ProRodeo Sports News - June 23, 2023

NOTABLE

Fay Ann Horton Leach Years of effort rewarded with call to the Hall BY ANN BLEIKER Special to ProRodeo Sports News F ay Ann Horton Leach was one of the founding members of the Girls Rodeo Association. Leach’s devotion to the sport has not gone

unnoticed as she will be inducted as a notable as a member of the 2023 ProRodeo Hall of Fame class in Colorado Springs. Leach led the Girls Rodeo Association (GRA now WPRA) as a founding member, competitor, and board member. One of the 38 women who met in San Angelo, Texas, on Feb. 28, 1948, to form the very first professional sports association created solely for women by women. “This is quite an honor. I don’t know that I truly deserve it but know it is a big deal,” said Leach, who makes her home in Kilgore, Texas. “We worked very hard in the early years for the Association but never really got to reap the benefits, but they are now. I am so thankful the girls now can expect to make some money as we were lucky to run at $20 day money. I love to see the progress the Association and the sport of rodeo has made.” Leach never won a world title in the barrel racing, but she qualified for nine consecutive NFRs (1959-1967). She would finish third in the world in 1962 behind Sherry Johnson, a fellow 2023 ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductee, and Wanda Bush. Like many cowgirls during this era, they competed in many different events with calf roping being one of Leach’s favorites. In fact, she broke her mentor’s streak of six consecutive titles in the calf roping when she beat Bush for the world title in 1957. She would add three more of those titles in 1959, 1963 and 1971. She won the all-around in 1960, the flag race world title in 1964 and one that might surprise everyone was her bull riding title in 1966. In 1967, Fay Ann married Billy Leach, who competed in the RCA roping calves and steer wrestling. Together they founded Billy Leach Ropes. In 2011, she was inducted into the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame under the category of Trailblazers and now she will be immortalized in the ProRodeo Hall of Fame for her dedication to building a strong foundation for women in rodeo.

Photo courtesy WPRA

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