The Man Behind The Mask

Written by Spook Adkins

Lone Star Circuit Card Holder & personal friend

Probullstats Message Board:
Due to the nature of this subject and for all of you out there who aren't familiar with the evolution of bull riding headgear, I'd like to give credit where its due. The man behind the vision is Morris Futch. A native of Florida he came to Texas in the late 80's to attend college and ride bulls.

While working toward his business degree at Southwest Texas in San Marcos, Morris rode bulls and became a well respected bull rider on the Texas scene. I've heard several accounts from guys who say they remember Morris spurring rank bulls in the neck.

As many already know Morris's career was cut short due to a severe head injury that threatened his life and left him in need of long term therapy in every aspect of daily life. Everything from his speech to learning how to read had to be reshaped and fine tuned again. Morris not only overcame this challenge, he turned it into one of the inspirations for the eventual development of the BULL TOUGH HEADGEAR. The most significant factor was the loss of his friend Brent Thurman.

Started in a garage in the Heights district of Houston, a very unlikely home for a bull riding revolution, Morris began cutting, fitting and shaping the headgear into what you see today. His passion for the game and compassion for his fellow bull rider kept the ideal alive after many set backs. Many well respected people in the sport have been hesitant to support Morris's vision in fear of liability issues and still that hasn't deterred him. They say some people started from zero and worked their way up, if that's so then Morris started from negative 100 and built on it slowly.

It would have been easy to just let it slide but that's not what he did. Instead he kept at it, traveling, dealing with the head aches, promoting on the phones trying to get people to believe in his ideal. All while working full time on improving his headgear. No great financial profit was seen, or has been seen, on the development of BULL TOUGH. He's taken on a mission and stuck with it.

For everyone's who ever considered headgear and questioned the price of a BULL TOUGH, as opposed to knock offs, they should be aware of the time, knowledge, care and craftsmanship that goes into the development and marketing of the this specialized bull riding headgear. There's been a enormous amount of attention devoted to research and development for safety reasons.

All this was done by one guy out of his garage, not for money or recognition but simply to save bull riders lives. And that's what he's done. Just ask Mike Lee.
 

Spook Adkins,

Lone Star Circuit Card Holder & personal friend

Bull Tough is what Bull Tough does.

2.25 lbs. of prevention is worth 2000 lbs. of cure!

The Bull Tough head gear was designed with the cowboy in mind for minimum weight advantage and maximum hoof and horn deflection. Bull Tough should positively aid in the event of an accident.  The Bull Tough face guard is comprised of the lightest weight titanium material with a helium arc welded frame for optimum spring back and durability. The Bull Tough face guard should protect the cowboys' head to enhance the safety of  bull riding.

The initial thoughts of a Bull Tough head gear developed during my treatment at Warm Springs Rehabilitation Clinics in San Antonio and Gonzales, TX., then continued with cognitive rehabilitation in Tampa, Fl.  Brent Thurman was my last and final inspiration for designing a head gear feasible for the sport of bull riding.

The death of my counterpart  Brent Thurman at the 1994 National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas was my final inspiration to design a riding head gear that the younger generation could benefit from, given a choice between head protection and no head protection. Some of the letters from grateful cowboys that have been utilizing Bull Tough head gear can be found in the literature section .

The Bull Tough head Gear has saved the lives of a few old cowboys that I am personally grateful are still here. Bull Tough will always be on a mission to seek out those of us who don't know what the next bull is going to do. The bull probably bucks and rides in big trucks, it doesn't really matter , the harder they buck, the better.  The guys who are getting on a lot of bulls are raising the odds of some kind of head injury in the future.  Bull Tough head gear would like to see every bull rider in the world utilizing head protection.