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The Association History Depicted By Two Exceptional Photographers


By Jolee Jordan L


ittered throughout the course of the storied seventy year history of the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) are numerous individuals whose contributions to the Association have


proven invaluable to its growth and prosperity. While many have been members, there have been a few friends to the ladies for whom a special friendship led to a lasting impact on the future of women in rodeo. James Cathey certainly fits this billing. A veteran of World War II,


Cathey returned home to the Fort Worth, Texas area and went to work for a local newspaper as a photographer. A chance assignment at the Southwestern Exposition and Fat Stock Show—the former name of the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo—propelled the young man into a new world, setting him on the path that would become his passion and life’s work. “He figured out he could earn more selling his photos to the cowboys


than to the press,” jokes Cathey’s son Craig. With four boys to feed, Cathey was lured into the sport of rodeo by the financial gains he could envision but soon fell in love with sport and the athletes who made it their life’s work. Cathey shot his first rodeo in September of 1947, just about the same


time as the founding members of the Girls Rodeo Association (GRA) were gathering in Amarillo for the first annual Tri-State All Girls Rodeo. “It was kismet,” says Cathey of how his father got involved with the


ladies of the sport. “They started together.” Cathey was shooting Rodeo Cowboys Association (RCA) events and


by 1948 had earned the title of Official Photographer of the Stock Show in Fort Worth. In February of that year, the group behind the Tri-State All Girls Rodeo


The late James Cathey was on hand in the early years of the GRA to capture historic moments like Billie McBride’s world titles in the barrel racing. Here she is shown with her championship awards package. Photo by James Cathey


got together in San Angelo and formed the GRA. Soon, Cathey was seeing GRA members at the RCA rodeos he was shooting. But it was a photo he took in Fort Worth of GRA member—and world renowned trick rider Tad Lucas—that got the ball rolling on the partnership. “By 1948 Dad was shooting probably 20 to 25 RCA rodeos. At Fort


Worth, he got a shot of Tad Lucas doing her tail drag, her signature move,” notes Cathey. “It was one of his most famous photos and the best photo of her doing that trick that was ever taken.” “Well, they both lived in Fort Worth and they became friends,” says


Cathey, adding that it was Lucas who urged his father to pay attention to the ladies and what they were trying to do within the sport. Already becoming familiar with many of the cowgirls competing


at RCA events, Cathey attended his first All Girls Rodeo in Lawton, Oklahoma in August of 1949. “The first year they had maybe 60 events, mostly with the RCA, and just


two All Girl Rodeos, one in early summer in San Angelo and then the 2nd annual event in Amarillo,” explains Cathey. “When Dad went to Lawton, he’d already been associating with many of the girls at other events but after attending his first All Girl event, he was impressed by how they were conducting themselves and the fact that they were terrific athletes.” The event ran for three days and by the end, Cathey had committed to be


The late James Cathey was the first official photographer of the Girls Rodeo Association and he was in attendance at the first National Finals Rodeo for barrel racing in Clayton, N.M. capturing this photo of Billie McBride. Photo by James Cathey


42 WPRA NEWS DECEMBER 2018


the official photographer for the GRA. After shooting events in Fort Smith as well as the GRA’s first finals held in Corpus Christi in 1949, the ladies came to Cathey with another proposition. “They asked him to be their publicity director,” Cathey relays. “They


2018

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