Entertainer, cowgirl, rodeo performer and businesswoman. She was born in Amarillo but lived most of her life on the 10,000-acre Binford Ranch in Wildorado, Texas. She earned her bachelor's degree from Texas Tech University in Lubbock in 1943. She taught physical education for one year before returning to the rodeo. She was named sweetheart of the Range Riders Club of Amarillo in 1939. She followed the group to horse shows and rodeos all around Texas, winning horse shows, races, and cutting horse championships. Cowgirls were not paid in cash like cowboys were in the early to late 1940s; instead, they were given gifts. As the Hereford, Texas, candidate, she was crowned queen of the All-American Rodeo and Horse Show in Fort Worth, in 1947, which enticed cowgirls with huge prize money. She won the calf roping, but no prize money was awarded. She and her friend Thena Farr started the Tri-State All Girl Rodeo in Amarillo in 1947, after becoming frustrated by the lack of women's rodeo competition. The participants decided to form the Girl's Rodeo Group because the new association was so successful. The next year, the organization was renamed the Women's Professional Rodeo Association. She was a founding member of the board of directors and served as president in 1950. The Tri-State All Girls Rodeo held rodeos in Texas, Colorado, and Mississippi over the next five years. The number of members grew from 74 in 1948 to 3,000 in 2018, with total prize money rising from $29,000 to more than $5.2 million. She was the only woman selected by the American Quarter Horse Association to ride in the 1948 Chicago Cutting Exhibition. She was inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1979.
Entertainer, cowgirl, rodeo performer and businesswoman. She was born in Amarillo but lived most of her life on the 10,000-acre Binford Ranch in Wildorado, Texas. She earned her bachelor's degree from Texas Tech University in Lubbock in 1943. She taught physical education for one year before returning to the rodeo. She was named sweetheart of the Range Riders Club of Amarillo in 1939. She followed the group to horse shows and rodeos all around Texas, winning horse shows, races, and cutting horse championships. Cowgirls were not paid in cash like cowboys were in the early to late 1940s; instead, they were given gifts. As the Hereford, Texas, candidate, she was crowned queen of the All-American Rodeo and Horse Show in Fort Worth, in 1947, which enticed cowgirls with huge prize money. She won the calf roping, but no prize money was awarded. She and her friend Thena Farr started the Tri-State All Girl Rodeo in Amarillo in 1947, after becoming frustrated by the lack of women's rodeo competition. The participants decided to form the Girl's Rodeo Group because the new association was so successful. The next year, the organization was renamed the Women's Professional Rodeo Association. She was a founding member of the board of directors and served as president in 1950. The Tri-State All Girls Rodeo held rodeos in Texas, Colorado, and Mississippi over the next five years. The number of members grew from 74 in 1948 to 3,000 in 2018, with total prize money rising from $29,000 to more than $5.2 million. She was the only woman selected by the American Quarter Horse Association to ride in the 1948 Chicago Cutting Exhibition. She was inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1979.
Bio by: Debbie Gibbons
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