El Toro Diabólico

In Dirt Plains Texas, a small town of 536 people, lived a young man of 19 named Tuck Dole. He lived in Dirt Plains all his life, played Quarterback in High School, until a Defensive Lineman ruined his chance at a scholarship with UCLA, by landing on his leg after a sack, and a fumble. The leg healed but he was never the same after, he walked with a slight limp the rest of his life.

After his football career ended, he tried his luck at various odd jobs. Pumping gas, cashier, car wash attendant, singer in his country band, none were working out. One day he was with some friends at the annual town rodeo, they dared him to ride a bull. He was for up anything, wasn't one to back down from a challenge, he got some pointers from his friends who were already "Bull Riders" in the district rodeos, so he entered the Open Bull Ride Challenge. He got on his first bull, a local bull named "Chickenfoot" because of his oddly shaped hoof, spread outike webbing. The countdown went off, they opened the shoot, the bull went running as Tuck kicked, held on for dear life, with his one hand in the grip on top and the other behind his head, his neck flinging back and his hand in the air for balance, the cowbell went off indicating 8 seconds of riding, and the rodeo clowns came and chased away the bull as Tuck ran to the gates to safety. The judges made their decision, a 78 score, that was enough to get him to the finals the next day. Tuck was hooked. It was the adrenaline of the ride, the anticipation!. The danger! It was everything that football was for him earlier. He went back for the finals the later that day, rode another bull, scored a 79 from the judges good enough for Third place. His prize was a $100. Soon he was riding bulls all around the district rodeo with his friends on a regular basis, sometimes getting paid sometimes not after getting bucked off, but this was his new obsession.

EL Toro Diabólico, "The Devil Bull" in Spanish, owned by local rancher about 56 miles south of Dirt Plains. The bull stood about 5 feet high, was 10 feet long and 2300lbs. Ranch owners would hire their bulls out for rodeos all around the region, occasionally for rodeos south of the border to Mexico, making a tour of rodeos to the South East. El Toro was known to be wild with abandon, hitting gates and flopping on the ground rolling over the bull rider. He'd guarantee to leave an injury of some kind. He had a mean streak unlike few bulls ever seen. He hadn't been ridden successfully for a year and a half streak, leaving many a cowboy with empty pockets.

Tuck Dole, was living his new dream. He was ridding bulls for 6 months now. He found out about a rodeo in the town of Wallace Creek, about a three hour drive. The purse was larger than the small town rodeos he was doing till now. He decided he should take a chance and he sent the entry fee in, $300. So three weeks later, he was in Wallace Creek. Booked himself at the Clearwater Motel and began to prepare.

He glanced across an ad in the local paper he bought advertising the rodeo. It named well known bull riders, and the events taking place around the rodeo. Then he seen a list of the bulls featured, "El Toro Diabólico, The Devil Bull". Tuck Laughed as he read the name. "Well they gotta sell tickets somehow I guess" he said to himself as he drifted off to sleep.

The next day, sun came up, rain came down for an hour, dried up in 15 minutes in the dry heat. Tuck rose up, got showered, put on his western shirt, his knee pads, his jeans, his cowboy boots, made sure he had his jacket, his elbow pads, his wallet, his extra set of boots in case he wore out the old ones and his chest protector and he went out had breakfast at the diner down the street before the rodeo grounds. He made it to the grounds about 11:00, got his number from the officials booth, and made sure his name was there on the list, met up with some other friends he knew down there in Wallace Creek. His friends from Dirt Plains, and others he knew were there and waiting to see him ride later that day. 3:00pm was the first ride and it would be two rounds till the semi finals in which the top 10 would make it to the finals. The prize money goes to the top 10, total purse of $200,000 of which the winner would take home $100,000 2nd place 50,000, 3rd 25,000 and.the remainder would take home smaller cash prizes.

First round, Tuck had 12 riders ahead ahead of him in a list of 18 bull riders entered. He rode a bull named "Round and Round", because of his reputation for spinning when he bucked, making the riders dizzy enough to fall off. He rode the bull for the 8 seconds no problems, he got off run for the gates as usual, but being a little dizzy, he fell on his rear end on the way to the gates causing a roar of laughter from the crowds, and the rodeo clowns chased it off. The score from the judges came down, 78 put him solidly in 5th place. Next three riders went, two eliminated they were done for the day. Round two was coming up at 5:00pm. There were 12 riders left.

