National Cowboy Hall of Fame; Western Heritage Awards 1992 National Cowboy Hall of Fame

From the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center in Oklahoma City, welcome to the 31st Annual Western Heritage Awards, honoring those who preserved the legacy of the American West through the creative arts, featuring writers in the sky, Ben Johnson, Harry Kerry Jr., Richard Farnsworth, Stephen Ford, Don Edwards, Sam Elliott, Barry Corbin, Katherine Ross, Michael Martin Murphy, and Chris Cooper. Please welcome the Executive Director of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, Byron Pice.

Good evening and welcome to the National Cowboy Hall of Fame's Western Heritage Awards. Our past is not a dead past, still lives in us. Our forebearers had civilization inside themselves, the wild outside. We live in the civilization they created, but within the wilderness still lingers. What they dreamed we lived, and what they lived we dreamed. Now I'd like to introduce you to our masters of ceremonies, their Cavaliers and Cowboy hats and purveyors of the Cowboy Way, a code of honesty and integrity that Cowboy has everywhere stand for, or should. They're making believers out of millions of children and parents every Saturday across the country on their new CBS series. They've been accumulating fans for 13 years and are one of the best things to happen to Western music since Roy met Dale. Last year they captured the Wrangler for original Western musical composition,

and we're glad they're with us tonight, visiting from the Harmony Ranch, Ranger Doug, to Slim, and Woody Paul, please welcome riders in the sky. Way out yonder where the prairie went slow, from the Rio Grande up to Ol' Idaho, there's a sound comes winging from over the plain, it's the Cowboys singing the songs of the rains. I want to be there when they ride into town, can't get enough of that great Western sound, it's the best of the wets, come along with me to the Cowboy Jubilee. Let the fiddle player bow as we fellow thee, hear the Cowboys answer with their home you. Well, that monk house

base never loses the feet, the Cowboys start to clap and they kick up their feet, I pick a prairie plumber and I ask her to dance once around the floor and it must be romance, the prairie moody shining for her and for me at the Cowboy Jubilee. Somebody find it a great big western howdy its riders in the sky, America's favorite Cowboys bring you the best in western music, live and direct from the national Cowboy Hall of Fame, so don't touch that Nile saddle pales, it wouldn't be the Cowboy way. I want to be there when they ride into town, can't get enough of that great Western sound, it's the best of the wets, I'm sure you agree, at the Cowboy Jubilee, at the Cowboy Jubilee. Our next, our first presenters are the stuff of film legend, they started out working together

in John Ford westerns, between the two of them, they've started many of the greatest westerns ever made films like Red River, Rio Grande, Shane, she wore a yellow ribbon and Ford's classic wagon master. Travis, I got me a gun, where did you get that? I got it misprudence, she got it from her little brother, he got it from his grandpa before he got religion, and I tell you what I want to do if you'll just back my play. What did you ever shoot at besides ten cans and bear buns? That ain't the point, I'll take care of them clakes as if you'll just back my play. Careful that gun don't walk, blow your brains out. Ladies and gentlemen, a warm welcome for Ben Johnson and Harry Carrey Jr.

Well, not only have Ben and I been working together since time began, I guess, there's another good reason for us to host this show tonight. My father, Harry Carrey Sr., is a member of the Cowboy Hall of Fame of the great western performers. He's been inducted here in 1976, and so has been, so it's only right that we should be here together. Our first ranger tonight goes to the outstanding documentary. To the 19th century trapper and westward bound pioneer, the Platte River Valley was a 700 mile long Oasis

water in timber, cutting through the part of the great American desert. By 1840, much of the farm country in the east had been settled, creating pressure for new frontier. Between the years 1841 and 1866, wagon train immigrants in the Platte Valley took part in one of the largest mass migrations in human history. My research based on a study of over 2000 immigrant diaries, journalists and recollections, and the numbers indicated there suggest to me that the grand total during that 25-year period would be more like a 500,000 or better. That would be a conservative estimate. They were great optimists. They loved the Platte River because it provided water, the only water

