National Finals Rodeo all-around champion Trevor Brazile, center, waits to be introduced Saturday, the final night of the season-ending event at the Thomas & Mack Center. Photo by John Locher.

The hungriest athlete is one who has tasted victory.

But as rewarding as it is to win a world crown, getting back to the top after falling from glory is much sweeter.

And no one knows that better than Trevor Brazile, Cody Ohl and Allen Bach, newly crowned world champions in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association who watched competitors celebrate on center stage without them a year ago at the conclusion of the National Finals Rodeo.

Bach, a four-time world champ whose last title came in 1995, won the team roping header title with a dramatic final run with heeler Chad Masters at the Thomas & Mack Center in front of a one-night record crowd of 18,224.

Other world champions crowned Saturday night at the end of the 10-day rodeo were steer wrestler Dean Gorsuch of Gering, Neb.; heeler Matt Sherwood of Queen Creek, Ariz.; and barrel racer Mary Burger of Pauls Valley, Okla.

Clinching world titles before the final round were Will Lowe (bareback riding), Chad Ferley (saddle bronc riding) and B.J. Schumacher (bull riding).

The party also started for Brazile and Ohl on Friday when they respectively clinched all-around and calf roping championships.

Brazile and Ohl went the extra mile to enhance their desire to finish No. 1 again after each admitted they might have taken too much time off from competing last year.

It's the fourth all-around crown in five years for the 30-year-old Brazile. For Ohl, it's his fifth calf roping championship and first since 2003.

Ohl, a 33-year-old father of three, doesn't regret missing some rodeos in 2005 to spend more time at home. But he'll never forget he finished second in the final standings a year ago by $2,000 to champion Fred Whitfield.

"There were times this year when I wanted to go home but I remembered what happened last year," said Ohl, who has won five calf roping titles.

"And then I got on a roll and you hate leaving the road when you're winning," Ohl said of his streak of cashing in 22 consecutive rodeos at the end of the regular season.

He stayed hot in the Finals where he won two go-rounds.

It was easier this year to hit the rodeo highway for Brazile, who traveled nearly the entire time with his wife, Shada.

"I'm just fortunate enough to have someone who is there for me and willing to make sacrifices," he said of his wife, who also is a barrel racer."

A big boost to Brazile's season was winning $87,090 in steer roping and earning his first Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association event championship in New Mexico. Veteran roper Joe Beaver said that, and Brazile's mastery of calf roping, is how he built a lead in the all-around that was insurmountable.

"You put Trevor in that position and he's going to win," said Beaver, who started the NFR on Nov. 20 about $165,000 behind Brazile.

"All I wanted to do was come in here and try to make it a race where Trevor knew he had to win to keep winning."

Brazile didn't win a go-round but finished the year with a record all-around earnings of $329,923. That includes $63,828 in the Finals, which is even more impressive because he competed with a sports hernia he suffered during a rodeo in Pendelton, Ore., in early September.

"I've done average at best, but at least I haven't gone backwards," he said of the injury to his left groin.

"I'm going to have to relax after the Finals," Brazile said. "I'm glad I took advantage of being sound and had an awesome year until September when I got hurt."

Bach, 49, of Weatherford, Texas, showed a veteran's poise in the 10th go-round when Masters missed his first throw.

Their lead was large enough they only needed to finish the round under 30 seconds. They finished in 20.9 seconds, which was enough to win the NFR aggregate title and bonus of $41,088, giving the heeler title to Bach while Masters finished second to Sherwood among headers by $849.

"It's been a fairy-tale week," Bach said. "I've never had this good of a week before."