Virginian-Pilot


DATE: Monday, November 10, 1997             TAG: 9711100236

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: [Jane Harper] 

                                            LENGTH:  101 lines




WHATEVER HAPPENED TO...

. . . Shock jock Henry ``The Bull'' Del Toro?

Henry ``The Bull'' Del Toro was an often-controversial but always popular morning-drive disc jockey on Hampton Roads' WNOR 99 for 15 years before he left the rock station in June 1995 and headed for rival station KROX 96X. He was fired from 96X in May because of poor ratings.

Since being fired, Del Toro has temporarily taken over the mike at a couple of area radio stations, but has yet to find a full-time DJ job.

``I've been applying all over the Eastern half of the United States, as far north as Chicago and as far south as Atlanta,'' Del Toro said recently. ``I've had lots of bites, but I haven't reeled in the big fish yet.''

Financially, Del Toro isn't sure how much longer he can hold out. He said he soon expects to file for bankruptcy protection.

``Being out six months - I wasn't prepared to be out this long,'' Del Toro said.

In the meantime, Del Toro, 39 and single, has had several opportunities to talk to Hampton Roads radio listeners again and earn some much-needed income. He surprised many in May when he filled in as a morning co-host at WCMS, a country music station, in Chesapeake. He worked there for a week while DJ Chris Mitchell was on vacation.

He also started spinning discs part-time at WJQI 94.9 in August, where he hosts an all-night show on weekdays and fills in as needed.

A graduate of Catholic High School in Norfolk, where he was first dubbed ``The Bull'' by teammates on the school's football team, Del Toro said he would prefer to stay in his hometown area.

``I've got some unfinished business here,'' he said, referring to the charity work he did while working as a DJ. Del Toro estimated that he helped raise more than $150,000 for several charities through the many ``stunts'' he performed.

Those stunts included spending four days in an animal shelter cage, pushing a shopping cart 99 miles to support local food banks and playing miniature golf for 24 hours to help pay for a child's heart and lung transplant.

``I want to be able to do that kind of stuff more, and do it on a bigger scale,'' he said.

Del Toro also is known for other stunts, however - stunts that have gotten him in trouble with the law. He has pleaded guilty to cocaine possession and been given a first-offender status, and he has written phony prescriptions for pain killers that he became addicted to after a car accident.

There also have been slander lawsuits. One was filed against him by his former WNOR co-host, Tommy Griffiths; Del Toro repeatedly called Griffiths a ``coke head'' on the air.

Finally there was a reprimand from the Federal Communications Commission for a 1992 April Fool's prank. Del Toro and Griffiths told listeners that Mount Trashmore was about to explode and warned residents to evacuate. Many did.

Those kinds of stunts, Del Toro said, he plans to leave in his past.

...Former Norfolk Neptunes head coach Gary Glick ?

Gary Glick had been a talented and well-known defensive back for the Washington Redskins, Baltimore Colts and San Diego Chargers when he came to Norfolk in the 1960s to coach the Norfolk Neptunes, the city's once-popular minor league football team.

It's been more than 25 years since Glick and his family left Norfolk and returned to Colorado, but Glick still has fond memories of Hampton Roads and the scrappy football team he coached here.

He has kept in touch with many members of his old coaching staff, as well as some of his former players. And he comes back to Hampton Roads every few years to spend time with team members who have remained in the area.

``We really had a great group of guys who really respected each other,'' Glick said by phone recently. ``I think we won as much as we did because of the mutual respect we had for each other.''

Ron Killmon, a former Neptunes player who now is head football coach at Catholic High School in Norfolk, has stayed close friends with Glick. Killmon said his family goes on vacation each year with the Glicks and has shared ownership of vacation homes over the years.

``It (the Neptunes) was a big-league operation when Gary Glick came on,'' Killmon said. ``He brought in a big-league atmosphere and he didn't stand for any misconduct of any kind. He was always mindful of the kids and the impact the players had on them.''

After leaving Norfolk, Glick went on to coach in the Canadian Football League and at Arizona University. He also worked as a scout for several NFL and Canadian football teams.

Now 67, Glick is a successful businessman. He lives with his wife in Fort Collins, Colo., just a few miles from the dairy farm he grew up on.

He and his brother, Fred, who played pro football for the St. Louis Cardinals and Houston Oilers, own a 118,000-square-foot commercial warehouse. Glick also owns a motel and bar in nearby LaPorte.

Glick hasn't been involved in pro football in years, other than watching the games on TV. But he has been active in Colorado Senior Softball for the past decade and travels a lot with the team. It won the world championship in 1995.

Glick said he also spends a lot of time with his family. He has two sons and a daughter and eight grandchildren.

``Six of them are boys, and it looks like I've got some athletes coming up out of the group,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: BETH BERGMAN NAKAMURA/File photo

Henry ``The Bull'' Del Toro has been filling in on a part-time basis

at various local stations, but he says he needs a full-time job.

Staff File photo

Gary Glick, Pictured in 1965...



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