The 2015 Western Heritage Awards in Oklahoma City

 

 

 

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for The Good, The Bad & The Barbeque at the Mullendore Cross Bell Ranch. This is a rare opportunity to visit this historic ranch and help support Elder Care.

Welcome back.  The celebrities were out in full force this past Saturday night in Oklahoma City as the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum held their 54th Annual Western Heritage Awards. What a night it was! The event actually started on Friday with a big “how do you do” kind of gathering that is always popular with great finger food and drink and gets everyone in the mood for Saturday night.

Rex Linn started things off on Saturday morning with an interview of four of John Wayne’s children, Patrick, Ethan, Melinda and Marisa and his granddaughter Anita which was open to the public. For Wayne fans like myself this was quite a treat. All of his kids and his granddaughter had been in his movies and their behind the scenes recollections were quite entertaining. They also told stories about Pawhuska born movie star Ben Johnson, Jimmy Stewart and Maureen O’Hara along with many others that had the crowd hanging on their every word.

The Wild Goose was mentioned quite a bit as all of the Waynes had spent a lot of time on board. If you’re not familiar with the Wild Goose, this was the name of John Wayne’s boat that he kept in Newport Harbor, California.  The boat was originally commissioned as a U.S. Navy YM-1-Class yard mine sweeper and was put into service in the Aleutian Islands during World War II.

The Wild Goose was decommissioned in 1946 and was sold to a wealthy Canadian. In 1956 Max Wyman bought the ship and traveled the world. When John Wayne bought the boat in 1962 he gave her a complete makeover and renamed her the Wild Goose. Wayne kept the boat until his death 17 years later and entertained not only his family but most of the notable celebrities and political figures of the day including two Presidents. All of the kids remembered having great fun on the board and that Wayne just loved that ship. I also learned that Jacques Cousteau’s famous ocean explorer The Calypso is the sister ship of The Wild Goose which is still available for charter in Newport Harbor.

This was a great start to what I knew would turn out to be a special evening. There was music of course, beginning when Michael Martin Murphy introduced Wylie Gustafson who sang his hit song “Where Horses Are Heroes”. After that Burns Hargis presented John Hughes’ children with a statue and formally inducted John into the Hall of Great Westerners. Many other awards were given for western fiction and non-fiction, photography and poetry, all leading up to the inductees into the Hall of Great Western Performers.

The first honoree was Ken Maynard (1895-1973) who by all accounts was a real “man’s man”. Maynard started out as a rodeo performer with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. After serving in World War I, he came home and got a big role in Ringling Brothers’ Circus. In 1923 his first silent film was released and an international star was born.

James Coburn was the other inductee and after appearances in more than 70 films I’m sure most of you are familiar with him. Coburn also appeared in dozens of TV shows from Bonanza to Perry Mason. 1966 was his breakout year with a role in the film “Our Man Flint’.

The HBO series Hell on Wheels- Return to Hell won the award for outstanding fictional drama and several of the stars were there to accept the award. Then Rex Linn and Jennifer Rodgers-Etcheverry presented “Klondike” with the award for best television feature film and “The Homesman” for outstanding theatrical motion picture.

The grand finale of the evening was the presentation of the Chester A. Reynolds Award to Harvey Dietrich, a man of great character and accomplishments. The sold out crowd gave him a standing ovation. As I said, quite a weekend and an event that I would definitely recommend for next year if the creek don’t rise.

Moving forward, James Holmes attorney doesn’t dispute that Holmes killed 12 people and injured 70 others when he started shooting in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. Next week I’ll take you there with me for opening statements where a jury of not 12 but 24 individuals will decide Holmes’ fate.

Till next time I’ll see ya down the road……………………..

 

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Ethan and Patrick Wayne to attend 2015 Western Heritage Awards

Stay tuned for my report from the 2015 Awards where I will be mingling with other writers, filmmakers and publishers with a special interest in western history and culture to promote Footprints in the Dew.

Welcome back.  It was 1961 in Oklahoma City and the event I’m getting ready to tell you about was then held at a place known as the Cowboy Hall of Fame. According to their records, the ceremony was created to honor and encourage the accomplishments of those whose works in literature, music, film and television keep the spirit of the American west alive. I wasn’t there back then but I have attended several Western Heritage Award ceremonies over the last dozen years and as a veteran event attendee I can tell you it’s a must. This year on April 17th there’s the big Jingle Jangle Mingle party when the halls of the museum will be filled with food and drink and guests will be decked out in their finest western wear and jewelry. This is always a popular event as the rich and the famous rubs elbows with the rest of us celebrating the cowboy way of life and then on April 18th the real awards begin. This is a big production and in my experience tickets go quickly so if you’re interested in tickets for Saturday call now.

In addition to the arts awards there’s the Hall of Great Western Performers award which is always exciting and another award called the “Great Westerner”. The evening wraps up with Chester A. Reynolds Memorial Award, named for the museum founder.

