Torera from Texas

Poised and slim in her sober, untinseled bullfighter's costume, blonde Patricia McCormick flashed her scarlet cape at the second of her two bulls. The first had been tame and lackluster. The crowd at the Juarez bull ring knew that if the first U.S. professional torera's debut was to be a success, this fight had better be good.

Dedicating the bull to her mother, the 22-year-old Texas girl took bold command. Four times she drew the bull's charges in neat pases naturales, once so narrowly that blood from his flank streaked her tight-fitting pants. "Ole, huera! [Nice going, blondie!]," yelled the crowd. Then Pat executed a series of gaoneras (passes in which the muleta is held with one hand outstretched, the other behind the back). On one rush a horn grazed and jarred her. The fans yelled as they had not yelled since the great Manolete fought years ago in Juarez.

After two unsuccessful tries at the kill, Pat coolly wiped the blood from her hands and swaggered across the ring. Taking careful aim, she went in over the horns a third time, her feet leaving the ground as she sank the espada to the hilt. The fans poured into the ring to acclaim her triumph; the judges awarded her both the bull's ears. One judge babbled "Muchas gracias" over & over into a microphone. Pat's mother wept. Her father, a Texas oil engineer who had nerved himself to attend only at the last minute, cheered wildly. Cigarette in trembling hand, Pat accepted congratulations from ex-Bullfighter Alejandro del Hierro, her coach and sponsor since she quit a fine-arts course at El Paso's Texas Western College last year to study the art of bullfighting. Del Hierro had believed in Pat's courage from the test day last September when she was knocked down, trampled and tossed in the air--and then returned unwaveringly to kill the bull.

This week Novillera Pat plans to go to Hollywood for movie and TV appearances. From there, she will go to New York for a radio show. After that, Trainer del Hierro thinks she should buckle down to steady practice, especially at cape-work, so as to be at her best for Mexico's nomllero season this summer.

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