Oakman legend Richard “Bull” Corry recalls the genesis of Old York Farms, his battle with cancer, and the keys to a good steak

Words by Terrell Manasco | Images by Ryan McGill

As Bull Corry settles into a chair on his deck at Old York Farms and the sunlight fades behind the trees, a story is about to begin. Like that of most cowboys, it is not an easy one to tell, and begins in the soil. With a unique attachment to the land that surrounds him, Bull’s life is fused with into the very history of this place.

“The old home was built here in 1848,” says Bull, surveying his beloved property. “It will be 175 years old in a couple of years. Hopefully, I'll be able to do a celebration.”

According to Bull, the original Corry homestead, sitting about 75 yards away, once served as a post office. The idea of Old York Farms didn't come until many years later and was the brainchild of Bull and his late father, Harold Corry.

“My father and I started developing the park in the late ‘80s,” Bull says. “We both liked to build, and this is the product of 30-plus years of labor.” 

The park’s centerpiece is Old York, an Old West town which includes a saloon. As the story goes, Bull’s family owned some land that was acquired through his grandfather's Revolutionary War service when he came over from Ireland at age 17. Harold then created the land into a workable image of what buildings were like in the 1800s. The bar, liquor cabinet, mirror, and some of the artifacts are out of the Chamborden saloon, located in the original settlement of York (now Oakman).

Since opening in 1989, Old York Farms has been the venue for festivals, rodeos, and wrestling. Merle Haggard, Bobby Bare, and John Anderson have played outdoor concerts here. “We've had everything from midget wrestling to car shows to Willie Nelson,” Bull says.

In 1995, the Corrys added a restaurant, the Bull Pen Steakhouse. Bull determined quickly that you can go broke in the restaurant business faster than you can blink your eyes. “I cook and my wife, Stephanie, and daughters, Chloe and Cash, work there. That's what it takes to survive,” he says.

Two years later, Mr. Corry passed away. Even as Bull mourned his dad, he struggled with the added responsibility of operating the business alone. He remembers sitting in former Daily Mountain Eagle editor Doug Pearson’s office and saying, ‘I just can't get as much done as my dad did.’ Pearson replied, 'You don't have a 27-year-old boy working for you.'”

Any conversation with Bull is apt to elicit a humorous reply served with a dollop of old-fashioned horse sense. When asked about the longevity of the business, he tosses back a zinger.

“I’ve had a damn bear after me the last 40 years. If you get a bear after you, you’ll run,” he laughs. “When Dad passed away, it went from two guys carrying a ton of debt to one person. That makes a man work a lot of hours.”

“It's a labor of love,” Bull adds. “You've got to love people.”

Thanks to the restaurant’s strong internet presence, travelers from all over the world flock here every year to sample Southern food. “Finland, Germany, England… countries that I can't pronounce,” Bull says. “One gentleman from somewhere near the Middle East posted on Facebook that he wanted to experience a real steak house.”

Bull often punctuates his humorous Facebook posts with the hashtag #eatmoresteak and the restaurant’s tagline is “Fighting Skinny Since 1995.”

So, what are the keys to a good steak?

“You've got to cook it with loooooove,” Bull laughs. “You can't last 26 years if you don't love it. You’ve got to have quality meat, and you have to care about what you're doing. People have worked all week and they've chosen to spend their paycheck with us, so they deserve a quality meal.”

In recent years, Old York has been the location of various film projects, like the 2019 film Hell on the Border, starring Ron Perlman and Frank Grillo. Recalling his first encounter with Grillo, Bull says, “I didn't know who Frank Grillo was. He walked in the back door of the restaurant. Nicest fellow you ever met.”

The film projects have also helped boost the restaurant’s business. Hell on the Border required feeding 96 people every six hours, so the restaurant had to be rolling 24 hours a day.

The conversation then turns to what Bull calls “the elephant in the room.” In the summer of 2019, he suffered from what he thought was walking pneumonia. “It feels like a spear stuck through you,” Bull begins. “My hands started tingling. Eventually, in a very quick fashion, they became paralyzed.”

Soon, Bull couldn't button his shirt, write, or flip steaks in the restaurant. An MRI revealed a lesion in his T vertebrae pressing against his spinal column.

Bull began chemotherapy and radiation treatments at Clearview Cancer Center in Jasper. Although he weathered the treatments well, he dropped 60 pounds and his hair fell out. He says he felt very strange and very sick, and he got down to 210 pounds. “For me, that is skin and bones,” he says.

But his battle wasn’t over. In March 2020, Bull suffered heart failure due to the chemo. It knocked his heart down to ten percent, and he couldn't walk even a few feet to get in his pickup truck. He spent 11 days in the hospital and was put on a heart transplant list. After running extensive MRIs, one doctor had an idea. “He said, ‘Has anybody ever talked to you about your thyroid?’” Bull remembers. “They got my thyroid straightened out and everybody was happy again.”

Bull never asked about his cancer until after his last chemo treatment on December 23, 2019. He was told it had been stage four.

Now two years cancer-free, Bull has a new perspective on life. “The way I look at it, I'm on ‘bonus time,’ so I'm not complaining,” he says. “I'm less worried about little [stuff]. It's all about the big picture. One thing I can definitely tell you is prayer works.”

In July 2021, Bull launched his Sunday afternoon radio show, "Bull Corry's Outlaw Country,” on WJLX Oldies 101.5 FM (streaming at https://www.wjlx1015.com). He says the response has been tremendous. “We play Waylon, Willie, Merle, David Allen Coe, Travis Tritt, Lynyrd Skynyrd, etc.”

Rising from his chair, Bull offers two nuggets of wisdom. “Never give up,” he says, his thundering voice cleaving the darkness, “and eat more steak.” 78