John Purse

John Eric Purse (b. 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 1990-2000.

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

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.