ODESSA, Texas - It’s been a fight all year.
Ok, so that’s part of the sport of protection bullfighting.
But if you ask Dusty Tuckness and Andy Burelle about the 2008 season, they’ll tell you about the competition. They’ll tell you that working together, they’ve accomplished a lot.
On Saturday night while representing Team Cavender’s during the final go-round of the Professional Bullfighters Daisy Protection Bullfight World Championships, Tuckness and Burelle put the finishing touches to a terrific season by being crowned world champions.
“All year long, we were going up against the best bullfighters in the world,” said Tuckness of Meeteetse, WY.
The top five teams on the Daisy Protection Bullfight Tour qualified for the World Championships, which took place in conjunction with the SandHills Stock Show and Rodeo. Team Cavender’s entered the competition in second place, just a few points shy of the year-end leader, Team Mann Creek Buck-N-Bulls, Jay Brewer of Graham, Texas, and Steve Wangler of Plainview, Neb.
Tuckness and Burelle remained consistent through most of the six-round contest and pulled off another huge feat: they won the World Championships average title by having the best cumulative score. They finished just ahead of Team All-American Dodge, Dave Jantzi of Sugar Creek, Ohio, and Toby Inman of Davis Junction, Ill.
“Dusty’s the best partner I could ever have,” said Burelle of Ardmore, Okla. “Everything always works when we’re in the arena together. Our styles really fit each other.”
How close were the finals? Burelle and Tuckness won by a mere two points, earning just enough in a rough final round.
“We fought consistently all week long, and we came into tonight with a pretty good lead,” Burelle said Saturday. “But we needed every bit of it. It seemed like everything that could go wrong tonight did go wrong, but that says a lot about the caliber of the guys that are in this competition.”
Wangler and Brewer fought through their own adversity. On Nov. 29, Brewer suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and fought through that at the World Championships. He tweaked the injury in the first round, then tore the medial collateral ligament in the same knee during the fifth round. Still, he continued.
Team Mann Creek Buck-N-Bulls finished second in the finals standings.
“It’s been a pleasure to compete against these guys,” Tuckness said. “Steve and Jay gave us a battle all year long. They kept us on our toes”
The championship buckles they were presented will likely be part of their wardrobe for a long time.
“This is the toughest competition you could imagine, so I’m very proud of it,” Burelle said.
Team All-American Dodge wins its third go-round
Toby Inman and Dave Jantzi were rookies in the Professional Bullfighters Daisy Protection Bullfight World Championships.
But representing Team All-American Dodge, they didn’t play like newcomers to the biggest stage on the Daisy Tour. In all, Jantzi and Inman won three of six go-rounds and finished second to Team Cavender’s – Andy Burelle of Ardmore, Okla., and Dusty Tuckness of Meeteetse, Wyo. – in the World Championships’ average race.
Their final victory came Saturday night during the final performance of the SandHills Stock Show and Rodeo at Ector County Coliseum.
“When you come in here to the finals and fight against the best teams, it’s an honor just to be here,” said Inman of Davis Junction, Ill. “But to win three rounds is just unbelievable.”
In the final round, Team All-American Dodge took advantage of the situations before them and edged the second-place squad, Team Daisy – Joe Garretson of Springfield, Mo., and Cory Wall of Burlington, Colo.
“I think we fought really well over the week,” said Jantzi of Sugar Creek, Ohio. “Toby fought through some pain, which says a lot.”
Inman suffered torn biceps and triceps muscles in his left arm.
The second-place finish for Garretson and Wall marked the first time in the competition that the veterans placed high enough to earn paychecks.
Injured Brewer earns peers’ vote for MVP of the finals
Jay Brewer limped across the Ector County Coliseum dirt on Saturday night.
Actually, he’s been limping since the start of the Professional Bullfighters Daisy Protection Bullfight World Championships, when he tweaked an injured knee on the first bull of the competition. But he only missed one bull through the six-round contest – fighting through intense pain and all that comes with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
If that weren’t enough, he suffered a torn medial collateral ligament in the same knee during the fifth round, hobbling even more through the final two nights of the championship.