This year’s featured celebrity guests are Patrick and Ethan Wayne which is another reason I think tickets will be hard to get, the longer you wait.  Patrick and Ethan will help present the Wrangler awards in film, television, literature and music. James Coburn (1928-2002) and Ken Maynard (1895-1973) will be inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers. In the middle of all this is the ceremony for the Hall of Great Westerners inductees. There are two people this year and the first is someone I know many of you Bartlesville, OK natives have heard of.

Born on May 16, 1933 in Bartlesville, he bought his first cow in junior high school. After graduating from high school in 1951, he went on to attend Oklahoma A&M where he earned a degree in Animal Science before taking over the operation of the family ranch. He and his college sweetheart Lorna Jane Moleod were married in 1956 and raised four kids, together. A member of the Oklahoma Agriculture Hall of Fame, a leader in the state ranching community and now a honoree at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage, John Hughes stature continues to grow.

The Hughes Ranch was initially a cow-calf operation and then was converted to a stocker operation. Today the ranch, which lies along highway 123 in Osage County, is easy to spot because it is also home to hundreds of wild mustangs.

The other inductee Cotton Rosser is a legend in rodeo circles. His Flying U Ranch has provided livestock for the National Finals Rodeo in Denver, the big Houston Rodeo and another fifty or so other events every year. Born in 1928, Rosser and his family operate one of the largest rodeo stock breeding operations in the world.

Through my research I found that these two men fit the criteria for the “Great Westerner” to a t:

  1. Exceptional contribution to the advancement of Western heritage and traditions over a lifetime. 2. Individuals who promote America’s rich Western heritage through their leadership and patronage of art, business industry, environmental, education, humanitarian, government or philanthropic organizations. 3. Achievement of national significance and historic relevance. 4. Exemplification of the traditional Western ideals of honesty, integrity and self-sufficiency over a lifetime.

Look for more on this party next week and with cowboy history in mind don’t forget Elder Care’s big shindig out at the Crossbell Ranch in May. Till next time I’ll see ya down the road….

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The Western Heritage Awards in Oklahoma City

 

This is a wonderful event to meet and mingle with leaders in western arts and heritage.

Welcome back.  It was 1961 in Oklahoma City and the event I’m getting ready to tell you about was then held at a place known as the Cowboy Hall of Fame. According to their records, the ceremony was created to honor and encourage the accomplishments of those whose works in literature, music, film and television keep the spirit of the American west alive. I wasn’t there back then but I have attended several Western Heritage Award ceremonies over the last dozen years and as a veteran event attendee I can tell you it’s a must. This year on April 17th there’s the big Jingle Jangle Mingle party when the halls of the museum will be filled with food and drink and guests will be decked out in their finest western wear and jewelry. This is always a popular event as the rich and the famous rubs elbows with the rest of us celebrating the cowboy way of life and then on April 18th the real awards begin. This is a big production and in my experience tickets go quickly so if you’re interested in tickets for Saturday call now.

In addition to the arts awards there’s the Hall of Great Western Performers award which is always exciting and another award called the “Great Westerner”. The evening wraps up with Chester A. Reynolds Memorial Award, named for the museum founder.

This year’s featured celebrity guests are Patrick and Ethan Wayne which is another reason I think tickets will be hard to get, the longer you wait.  Patrick and Ethan will help present the Wrangler awards in film, television, literature and music. James Coburn (1928-2002) and Ken Maynard (1895-1973) will be inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers. In the middle of all this is the ceremony for the Hall of Great Westerners inductees. There are two people this year and the first is someone I know many of you Bartlesville, OK natives have heard of.

Born on May 16, 1933 in Bartlesville, he bought his first cow in junior high school. After graduating from high school in 1951, he went on to attend Oklahoma A&M where he earned a degree in Animal Science before taking over the operation of the family ranch. He and his college sweetheart Lorna Jane Moleod were married in 1956 and raised four kids, together. A member of the Oklahoma Agriculture Hall of Fame, a leader in the state ranching community and now a honoree at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage, John Hughes stature continues to grow.

The Hughes Ranch was initially a cow-calf operation and then was converted to a stocker operation. Today the ranch, which lies along highway 123 in Osage County, is easy to spot because it is also home to hundreds of wild mustangs.

The other inductee Cotton Rosser is a legend in rodeo circles. His Flying U Ranch has provided livestock for the National Finals Rodeo in Denver, the big Houston Rodeo and another fifty or so other events every year. Born in 1928, Rosser and his family operate one of the largest rodeo stock breeding operations in the world.

Through my research I found that these two men fit the criteria for the “Great Westerner” to a t:

  1. Exceptional contribution to the advancement of Western heritage and traditions over a lifetime. 2. Individuals who promote America’s rich Western heritage through their leadership and patronage of art, business industry, environmental, education, humanitarian, government or philanthropic organizations. 3. Achievement of national significance and historic relevance. 4. Exemplification of the traditional Western ideals of honesty, integrity and self-sufficiency over a lifetime.

Look for more on this party next week and with cowboy history in mind don’t forget Elder Care’s big shindig out at the Crossbell Ranch in May. Till next time I’ll see ya down the road….

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