ProRodeo Sports News - March 31, 2023

PRORODEO HALL OF FAME

St. Paul Rodeo

Cowtown Rodeo

son-in-law and daughter and my husband Grant and me. We have a huge work force that does work for us and so dedicated and wonderful. I’m really in shock, not the call I was expecting. This is wonderful.” Johnson 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) 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, 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. “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. It is just truly a great day.” Horton Leach led the Girls Rodeo Association

Tom Feller

Night Jacket

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 Johnson and 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

Butch Knowles

(GRA-now WPRA) as a founding member, competitor, and board member. One of the 38 women who met in San Angelo, Texas, on February 28, 1948, to form the very first professional sports association created solely for women by

Fay Ann Horton Leach

foundation for women in rodeo.

ProRodeo Sports News 3/31/2023

ProRodeo.com

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