ProRodeo Sports News - June 23, 2023

BARREL RACING

Ben Allen photo

Sherry Combs Johnson Barrel racer joins her sister and her horse in HOF

BY ANN BLEIKER Special to ProRodeo Sports News S herry Combs Johnson is joining familiar company at the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. She will join the Hall of Fame alongside her world champion horse Star Plaudit “Red,” who was inducted in 2017 and her sister Florence Youree, who was inducted as a notable in the 2019 Class. “I am in shock,” stated Johnson upon learning of her induction into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. “I knew when Jimmie (Munroe of the WPRA) called me that she wasn’t fibbing, but it is still just so hard to grasp. It is such a blessing to be put in the Hall with my horse Red and my sister. It definitely brings my career around full circle. Born Aug. 16, 1938, in Duncan, Okla., Johnson has made her home in Addington, Okla. During her career, she qualified for 12 National Finals Rodeos, the first coming in 1959 at the first GRA (predecessor to the WPRA)

Finals in Clayton, N.M. and the last in 1991 under the bright lights of Las Vegas at the Thomas & Mack Center, a span of four decades (1959-68, 1970, 1991). She won her first WPRA world title in 1961 in the all-around category, but the highlight of her career would come in 1962 when she won the barrel racing world title aboard Star Plaudit “Red.” Johnson made her mark in the National High School Association as well, winning the all-around title, barrel racing and breakaway roping titles in 1955. Johnson gave back to the WPRA serving on the Board of Directors from 1963-1971, including a stint as the Vice President. She was named Coca-Cola Woman of the Year in 1997 and was inducted into the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City in 2005. In July, she will cement her place in ProRodeo history with her induction into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame on July 15. “When I got my card and went to the first NFR in Clayton (N.M.), I would have never dreamt of this day and what the Association has become,” she said. “It is just truly a great day.”

ProRodeo Sports News 6/23/2023

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