Gail Hughbanks Woerner
​
  • Home
  • Way Out West Blog
  • Books
    • Western Women Who Dared To Be Different
    • The Cowboy's Turtle Association
    • Rope to Win
    • Cowboy Up
    • Belly Full of Bedsprings
    • Fearless Funnymen
    • Willard, Colorado: A Special Place in Time
  • Contact
  • About
  • Schedule
  • Rodeo Clown Reunion
  • Links

National Cowgirl Hall of Fame                                                    39th annual Luncheon & Induction Ceremony

10/31/2014

0 Comments

 
One of the special treats of the year for me is to attend this special day with theInductees and Honorees of the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame.  The banquet room in the Will Rogers Complex is always festive,  in that various retailers,  vendors and persona around the Fort Worth area are invited to ‘decorate a table.'  Over 100 tables are an array of western themes from boots and saddles to feathers and lace.  It is always a treat to walk between these artistic creations and see the clever themes used.  

Meanwhile the vendors at the back of the room have their booths chocked full of wares and items you can’t live without!  Unique ideas for gifts, as well as art and décorare for sale.  Joshua Abraham, from New Mexico, is always in attendance with his ‘one of a kind’ cowgirls made of clay.  He, too, always decorates a table with his dolls, created in the image of each inductee, as the centerpiece.

As  guests  are  arriving and given their  table  number,  champagne  and wine is served by waiters, while everyone visits with friends, meets new people, and listens to the great western music and song by Devon Dawson and her Cowgirls.  

Sharon Camarillo, inducted in 2006, was the Mistress of Ceremonies this year. She kicked off the program and Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price, gave a rousing welcome. A parade of former Honorees were introduced and escorted by Miss Rodeo America and State-Title Holders to the stage.  It is always good to see these former inductees.  An amazing number always seem to make this great weekend.  The invocation was given by Rhonda Sedgwick Stearns, 1977 Honoree.

During the tasty lunch two very special women were recognized and given special awards.  Jan Barboglio is an artist whose background (born in El Paso and childhood spent on a cattle ranch in North Central Mexico) plus a degree from SMU and a stint with Neiman  Marcus  Executive  Training  Program.   Her  art  is  shown  through  her  home collection, after a successful fashion designing career.  She was awarded the Mary Jane Colter Award.

The Mitzi Lucas Riley Award was bestowed on Amberley Snyder, a 23 year-old student  at  Utah  State  University  and captain  of  the  women’s  rodeo  team.   Her  first equestrian  effort  was  when only  three-years- old.   In  2009  she  won the  All-Around Cowgirl title at the National Little Britches Rodeo Association Finals.  In 2010 she was in a devastating car accident which left her paralyzed from the waist down.  She was told she would never walk again, and of course, never ride again.  Her determination ignored those statements and within four months was riding, still wearing a back brace.  She uses a special  seat  belt  to  hold her  in place and competes at  college  in barrel  racing and breakaway  roping.   She  finished her  first  season  in  the  top  ten  of  her  region.   Her acceptance  speech  included  the  statement,  “I’m  the  only  one  that  can  put  limits  on myself.”  This exemplifies her courage, determination and spirit.


Following lunch Shirley Lucas Jauregui was the first recipient to be inducted.  She was born in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, as was her sister, Sharon.  Both girls were avid fans of the horse and while watching cowgirls Tad Lucas and Vivian White trick ride at the Will Rogers Memorial Rodeo in Vinita, Oklahoma, both girls knew how they would continue their lives.  Their mother convinced White to teach them.  When their father died, at an early age, the lessons ceased, but the girls practiced what they had all ready learned.  Their mother moved them to Lakeside, California, where they continued their trick riding and soon they were performing at rodeos all over the country.  The girls were also asked to endorse Wrangler jeans and Resistol hats, which Shirley later helped with their designs.  They were on the cover of Collier magazine and had articles in Western Horseman, Fort Times, Horse Lovers, and more.  When the director and screenwriter, Blake Edwards, met them he got them screen extra cards with the Screen Actors Guild.  Shirley appeared in over 100 films, doubling for Betty Hutton, in Annie Get Your Gun, Marilyn Monroe in Monkey Business and many more films and TV, plus doing stunts for a variety of shows.  She married rancher Daniel Jauregui in 1955 and left the business to care for their two children, Dan and Michele and moved to Northern California.  She still stayed very active in the cattle and horse business.  She has received the Tad Lucas Memorial Award, and wrote a book of her life story, It Takes a Good Horse.

