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paid out. Dusek would serve many years as calf roping director and later, the Association’s Vice President. “We wrote lots of letters. We wrote and wrote and wrote. We were just trying to get people to back us a little bit.”


In 1948 there were 74 total members and they sanctioned 60 events. In two years, those numbers had grown to over 100 members across 11 states and one Canadian province. The Association received a boost being included in photographer James Cathey’s “Powder Puff and Spurs;” the monthly publication featured GRA news, approvals and results and had more than 600 subscribers.  1949 at the Corpus Christi Speedway. The event drew lots of press including four newsreels—clips shown at the time prior to movies in  by millions of moviegoers. Seven thousand fans attended the four day rodeo.


DeDee Crawford was a top hand in the riding events best known for winning six WPRA Bull Riding World Titles (2000-01, 2005-2008) but also won three world titles in the bareback riding (2001, 2005-06) and she won the all-around title in 2001.


As the new GRA embarked on history, its members and leaders set out to increase the number of events for ladies in rodeo. Naturally, they sought an alliance with the then-Rodeo Cowboys Association (RCA), now known as the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) as they were sanctioning the most lucrative events. Although many professional rodeo committees chose barrel racing as the GRA event to include at their rodeos—barrel racing was considered the most feminine, least risky and likely easiest of the events to produce as it required no stock—the founders were indiscriminate,  Colorado Springs hosted ladies calf roping and barrel racing initially  While sanctioning events with RCA rodeos offered good prize


money, the ladies too sought to increase the number of all-girl rodeos as most enjoyed the camaraderie of those events and the chance to compete woman-to-woman. Early superstars of the Association included the likes of Jackie


  both were founders of the GRA and later served as President. Worthington was a terror inside the arena, casting a shadow much


larger than her 5’2” frame. She was a founder of the GRA and served as President from 1954 to 1956. Along the way, she won 23 World titles, second only to the legendary Wanda Harper Bush. Worthington was the All Around Champion six times and won seven bull riding World Championships. She also captured three titles in bareback riding, seven in cutting and one in ribbon roping. She was a member of the inaugural class inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1975.


Rae Beach was Worthington’s toughest competitor on the rough stock side, winning ten championships in the bareback riding during the 1950’s and early 1960’s.


Dusek was another early standout, winning 14 World titles during her career including the 1967 All Around and seven calf roping championships, the last coming in 1970. Debuting in rodeo in 1945 at just 14 years of age, Dusek was just 17 when she joined with the other founders in 1948 to get the GRA started.


“I was never one to go out for all the dressing up,” Dusek told the WPRN in 2012 of the founding of the GRA. “We got tired of being cheated on the timing.” “We decided to have our own deal and try for more money,” she recalled that most events prior to the GRA for the women had little or no prize money and many producers advertised purses that were never


The most decorated cowgirl in recent history is Jackie (Hobbs) Crawford who won her 15th, 16th and 17th WPRA World titles in 2016. This was the second time in her career to win three world titles in the same year. WPRA file photo.


and is the GRA/WPRA’s most decorated cowgirl, winning titles 32     of inductees from the WPRA in the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 2017. Like her contemporaries, Bush was involved in the GRA leadership. The composition of the Board of Directors has changed greatly during          


continued on page 42 OCTOBER 2018 WPRA NEWS 41


As was often the case, most of the contract personnel were ladies too including Cowgirl Hall of Famer Tad Lucas as the rodeo clown in the bull riding. Worthington won the bulls and bareback en route to the All Around title for the rodeo.  race, cloverleaf barrel race, line reining race, calf roping, team tying, wild cow milking, saddle bronc riding, cutting horse contest, bareback bronc riding and bull or steer riding.


The events list continued to evolve over the years with optional events that awarded titles if enough rodeos hosting them during the season. Cutting eventually faded out, last awarding a championship in 1970 while team roping in its current form took off in the 1970’s. Breakaway roping became more popular around the same time, replacing ribbon roping which awarded its last World title in 1982. Steer undecorating enjoyed a period of popularity, awarding titles from 1970 to 1988 when it was discontinued due to the large number of accidents.


Though not one of the original 38 founders, Bush joined soon after


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