Recent News Regarding Bull-Runs CLICK HERE September 2022
What Really Happened - The Tecate Bull Run and Michael Tuck of San Diego media
Michael Tuck has passed away. His passing, allows BajaRacingNews.com to tell the real story of what happened during the "Tecate Bull Run" near San Diego and Michael's influence on local media and on the Mexico events proceedings.
TECATE BULL RUN POSTER
The Tecate Bull-Run was a regular, annual 'occurrence' on the border with San Diego.
Participants were guaranteed a wild, drunken ride of 'running with the bulls' and a bit of Spanish-Mexican traditional machismo.
Once a year, the locals allowed their livestock bulls to run wild down the streets of the quaint, mild mannered community.
Otherwise well taken care of, the town was very respectable. One day a year, that image was wiped away with insanely crazy international travelers seeking thrills and welcoming locals, in need of tourism pesos.
During the last year of the bull-run, Michael was reporting on Channel 10 in San Diego. The reports began making their way into the newsroom, Michael latched onto the blood curdling screams of the injured, the hail of blood and anguished faces of the victims running for their lives.
The Tecate Bull-Run was back and Lloyd and his friend was in the middle of the mayhem and madness.
Lloyd, now an old friend of this reporter and his friend Kevin, began the day as usual, in the Tecate beer garden, before the scheduled running of the bulls, later in the day.
What wasn't known as it happened, was that the normal exit for the bulls on the regular run, was closed, so the bulls had no where to escape. This year wasn't merely a run, it was a run and entrapment - causing a panic never seen in the history of the Tecate bull-run.
All in Tecate, the bulls are running and yes, this mostly is not a Michael Tuck story. He does come in at the end, but not now!
As the boys (Lloyd & Kevin) made their way into the stream of bulls, the real point of time was upon them. This wasn't about running with the bulls, this was about 'riding' a bull, you could get ahold of.
'Rowdyism', 'hooliganism' = the attempt to 'ride' a 1,200 Mexican bull during an officially sanctioned, wild in the streets, Bull-Run
The average 1,200 pound Mexican bulls were trampling down the street, the crowd was either running out of their way or looking for more trouble.
Running 'with' the bulls was the name of the activity, but with the bulls, was not the reality.
Like riding 'on the bulls'! Between the drunken moments and the rush of the pointed horns, Lloyd had stayed out of trouble, when suddenly, a stranger yelled out loud, "Lloyd, you're man down"!
"Lloyd, you're man down"!
Kevin was down and out on the street amongst the explosion of action and the unknown dangers. Lloyd made his way back to his friend, gathered him up and looked for medical help.
Later, Kevin told Lloyd, that he was trying to ride one of the bulls, when the bull turned on him and according to Kevin, "the bull Head-Butted me".
"the bull Head-Butted me"
Losing his front teeth and suffering from a severe concussion, the medical help in Mexico wanted to take him to a local clinic. Lloyd knew that was a bad idea, got a taxi with Suzi and Kevin and made their way to the border crossing and got a chopper life-flight to a San Diego hospital for proper care.
The primitive electronic media at the time, got the story, some b-roll and started yelling about what a bad idea the Tecate Bull-Run was.
Michael Tuck latched onto the story and editorialized for days, about our boys incident, into the end of the run.
Stay Tuned>>>
August 18, 2022
Michael Tuck, whose commanding on-air presence led to long news anchorman stints in San Diego and Los Angeles, died August 17 at 76 after a long battle with post-stroke complications, according to reports.
Tuck worked at KGTV Channel 10 in San Diego before moving to KCBS in Los Angeles from 1990 to 2000. He then returned to San Diego, where he finished his career at KFMB and KUSI.
He won multiple awards during his newscasting career, including 15 regional Emmys, four Golden Mike Awards, and the Sigma Delta Chi Distinguished Service Award. Born John Michael Tuck on Sept. 10, 1945 in Silsbee, Texas, Tuck grew up in a family whose older brothers served as a role model.