Round two comes up, The next bull Tuck rides was "The Great One", he was a mean old bull, tougher than "Round and Round", he could kick, twist, buck and twirl. Tuck was the #10 rider. The gate opens, sure enough this bull was kicking and twisting and bucking and snarling, but Tuck kept his form and kept kicking, held on for 8 seconds, getting off and running back to the fence, the bull surprised everyone and nicked Tuck in the leg, the football injured leg from high school. He winced in pain as the rodeo clowns steered the "The Great One" away and back into the gates. The medical crew came.out and helped him off. They had a look at the leg and checked him out. He was in some pain. He tried to walk it off, but he'd come this far he wasn't gonna quit. "As long as he could get back on, he was going to ride" he said. This round, his score came down, 80 by the judges, moving him, into 3rd place. 5 more riders to go, 85 was the score to beat from Dallas bull rider Jimmy McMurtry. 3 riders eliminated this round. Top 10 make the semi finals

The semi finals were at 7:00. Tuck rested up and got some ice for his leg before the semi finals. He could barely walk on it. But his time to ride came along and he was up again after the first 4 riders. They put him up on the bull, he got himself locked in and gripped, his leg could still kick the bull but he would grimace a little in pain each time. The bull this time, "Good Boy" he was full throttle fun, not as mean as "The Great One but he could kick up the excitement if motivated. The countdown started, the gate opened and Tuck kicked and held his arm back and everything went off without a hitch. An 8 second ride. The safety crew got on the horse this time and the clowns did the rest. The score came down 79, 2nd place. James McMurtry in first with an 82. And all ten riders stayed on made it to the finals.

The final round, they held a draw for each bull rider, to pick a bull to ride in the finals. John Dinsmore picked "Good Boy", AL Holtby picked "Hearltand" all the way down, Jimmy McMurtry chose "Bad Dream", sure enough Tuck Dole chose "El Toro Diabólico", that made everyone wince a little. Jimmy said "man you have the bad luck today!"

The other bullriders told Tuck about El Toro Diabólico, and the legend surrounding him. "Yeah that's just talk" said Tuck, "There ain't no bull like that!" The others just laughed it off, "OK!" they said, "you'll see" with a giggle.

10:00 the final round begins. First up, AL Holtby on "Heartland". The bull jumped out of the gate, Holtby flung up with it, trying to hold on but the momentum shifted his body to the side of the bull and finally he fell off, missing the 8 second buzzer. 2 more riders after him, both made their rides. 78, 77 scores respectively. Next up John Dinsmore on "Good Boy". Dinsmore, being a veteran of rodeos for 8 years from high school to College, knew the ins and the out of the rodeo business, being from a family that included Barrel Riders( his sisters and mother), his father was a bull rider in his day but now does the Calf roping events, and an older brother who rides Bareback and Steer Wrestling. He rode " Good Boy" 3 times before in his career, falling off once, he knew what he was in for. The Bull jumped out of the gate and he was off! That bull twisted and kicked and spun around, Dinsmore was lock and step with him. He got off his ride in time and the mark was 82, 1st place in his grip! "That's how ya do it son!" He said to Tuck, smiling and slapping his shoulder as walked away.

Three more riders, three bucked off. We come to rider number 8. " Next up, we have Tuck Dole from Dirt Plains, Texas, give him a round of applause ladies and gentleman, his first time at the annual Wallace Creek Rodeo finals!" Came over the loudspeaker.

They bring out El Toro Diabolico! All 2300 lbs, 5 feet tall, 10 feet long of him! You could hear the audible gasp of the crowd as he come snarling to his gate. He seemed fairly tame, was co-operating as the crew put on his rope and held him down, you wouldn't see the "Devil" in him except for the size and girth. It even allowed Tuck to mount him and get his hands gripped with his gloves on. The countdown was set, the gates opened and this bull ran around the arena, snorting and gyrating, twisting and turning, snorting and grunting, the dirt flying, cowboy hat flying, he came close to the barricade and Tucks leg was crushed against the gate , you could hear it snap, he didn't feel it as the adrenaline kicked in, the buzzer rang and Tuck jumped to the ground and couldn't move! The bull was chased away after a fight with the rodeo clowns. The medical staff came out to attend, a hush fell over the crowd. The announcer called over the loudspeaker "we have an injured cowboy here folks, they're bringing the stretcher out now"!. They loaded Tuck into the ambulance outside the gates and they took him away to the hospital. The event continued on.

Tuck went into surgery that night and he was sent to his room after 3 hours and given something to help him rest. The next morning, he woke up and all the Bullriders were waiting for him. "Howdy there stranger!" Said John Dinsmore, "That was quite a ride, that was something boy!". Tuck looked up and said in a soft quiet voice "wh-what happened?, why are y'all here?" Well, said John, holding large trophy at his side, lifting it up, as the others brought forward a large check for $100,000 in his name. " I believe this belongs to you!" As everyone clapped cheered. His score was 87 from the judges.

After about a day, Tuck was in a wheel chair, wheeling himself out to his truck which they had brought back to the hospital for him, his friend from Dirt Plains was going to drive him back home. The local newspaper was there to greet him and asked him if he wanted to say a few words. Tuck squinted his from the sun, looked to right, looked to the left, then down to his chest. "Well, if life bucks you off, ya gotta get back on, there’s always another rodeo". He got in his truck and and they pulled away from Wallace Creek and went back to Dirt Plains.

As for El Toro Diabólico, he was sent to pasture to live the remainder of his life. He’d never be ridden again at any rodeo.