2023-07-11 14:26:13
A few days after his 89th birthday, the bullfighter Paco Corpas has died in Madrid. So was his brother Carlos, who died in 2005. They were the sons of a bullfighter and banderillero; later, concierge of Barcelona’s Plaza de Las Arenas. The two brothers practically grew up in that Plaza: a clear testimony against those who deny the Catalan bullfighting tradition.
Paco was a bullfighter with a good head, a varied repertoire and great abilities. I remember the ease with which he and his brother jumped over the barrier, with virtually no support.
He started fighting in France before he was 16, the required age in Spain. She fought more than a hundred chopped heifers. With the trade well learned, he took the alternative in Pamplona, on July 7, 1956, at the hands of Joselito Huerta (who replaced Antonio Ordóñez), with Gregorio Sánchez as a witness. He alternated with the great figures of the fifties and sixties. He fought 16 straight seasons as a matador. He had an international projection: in addition to America, he came to fight in Angola, Mozambique and even in China. He retired in 1971.
He shone especially in the banderillas: he combined knowledge of the terrain with exceptional athletic conditions. He has gone down in history because, on three occasions, the public forced him to turn around the ring, after the second third: at his presentation at Las Ventas, in 1956; in the same arena, already as a matador, on July 18, 1964; the following year, in the Plaza de Sevilla. I don’t know if any other bullfighter has achieved it.
After retiring, he continued to be linked to the bulls. Married to Jumillano’s sister, he was one of the owners of the bullring in Valladolid. He devoted all his efforts to defending the rights of right-handers. He presided over the Union of Bullfighters and achieved, in 1978, that they be integrated into the General Social Security Regime, with the advantages that this entails for his retirement. He recounts those struggles in a recent book, “History of the Bullfighters’ Mutual Aid Charitable Association.”
We knew each other many years ago. Until recently, he used to call me to scold me, with all affection, when he disagreed with some assessment of my Time.news or to point out an error in the bullfighting information on ABC. He was a demanding and shrewd fan. He dedicated his whole life to the bullfights and to the defense of the Fiesta.
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