Cecil and Gene Tuck started in radio broadcasting, with Gene becoming a TV news anchor. Cecil, who died in 2021, was head writer of The Smother’s Brothers Comedy Hour. While studying journalism at Trinity University in San Antonio, Tuck worked three years at KENS-TV in San Antonio.
Between 1970 and 1978, Tuck worked at KTVU in San Francisco and WCAU in Philadelphia, then moved to KFMB in San Diego in 1978. He moved to KGTV in 1984.
One of his alias's in San Diego during undercover reporting gigs was, Overcast.
Tuck’s survivors include his wife, Jill; sons Collin and Jackson, and daughter Tyler; his brother Gene, and his sister, Elizabeth Olivia.
A private memorial service is being planned. In lieu of flowers, Jill Tuck requests that people offer “an unexpected act of kindness for the voiceless”.
LAST OF THE TECATE BULL-RUNS
""No Bulls : Rowdyism: The border city of Tecate ends its annual running of the bulls, which often resulted in outbreaks of drunken rowdyism by the throngs attracted to the event.
BY YOLANDA RODRIGUEZ AP MAY 15, 1990 12 AM PT: TECATE, Mex. —
Seven years ago, about 2 dozen people, standing elbow to elbow on the streets of this tiny town, were trampled when a herd of bulls ran them over. Many were injured, none severely. The crowd, made up largely of American college students, kicked, punched and hurled bottles oozing with the local brew, Tecate beer. Their target was the bulls, whose stampede on the narrow, glass-encrusted streets launched a melee. To make matters worse, a temporary stadium set up for the running of the bulls collapsed in October of 1985, injuring more than 100 spectators out of the crowd of 3,000 that had gathered to watch a bullfight. A witness described how the screaming revelers fell “like a row of dominoes.” Wary of the annual onslaught of damage by drunken Americans and fearful of yet another disaster, Tecate has abandoned its annual bullfight as well as the Pamplonada . The latter was Tecate’s variation of the running of the bulls first made famous in Pamplona, Spain. Mayor Ruben Adame, who took office at the end of last year, seems relieved to have the wildness behind him.
Such events require “a lot of organization”, Adame said in announcing his decision early this month. “You need a lot of security and sanitary facilities. . . . You have about 20,000 people coming into a small city”, whose population is only about 80,000. The Pamplonada began in 1979 and became more and more unruly and difficult to handle, said civic leader Norma Aguilar Caballero, who said the bulls drew larger crowds each year. Aguilar conceded that, like many cities in nearby Southern California, Tecate is conscious of its image. She said drunken, rowdy hooliganism was something it longed to leave behind. She described Tecate as being among the most tranquil of Mexican border towns, and, rather than being something they celebrated, the Pamplonada had emerged as something its citizenry loathed and feared. “We want to change the impression that the Pamplonada left”, Aguilar said. “The event attracted a lot of undesirable people who wanted to do what they were not permitted to do in their own country, like drinking in public.” As an alternative, Tecate has begun to hype its Feria Campestre and Industrial Exposition, a small fair scheduled from July 14 through July 29. The fair will feature an industrial show by Tecate’s thriving maquiladoras , a charreada (a Mexican rodeo featuring children and adults performing on horseback), as well as mariachi music and food.
Mayor Adame said the running of the bulls and the bullfight ceased to be something that Tecate could control. This time, he hopes business leaders are attracted to a celebration of the town’s exports, such as beer, mineral water, furniture, clothes and toys. He expects about 100,000 people to attend the fair, which will also involve local Indian tribes, the Pai-Pai (from Ojos Negros in Ensenada) and the Cucapah (from San Felipe). Adame said he asked those business leaders who wanted the bullfight and running of the bulls continued to provide assurances “that visitors would be comfortable, that the animals would not be mistreated and that businesses and homes would not be damaged”. He said he received not a single response of reassurance. Animal rights groups, meanwhile, have lauded the decision.""
Gary Newsome, Publisher
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