May Owen, M. D. was inducted because of her passions for education and caring for others.  She was raised, one of 8 children, on a farm in Falls County, Texas.  Her favorite past-time was caring for the animals.  She wanted to be a doctor but was told it was ridiculous because she was a woman.  She attended Texas Christian University in Fort Worth and graduated at the top of her class in 1917.   Dr. Truman Terrell hired her to assist him in caring for the animals in his pathology laboratory.  After watching her work he insisted she apply to medical school and loaned her the money.  She was the only woman in her class and graduating in 1921.  After stints in research at Mayo Clinic and the Medical Examiner’s Department at Bellvue Hospital in New York City she returned to Dr. Terrell’s North Texas Pasteur Institute Lab, where she eventually became chief pathologist.  In 1931 Dr. Owen was asked to help diagnose a disease that was causing feed lot sheep to fall ill and die.  The Dr. discovered that the animals were being fed molasses to improve the flavor of the mutton, and it was causing the sheep to develop diabetes.  Her find changed the way sheep were fattened worldwide.  She discovered other causes that affected animals, but her greatest contribution was discovering the dangers of talcum powder on surgical gloves.  She discovered when a woman became ill after receiving an appendectomy that the powder from the surgeon’s gloves caused inflammation and peritonitis.  She has also helped students by the May Owen Nursing Scholarship and the May Owen Trust and used her success and influence at T.C.U. and Texas Tech University.  She died at the age of 96, working until that day.

Chuck wagon cooks, Sue Cunningham and Jean Cates were the first all-woman chuck wagon team called the C Bar C Chuck Wagon.  They won the Western Heritage Classic Cook-off in Abilene, and also won every major chuck wagon cook-off across the country at least once, and 8 national championships and two world championships.  The gals are sisters, born to Dick and Virginia Shepherd in 1934 and 1938 in Turkey, Texas.  These gals cook at large events and put on demonstrations to keep the tradition of genuine chuck wagon cooking going.  Sue learned to trick rope from champion Leonard Stroud.  Jean learned to stamp saddles at Stockman’s Saddle Shop in Amarillo.  The Matador Cowboy Reunion Association 1976 Bicentennial celebration saddle featuring her artistry is displayed in the National Cowgirl Museum.  Later she became a leather tooling instructor at the Texas State Technical Institute’s Amarillo campus.  When their father died, his chuck wagon was sold.  He had purchased an old XIT ranch feed wagon and converted it.  A few years later Sue and Jean bought it back, and the rest is history.  They have also written three cook books and won awards with them.  They also have a pictorial essay about those chuck wagon traditions and techniques.

Frances Kavanaugh was one of the few women in 1940s Hollywood that wrote film scripts for B-Westerns.  She wrote over 30 scripts and became well-known for her work by production companies.  In the golden age of cinema Westerns were 30% of Hollywood feature productions.  She was born in Dallas in 1915, raised in Houston and rode horses and watching western double-features at Saturday matinees.  When the family moved to Los Angeles Frances and her sister, Jane, were enrolled in drama school, but Frances’s love of writing led her to write sketched for the students to perform.  Robert Tansey, producer and director, asked her to re-write a bad script.  The next morning she handed him 100 pages of much improved script.  He hired her and from then on she wrote scripts for Monogram’s Trail Blazers series, and Columbia Pictures for B-westerns.  Her credits are too many to list but she worked with all the major cowboy stars of that era.  In 1951 she married Robert Hecker, who also wrote freelance television and radio scripts.  She retired and raised their three children.  After they were grown she enrolled at California State University and ended up with a bachelor’s degree in art and a master’s degree in both art and psychology and began a new career in special education art therapy.  After 53 years of marriage she died at the age of 93 in 2009.  Her husband, Robert, accepted her induction honors and said in closing, “Look at this party, Frances.  This is for you!”

After the closing remarks the crowd walked across the mall to the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame and the annual photograph of all inductees, past and present was taken in the rotunda.  It was also a good time to visit and check out the great finds in the gift shop.

The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame honors and celebrates women, past and present, whose lives exemplify the courage, resilience, and independence that helped shape the American West, and fosters an appreciation of the ideals and spirit of self-reliance they inspire.

Since it was established in 1975, the Museum has become an invaluable education resource nationally known for its exhibits, research library, rare photography collection, and the Honorees in its Hall of Fame.

THE WOMEN WHO SHAPE THE WEST . . . . CHANGE THE WORLD.

0 Comments

The History of Barrel Racing

10/28/2014

2 Comments

 
As a youngster growing up in the High Plains, specifically northeastern Colorado, there was no barrel racing as part of the annual local rodeos, or kid’s horse competitions during the 1940s. I saw my grandfather take my horse through the barrel racing paces at the local fair in the late 1940s. As I remember it, he loped my buckskin mare along at an unhurried pace. Not at all what we see when we watch the fast and furious event in today’s rodeo arena.

