FORT WORTH, TEXAS (November 17, 2020) – The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame will welcome five 2021 Inductees at the 45th Annual Induction Luncheon and Ceremony. The luncheon will be held on Tuesday, April 27, 2021 at the Dickies Arena.
These incoming Hall of Fame members represent a wide range of cowgirls – from a country music superstar, to a world champion breakaway roper, a renowned artist, cowboy hat designer and an Olympic medalist. The induction class includes Pop Chalee, Lari Dee Guy, Kathryn Kusner, Lavonna “Shorty” Koger and Miranda Lambert.
“We are honored to welcome this outstanding class of inductees and add their remarkable stories and accomplishments to the amazing group of honorees they are joining in the Museum’s Hall of Fame,” said the Museum’s executive director Patricia Riley. “Congratulations to all.”
The late artist Pop Chalee (1906-1993) was known for her influential flat, two-dimensional “traditional” style of Native American painting with stylized depictions of forest scenes and wildlife. She painted murals for the Albuquerque Airport in 1945.
Her work has been featured at museums such as the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and the Gallery of Living Artists in New York City. Her paintings can be found in many permanent collections, including at the Gilcrease Museum, the Heard Museum and the Millicent Rogers Museum.
Eight-time Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) Lari Dee Guy is the winningest female roper in the world with over 33 championship titles and more than $1.5 million in career earnings. This all started from her early beginnings of winning 11-consecutive AJRA world roping titles at age nine.
In 2013, Guy launched the “Rope Like A Girl” campaign to help motivate young girls and women in roping and has traveled the globe teaching. She is also an expert horse trainer and renowned clinician.
Kathryn Kusner is an American equestrian and Olympic medalist in show jumping. She was one of the first women who rode for the United States Equestrian Team (USET) and the first American woman to win an Olympic medal in equestrian competition.
Concurrent to her show jumping career, Kusner became the first licensed female jockey in the United States in 1968. She was also the first woman to ride in the Maryland Hunt Cup, the toughest timber race in the world, despite its board trying to keep her from riding in the race.
Lavonna “Shorty” Koger is an Oklahoma native with over 40 years of experience in restoration, fitting, sewing and design of cowboy hats. She started Shorty’s Caboy Hattery in 1990 in the historic Stockyards City, OK, one of the few entirely woman-owned and operated custom hatteries in the United States and is one of today’s leading industry hatters.
Shorty’s hats remain world-famous and are sought-after for their attention to detail, intricate sewing process and signature beaver fur and beaver fur blends. She also helped found Rein in Cancer, a nonprofit that raises money to fund cancer treatments and care for patients.
Miranda Lambert is a renowned country music superstar and songwriter who started her career in local Texas bars and released her self-titled debut album independently in 2001. Later she was signed by Sony Music and has since released seven albums as well as three albums with her trio, Pistol Annies.
She has won many awards, amongst them 35 ACM awards, which makes her the most decorated artist in ACM history, nine of which were consecutive ACM Female Artist of the year awards. In addition, she received two Grammy Awards and 14 CMA Awards.
Lambert and her mother, Bev Lambert founded the MuttNation Foundation in 2009 to shine a spotlight on rescue animals and shelters, raising in excess of $4.5 million since its inception.
Induction Luncheon and Ceremony sponsorship opportunities are available at http://www.cowgirl.net/hall-of-fame/.
About the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of FameThe National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame honors and celebrates women, past and present, whose lives exemplify the courage, resilience and independence that helped shape the West, and fosters an appreciation of the ideals and spirit of self-reliance they inspire. Established in 1975, the Museum is considered an invaluable national educational resource for its exhibits, research library, rare photograph collection and award-winning distance-learning programs for grades K-12 and adults. In 2019, the Museum opened the Kit Moncrief Galleries and It’s Never Just a HorseTM exhibition. Located at 1720 Gendy Street Fort Worth, Texas 76107. Hours of operation are Tuesday – Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults (ages 13+); $7 for seniors (60+), military, first responders and children (ages 3 to 12) and children 3 and under get in free with paid adult. For more news and information visit www.cowgirl.net or call 817-336-4475 and follow on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube.
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