The Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame announced Oct. 1 their 2020 Hall of Fame inductees: Lari Dee Guy, Mr. & Mrs. Charles and Kit Moncrief, The Priefert Family, R.H. Steve Stevens Jr. and 2020 Spirit of Texas Award Honoree – Aaron Watson.
Induction into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame is the highest honor bestowed on individuals who have shown excellence in competition, business and support of rodeo and the western lifestyle in Texas, according to the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame.
One of the premier events prior to the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo, the induction ceremony will be held at Billy Bob’s Texas on Thursday, January 16, 2020. Presented by Bobby Norris Farm & Ranch Realty and The Norris Foundation, the event includes cocktails, a silent auction and cowboy cuisine prior to the 7 p.m. induction ceremony. Tickets to the event are $150 per person, or $1,500 for a table of ten. Proceeds benefit the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame & Museum and its ongoing education programs and Western lifestyle preservation efforts.
Currently undergoing a relocation and renovation project, The Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame is home to more than 140 inductees.
More information about the 2020 Inductees:
Lari Dee Guy is an eight-time Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) World Champion with more than $1.5 million in career earnings. Guy has spent the last three decades winnining every title in the all-girl roping industry, striving to improve breakaway roping, team roping and tie-down calf roping for women everywhere. Guy also competes regularly in the World Series of Team Roping and United States Team Roping Championship (USTRC). Not only an elite athlete, Lari Dee is also an expert horse trainer and renowned clinician. She trains for the best of the best – including fellow Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame honoree, Trevor Brazile; and has put on roping clinics from Decatur, Texas to Brisbane, Australia and everywhere in between. In 2013, Guy launched the “Rope Like A Girl” campaign to help motivate young girls and women in the roping world.
Kit and Charlie Moncrief are dedicated servants to the community of Fort Worth and their philanthropy to education, the arts and healthcare is well-known. Some may not realize the extent that Kit and Charlie are involved in the livestock industry. Together they manage the Moncrief Ranches in Parker County and Gunnison, Colorado. Raising cattle and Quarter Horses, they’re especially known for producing cutting and reined cow horse world champions. Among her many accomplishments; Kit currently serves as President of the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame and Co-Chairwoman of the Fort Worth Zoological Association. Kit Moncrief is the first woman Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Texas Christian University. She is past President, and current Vice President of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Foundation. She is Vice President of the Moncrief Cancer Foundation, a board member of UT Southwestern Moncrief Cancer Institute, and Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo. Charlie has always remained close to the land as an independent oil and gas producer and a certified geologist. He is a partner in Moncrief Oil and Montex Drilling company with his father “Tex” and daughter, Gloria. Charlie served as a trustee for TCU and the Culver Military Academy, and is currently on the board of the Texas State Fair and the Moncrief Foundation. He also served our nation in the Marine Corps and is a former U.S. Marshall. Kit and Charlie have a strong commitment to the Fort Worth Stock Show Rodeo. Charlie Moncrief has been involved with the Show for 45 years on the Executive Committee and is currently serving as the Show’s Secretary. Kit Moncrief is a Stock Show board member and has been riding in the Grand Entry for 25 years and showing horses or has had horses shown at the Stock Show every year since she was ten years old.
The Priefert Family – What started out as a family business in a one room, dirt floor shop in the backyard has become one of the largest farm, ranch and rodeo equipment manufacturers in the world, with a production facility that includes over 20 acres under roof. In 1964, Marvin Priefert invented the first gliding-action, fully opening headgate and the rest, and as they say, is history. 55 years later, led by Marvin’s son, Bill, grandsons Eddie, Nate and Travis; Priefert Manufacturing has grown into the most respected name in farm, ranch and rodeo equipment. A true testament to the American Dream, the Priefert family is proud to produce quality products that are made in the USA.
R.H. Steve Stevens Jr. – To say that R.H. Steve Stevens, Jr., former Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo Chairman of the Board and American Quarter Horse Association Past President, has a passion for the western lifestyle and its future would be an understatement. His dedication to the betterment of equine practices is evident through his service on the Development Committee of the Texas A&M Equine Initiative, which focuses on enhancing the equine industry through education and community outreach. In addition to his involvement with the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo (since 1975) and AQHA, Stevens previously served as President of the Texas Quarter Horse Association and was a member of the National Cutting Horse Association Foundation Board. A Distinguished Alumnus of Texas A&M University, Stevens was selected by then Gov. George W. Bush to serve on the Board of Regents of the Texas A&M University System in 1999. A member of the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame, Mr. Stevens is also active in the owning, breeding and training of American Quarter Horses. He has also been competitive in the cutting horse arena, competing successfully at numerous events throughout his career.
Aaron Watson – Aaron Watson has received many recognitions through the years, but his career is likely summed up best by Forbes who has called him “one of country music’s biggest DIY success stories.” For the past 20 years, Watson has chased down success on his own terms; hand building a career through the craft of songwriting, self-releasing records, and relentlessly touring to connect with his fans and spread his music gospel. At its most fundamental level, it’s his independent Texas spirit and work ethic — emblematic of the western lifestyle — that people relate to and that Aaron so graciously carries the torch for that resonates with people the most. These virtues have taken him from the humble honky-tonks of Texas to some of the largest stages including Rodeo Houston, San Antonio Rodeo, Cheyenne Frontier Days, Calgary Stampede and NFR, not to mention countless sold-out headline shows across the country and over a dozen international tours in Europe. Still at the top of his game, his newest album Red Bandana is described as “his most ambitious album yet” and “a pure expression of his traditional country ethos,” while Texas Monthly has said “there may be no more genuine singer-songwriter at the moment than Watson.” This acclaim follows his last album Vaquero that delivered the BMI Millionaire award-winning single “Outta Style,” and before that The Underdog — the first independent album released in the history of country music to top the Billboard Country Albums chart, plus a dozen records prior to that. With all that’s been accomplished, the road ahead is still long and laden with opportunity.
http://texascowboyhalloffame.org/