My curiosity got the best of me. Where did the sport of barrel racing begin and when? My first contacts were women who were active in rodeo as early as possible, such as Faye Blackstone of Parrish, Florida; Dixie Reger Mosley of Amarillo, Texas; and Wanda Harper Bush of Mason, Texas. Faye began her trick riding career in the 1930s, but when specialty acts began being replaced Faye turned her great horsemanship talents to barrel racing. She and a few other cowgirls began the barrel racing event in Florida in 1950. Dixie Reger Mosley began her rodeo career at age 5 ½ years old, trick riding on a Shetland pony. Growing up in a rodeo family gave her many varied opportunities, including some rodeo clowning. When the Girl’s Rodeo Association (GRA) began in 1948, which turned in to the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) in 1981, Dixie was the bullfighter, rodeo clown, and competed in most events, except bull riding. She saw barrel racing evolve through the GRA organization to become an event for women that today offers purses that compete with the Professional Rodeo Cowboy’s Association (PRCA) event purses. Wanda Bush won her first Barrel Racing World Championship in 1952, and followed this top honor with numerous additional World Championships throughout her rodeo career.

Barrel racing was first seen in Texas, according to Faye Blackstone, and spread from there. Although women had been competing in rodeo, in various ways, since the 1880s, when Buffalo Bill Cody, hired Annie Oakley, the best known woman gun handler of the day. Cody discovered that fans would flock to his wild west shows to see her perform. But the decision to include women bronc riders, relay race riders, and so on, was always at the discretion of the men producing the event.

The 1931 Stamford, Texas, Cowboy Reunion, a weekend rodeo, decided to add girls, sixteen years and older, that were sponsored by area businesses and represented the community from which they came. The girls would lead the parade, participate in various minor rodeo activities and be available to visit and dance with the cowboys at the social events held each evening. The following year the young ladies were given prizes for (1) the best mount, (2) most attractive riding outfit, and (3) best horsemanship. The horsemanship was demonstrated by riding in a figure eight around barrels. In 1935 the Stamford event changed the barrel racing to a cloverleaf pattern, but it was not judged strictly by the shortest time until 1949.

The Cowboys Amateur Association (CAA) organized in 1940, and held rodeos where the contestant could compete on the amateur level until they had won $500. They could then join the ‘professional’ rodeo organization, should they choose to do so. The CAA held competitions for women, as well as men, which included barrel racing, cutting horse contests, bronc riding and a roping event. They also offered money as prizes instead of feminine gifts, such as make-up cases and hair products, which were the general prizes offered previously.

There was a flurry of “all girl rodeos” during World War II. They were highly successful, but when the war was over and the men came home things went back to the way they had been before the war, that meant few rodeo competitions for women.

The earliest barrel races were done in either figure eights or the cloverleaf pattern. Eventually the figure eight was dropped in favor of the more difficult cloverleaf pattern. There is no ‘official measurements’ for barrel racing. The Standard of the barrel racing pattern, according to the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association Rule Book, is, “ninety feet between barrel one and two, one hundred five feet between barrel one and three, and between barrel two and three. Sixty feet from barrels one and two to the score line. The score line should be at least sixty feet from the end of the arena, if allowed, and not less than forty five feet.’

Pendleton RoundUp has the most non-conforming and the largest barrel racing pattern in the country, by far. It covers more than double the Standard. The Pendleton RoundUp, which began almost one hundred years ago, has a grass infield. The grass is difficult for horses, both roping horses and broncs, because of the slippage. However the grass is a tradition and Pendleton has no intention of changing it. Professional barrel racers wanted to participate in this prestigious rodeo, but did not want to jeopardize the safety of their horses because of the grass. It was decided to place the barrels on the race track, which surrounds the grass infield in 1999. Since the pattern is more than twice the size of the Standard pattern, 288 feet between barrel one and two, and 288 feet between the second and third barrel, and sixty feet from the score line. Times are in the twenty-eight second range to win.

Barrel racing requires the rider and the horse to compete as one. The horse the rider chooses is extremely important in this event. It must be fast and have the ability to make turns around the barrels with the utmost precision and speed. “The main thing necessary when looking for the right horse, to perform as a top ranked barrel racing mount, is a huge heart, a good mind, and a love of barrel racing,” said Angie Clark, well-known barrel racer, barrel racing teacher and organizer of the Wrangler Heartland Barrel Racing Tour, which consists of eleven competitions held in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. Another needed qualification of the horse is the ability to have the stamina and be able to hold up while being hauled miles and miles to each barrel racing venue. Trailering a horse for fourteen or more hours to get to an event is not unusual. When this is done day after day it can be grueling on a horse. Clark also said, “It is the only sport I know of that a person could ‘buy themselves into.' If a fairly good rider had enough money, like $150,000, to spend on a top-flight, well-trained horse, she could probably beat everyone.” The entire event is usually over in a matter of a quarter of a minute, on a Standard pattern in today’s professional competitions. The shortest times at the National Finals Rodeo has been in the thirteen second area. Brandie Hall ran the course in the 8th Round at the 2006 National Finals in a record-breaking 13.52 seconds.

