|
|
|
|
Winston Man hides out at Virginia's Restaurant
Story and photo by Deborah Jackson ~
Herald Staff Writer |
|
July
31, 1982
|
|
VALLECITO - Tom Tidwell is a man's
man. He stomps around in cowboy boots and nods his hello to
the ladies. He rides Broncs, wrestles bulls to the ground,
drinks Canadian VO, and spits tobacco.
He doesn't waste words either.
"Live and let live," he says simply. "That's my
philosophy.
So it comes as somewhat of a surprise to learn that Tidwell,
40, former professional rodeo cowboy and all around tough-guy
from Fort Worth, Texas, is the same man in the Winston
Cigarette ads plastered all over clocks and placemats in the
nation's bars and restaurants.
One such ad graces a wall clock at
Virginia's Restaurant at Vallecito Reservoir where Tidwell can
be found on a Friday or Saturday night flirting with the
waitresses or telling jokes past midnight with owner, Virginia
Jackson.
"It's no big deal to me,
really," says Tidwell in a tempered Texas drawl over
cocktails last
|
Saturday. "It's caused a lot of trouble
for me at times. You go into a place, and some guy says,
'There's that hot-shot in the picture there,' and you get into
a fight. It was just some promotion deal."
As he explains it, Tidwell was one of
20 professional rodeo cowboys hired by
the R. J. Reynolds Corporation to help promote Winston
Cigarettes as part of the 1980 professional rodeo tour.
"Winston sponsors a lot of our
rodeos. They asked about 20 of us out to Rawley, CA. for the
promotion; I'll do do anything to promote rodeo," he
said. "Boy, I'll tell you, it was some party too."
Tidwell, who has been riding the
professional rodeo circuit since 1964, was paid several
thousand dollars to ride bulls and broncs and stand out in the
hot California sun while photographer clicked away more than
100 frames per minute.
The photo that eventually appeared on
the ad was taken toward the end of the weeklong session when
Tidwell, nursing a hangover in 120-degree heat, was about
ready to haul off and slug the photographer.
"They had this photographer who
wouldn't shut up. He kept telling me what to do, and it was
making me real mad. That's the one they got."
The photograph captures Tidwell
poised on the edge of anticipation. A cigarette dangles from
his lips, half hidden from a dark mustache, while his angry,
icy-blue eyes glance to the right in rapt concentration. You
can smell the dust and horse sweat, hear the rodeo announcer
in the background - this is what a real cowboy looks like the
last few quiet moments before entering the ring on the back of
a raging bull.
While Tidwell, a non-smoker, says he
doesn't miss his brief modeling career - "I don't like
the people; they've got a different lifestyle than what I
like" - he does miss the life of a rodeo cowboy that he
abandoned when he moved to Vallecito a few years ago.
"I still do a bit of
bulldogging. It just gets in your blood," he said.
"If I wasn't so old, I'd still be riding bulls and stuff,
but the body can only take so much."
Tidwell, coming off a 60-stitch
injury to his leg from a bull that want to be bulldogged last
year, currently works in the Farmington area for the Schneider
Power Co. He anticipates that Vallecito Lake will be his home
for the rest of his life.
"My sister and husband live
here, and they called me up for a drink and I never left. The
best people in the country live here. It's a nice place to be.
That's why I drive 90 miles to work in the morning. When I
wake up on a weekend and look out over the lake and the
scenery ... it's a nice place to be.
|
|
go to top of page
|
|
|
|
|
Family Affair
Winston Man
