the barrel race was featured at the main NFR. Youree originally met with Stanley Draper of the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce in 1965 to discuss the possibility but it wasn’t until a follow-up meeting with her, Draper and the NFR General Manager Clem McSpadden that it was confirmed. During that meeting, Draper and McSpadden decided to include the women, and Draper agreed to put up $1,000 prize money the first year. In 1968, Draper proposed that barrel racing be held at the NFR as long as the NFR was in Oklahoma City with a minimum purse of $2,500. Ann Lewis was crowned posthumously the GRA world champion in 1968 at the young age of 10, marking the youngest world champion in the Association’s history. Although barrel racing was now included as an event at the NFR, the women were still not paid the same as all the men’s events. That all finally changed in 1998, when, for the first time, barrel racing, as well as the PRCA’s team roping, was paid out the same amount as all the other events at the NFR in Las Vegas. This was also the year that the Association celebrated 50 years. Making Their Voice Heard In 1980, the GRA Board of Directors took a stand reminiscent of the original founders requiring all rodeos (beginning with the 1981 rodeo season) to offer at least half the amount they offered for the lowest paying men’s event, which, at the time, was team roping. Within five years, all rodeos would have to pay equal money to be approved. Of the 490 approved rodeos by the PRCA, 239 offered equal money, 175 offered half and 76 rodeos didn’t include barrel racing. Wanda Bush was on the board at the time. She had served for many years prior to that time but came back on the board at the request
the Association, but at season end, she was also named the first world champion barrel racer of the GRA. In fact, she became the first GRA member to win three world titles, adding the all-around and cutting titles in the first year of the Association. On January 30, 1955, another major advancement of the young Association came when GRA President Jackie Worthington and RCA President Bill Linderman signed an agreement stating that the RCA would strongly urge rodeo committees to have a GRA-approved barrel race and that the RCA would not complete a contract or agreement with any barrel racing association other than the GRA. Championship Form The year 1959 marked another milestone in the rodeo history books when the RCA Board of Directors made the great Casey Tibbs’ idea of hosting a National Finals Rodeo at the end of the season a reality. This became known as the “Super Bowl of Rodeo” in an event that pitted the top 15 contestants against the best livestock in the world. While team roping, steer roping and barrel racing were not part of the
Billie McBride competing at first NFR for barrel racers in Clayton, N.M., 1959. Photo by James Cathey
overall NFR held that first year in Dallas, those three events took part in their own NFR in Clayton, New Mexico. Jane Mayo won the first of her three consecutive world titles in three locations. While Clayton hosted the first NFR for the barrel racers, the 1960 NFR was contested in Scottsdale, Arizona, alongside
the team roping, and the 1961 finale was in Santa Maria, California. In 1962, the GRA decided to stand its ground and hold its finals in Dallas without any RCA events at all. The WPRA conducted the NFR barrel race in Dallas through 1965; the finals for the 1966 rodeo season were actually held in Fort Worth during their Stock Show and Rodeo the beginning of 1967. In December 1967, thanks to the efforts of Florence Youree,
of GRA President Jimmie Munroe to help with the push for equal money. “I asked Wanda to come back and she really was such an asset,” said Munroe. “She knew the committees, and they knew her. She was so respected.” Munroe said with a chuckle that in board discussions leading to the vote for equal money, Bush had been a realist about what could happen, a wisdom born no doubt from time spent struggling in the 1950s and 1960s just to get a barrel race approved in many venues. “I remember Wanda saying, ‘Girls, I don’t know if this is going to go the way you want it to,’” Munroe said with a laugh. Everyone rolled up their sleeves to get it done. In 1982, the GRA changed its name to the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association, which continues to stand for the same ideals it stood for in 1948 when it was first conceived as a tool to help like-
Florence Youree
MARCH 2023 WPRA NEWS 23
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