Mildred Farris, barrel racing pioneer, whose competitive years spanned the 1950s until 1971, and was a Girl’s Rodeo Association director, vice-president and president from 1965 to 1971, remembers the days when she and others in her era were trying to get barrel racing included at rodeos across the country. “I worked for the rodeo producer, Tommy Steiner, as a rodeo secretary and he always had barrel races at his rodeos. I think that the barrel racing event, in the beginning, often took the place of contract acts, that had been such an important part of rodeos in earlier days. The girls in the barrel racing event, in our day, always wore more colorful, flashy clothes, much like the contract performers. Steiner was the first producer to use the electric eye in timing the barrel racing event. It must have been in the 1960s,” Farris recalled. She also said that in those days the prizes for barrel racing were not comparable to the men’s events. If the men’s bronc riding or roping paid $400 to win, the barrel racing paid around $100 to the winner. She is quite proud to say that in today’s rodeo the WPRA-sanctioned barrel racing events pay comparable monies to the PRCA-sanctioned events, such as bronc riding, roping competitions, etc.

Farris reminisced about her first barrel racing horse. She bought a ‘spoiled’ roping horse. He was ‘high-headed’ and it was impossible to use a tie down on him. But when he started running he would put his head down and he handled well. “The first barrel race I entered with him was an amateur rodeo and I had only run him a few times. At the last minute they decided to change the pattern and run to the first barrel, then to the third barrel, (the farthest away), and back to the second barrel. In spite of the fact he’d not run this pattern before we finished second. That night I practiced this new pattern with him and the second performance we finished first.” Farris was one of the top fifteen barrel racers in the United States for twelve years, 1958 through 1970, only missing 1965. She was also voted Rodeo Secretary of the Year by PRCA nine times, with the most recent honor given to her in 2006. She was inducted, with husband, John, in to the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 2006.

Charmayne James has been the most consistent winner of the World Champion Barrel Racer, with eleven titles between 1984 and 2002. She has also won the average at the National Finals Rodeo seven times. Her horse, Scamper, was inducted in to the ProRodeo Hall of Fame, and has been chosen as The Horse With the Most Heart by WPRA six years. Her accomplishments in barrel racing have surpassed any other competitor to date. She also leads the list of Career Earnings in WPRA, with almost two million dollars. The recent announcement of 29 year old Scamper’s twin, by way of cloning, born August 8, and named Clayton, after her home town, is James way of attempting to continue Scamper’s exceptional genetics in barrel racing. James anxiously waits to see the results.

Barrel racing has come a long way in a relatively short period of time when reviewing the development of rodeo. In less than sixty years the sport can boast prizes equal to all other rodeo events. Springing from a beginning as a way of judging young ladies in a contest emphasizing their beauty, attire and horsemanship, to a sport that can require the rider and their special mount, to race against the clock with speed and agility around those barrels and across that final barrier. The horses have staying power and a heart as big as Texas, and the barrel racers today are goal oriented, hard working achievers that think nothing of getting ‘down and dirty’ to prepare themselves and their horse for competition, then entering the arena to perform with grace and determination to have the fastest time. But this didn’t happen without the hard work, tenacity and ‘never say die’ will of many who were convinced the sport of barrel racing had a place along side bronc riding, steer wrestling and the roping events. And it came to be!

About the Author

Gail Hughbanks Woerner is a member of Western Writers of America, she has contributed to other books and has penned numerous articles for a select number of periodicals, including The American Cowboy, Western Horseman, Persimmon Hill, Cowboys and Country, ProRodeo Sports News, and The Ketch Pen (magazine of the Rodeo Historical Society). She also writes an occasional article on rodeo history for various magazines and periodicals in Australia, Canada, and France. For more on Gail and her work please visit: www.gailwoerner.com

2 Comments

    Author

    Gail Hughbanks Woerner is one of rodeo's foremost historians, having written hundred of articles and six books on the subject. She has interviewed hundreds of cowboys and cowgirls,

    Archives

    April 2021
    March 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    November 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    September 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • Way Out West Blog
  • Books
    • Western Women Who Dared To Be Different
    • The Cowboy's Turtle Association
    • Rope to Win
    • Cowboy Up
    • Belly Full of Bedsprings
    • Fearless Funnymen
    • Willard, Colorado: A Special Place in Time
  • Contact
  • About
  • Schedule
  • Rodeo Clown Reunion
  • Links