John Eric Purse (born September 7, 1972 in Orlando, Florida, raised in Spring, Texas U.S.) is a former American 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 competitors and later and most famously "The Jackal" in the mid-1990s because of his "mad dog" riding style and for his not backing off and his fighting back.
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.
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.
First national win:
Turned Professional: January 1990 at age 17. 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. 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.
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, 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).
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: 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.