Similar experience, but without the lengthy bullying. I was big, but quiet and polite, and one day a kid cut in front of me in line, and I asked him to move. This kid, it's worth pointing out, had some real issues and had been bounced around at least half a dozen foster homes (so not a bad kid, but troubled). Anyway he turned around and clobbered me in the face with his trombone case. To that point I've never so much as smacked anyone (3rd grade), but that "snap" occurred and I punched his glasses off, crushed them underfoot, then beat him to the ground with my backpack.

We actually become pretty good friends for a few years after that, and I was one of the only guys he wouldn't try to hassle even when he was having real problems. Like you, heavily anecdotal, but a lot of cultures outside of the (last 50 or so years) in the US recognize the value of non-injurious physical confrontations, especially among young guys.