For all that, his peers voted him the Daisy “Take Aim at Safety” Most Valuable Player for the week.
“That’s the highest honor, winning the MVP at the world finals,” said Brewer of Graham, Texas, fighting for Team Mann Creek Buck-N-Bulls. “And that comes from the best bullfighters in the world.”
The grit and determination Brewer showed was contagious among his competitors. Despite the pain, despite the discomfort, they said, each competitor saw Brewer continue to battle, both the bulls and his body’s natural request to sit on the sidelines.
In most sports, a torn ACL would sideline an athlete for at least six months, likely a full year. A torn MCL would require weeks of rest, then rehabilitation. That wasn’t in Brewer’s mindset, even when he sat with his knee on ice for hours each day.
“I didn’t want to let Steve down,” said Brewer, referring to his partner, Steve Wangler of Plainview, Neb. “We started it, and we were going to finish it.
“It was about being a cowboy.”
Nelson wins prestigious Rex Dunn Award
Allen Nelson has been fighting bulls most of his life.
In a career that actually started in high school, Nelson has seen his share of glory and heartache – just two of the many things that come with the sport.
On Saturday night at the conclusion of the Professional Bullfighters Daisy Protection Bullfight World Championships, Nelson was awarded the prestigious Rex Dunn Award for his lifetime dedication and contribution to the sport of professional bullfighting.
“To me, the best part of bullfighting is that it really tells you a lot about yourself,” said Nelson, one of the World Championships judges and founders of Professional Bullfighters Inc. “It tells you what you’re made of, because throughout a career, you will see a lot of things, from the good times to the wrecks.
“It’s how you come out of those situations that defines who you are.”
Nelson started his professional bullfighting career more than two decades ago, but he was fighting bulls even before that. Over time, he co-wrote the rule two-bullfighter rule for the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, which mandated that at least two bullfighters were in the arena during bull riding. He’s been part of – and served on the boards – of every bullfighting organization.
In his role as vice president of the PBF, he was instrumental in the development of the rules and regulations of the association; helped develop the judging system; helped establish the evaluation system; and was a major factor in the development of the TwoBulls Academy.
“I knew some guys in high school that were riding bulls, and I asked them if I could go with them,” he said. “They said I could if I could clown for them, and they meant to fight bulls. They thought it would scare me, but I’d worked cattle on foot, not horseback, so I was used to it.
“I flipped out there, and I didn’t know what I was doing, but I was keeping the bulls off them. I had a ride every time they went to the practice pen, but the problem was I was spending all my time out in the arena and wasn’t getting on any bulls.”
The forsaken bull rider became the man who helped develop the protection-bullfighting competition as it is today, now celebrating its second World Championships, this time in conjunction with the SandHills Stock Show and Rodeo.
It’s also the second year for the Rex Dunn Award, named after one of the biggest names – and the biggest influences – in professional bullfighting.
“Rex had the ability to move around bulls smoothly,” Nelson said. “They called him Mr. Smooth, and there was a reason for it. He had a way to handle bulls and make them not as tough to handle.”
Results Sixth performance winner, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2009
1. Team All-American Dodge, Toby Inman, Davis Junction, IL/Dave Jantzi, Sugar Creek, OH
2. Team Daisy, Joe Garretson, Springfield, MO./Cory Wall, Burlington, CO
Average
1. Team Cavenders, Andy Burelle, Ardmore, OK./Dusty Tuckness, Meeteetse, WY
2. Team All-American Dodge, Toby Inman, Davis Junction, IL./Dave Jantzi, Sugar Creek, OH
3. Team Mann Creek Buck-N-Bulls, Jay Brewer, Graham, TX/Steve Wangler, Plainview, NE.
World champions
1. Team Cavenders, Andy Burelle, Ardmore, OK/Dusty Tuckness, Meeteetse, WY
2. Team Mann Creek Buck-N-Bulls, Jay Brewer, Graham, TX/Steve Wangler, Plainview, NE
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