 Vol.7 Iss.12 No.50 pg.116 (2001 Model Year) 2005 Mongoose John Purse signature series bicycles Product Evaluation: 2009 Greg Hill Products (GHP) "Jackal Pro XL" signature model Product Evaluation:
Significant injuries