they had. They had some concept of the geography, but they didn't realize the distance, that it would take them four to six months to get to Oregon, and they'd run out of food. They might die of starvation or thirst. These hazards weren't even envisioned. It took the enormous amount of courage and determination to decide in the first place to go and make it in the second place. A lot of them didn't make it, of course. We're here to accept the word for this year's outstanding document. The Platte River Road is producer, director Michael Farrell of Nebraska Public Television. Thank you very much. They didn't tell me I was going to be a weightlifter to hold this award. I would like to say thank you on behalf of all those people and animals that have looked at

the Platte River as their home. I'd like to just think a little bit about the struggle that continues over the Platte River today. Mark Twain said whiskey's for drinking and waters for fighting, and that still goes on today. It's not a story that ended in 1890. It's a story that's still continuing. I can't make a cry about this. They told me I should get up here and speak for my heart and make a cry. I don't think anybody's going to make a cry like Ben Johnson did in last picture so, so I'll just say thank you and get off. Well right along in here's where I say this year's outstanding nonfiction book is one of the most ambitious works ever penned to define what we collectively call the West. It's your misfortune and none of my own is a must read for serious Western history scholars, Ben. Here to accept the awards

are Arthur Richard White and George Bauer University of Oklahoma Press. Actually I did steal great parts of that book but I thought I was going to get some credit for it anyway and the person I stole from wasn't Mike after all but I would like to thank all the people who in fact this is a work of synthesis and I borrowed much of that scholarship and I'd also like to thank John Drayton who is the editor of the book and who talked me into doing it much of the time I probably didn't feel like thanking John but tonight with this with this award I really do so thank you. Since January 1987 the University of Oklahoma Press has been fortunate enough to win

some 55 awards for the content of its books including the most prestigious prizes given by the American Historical Association the American Society for Ethno History but none of them is more important to us than this because our mission through the years has been the same as the cowboy hall of fame that of the cowboy hall of fame namely to promote the American West to celebrate the grand people who settled this territory I want to thank first of all Richard White for writing such a splendid book our editor in chief John Drayton for persuading him to do so the judges who chose the book as the winner most of all Byron Price and the cowboy hall of fame for having the vision to create these awards to stage this magnificent ceremony and to continue such a marvelous job of promoting the West thanks very much. This year's outstanding art book is Albert Beersdad Art and Enterprise it's a master work on

the master landscape painter himself and Albert Beersdad communicated his own Western vision on campus for an easier Eastern audience and one of the greatest landscape painters of the 19th century Nancy Anderson Linda Ferber and Paul Ann Binder of Hudson Hills Press Nancy we had a terrific time doing this book and this is an unexpected but welcome bonus it is very much we're delighted to be here tonight and somewhere the spirit of Albert is alive and well and presiding all over this thank you very much this year's outstanding factual narrative is about a controversial federal plan to return the wolves to Yellowstone Park this is the Lamar Valley if and when wolves are ever reintroduced to

Yellowstone this will be their first home it was also amongst their last 75 years ago the wolf and man two of the planets great predators faced off in this valley amongst these hills and the wolf loss is the wolf a noble symbol of the wild or a vicious predator of the West the question pivotal to the debated Yellowstone is being answered in the Great North Woods of Minnesota on the side of the deeper pond here on the bridge they probably were flying down there oh yeah I don't know if they can get in that snow will feel better now for years now biologists have been migrating here to study the last thriving population of gray wolves in the lower 48 states 20 years ago wolves were on the edge of extinction here but since 1975 when they came under protection by the Endangered Species Act their numbers have soared from 500

to 1600 I think wolves are really a noble animal and even though I kill wolves in my job I have a little regret each time that I do that bill paul runs the federal wolf control program here he's one of only a handful of people in the country legally authorized to kill wolves with steel jaw traps and a hunter's instincts bill paul eventually got his wolf and before summers out he'll kill a hundred more who've made the mistake of crossing man's turf it is the ironic price for successfully restoring the wolf here and it is the painful paradox awaiting the West for if the Yellowstone plan is approved returning wolves to their home today will surely mean killing some tomorrow chances with wolves was featured on ABC News Prime Time Live here to accept the Wrangler is producer Robert Kelo

thank you very much I need to mention Jay shadler who did a terrific job of reporting that story with me and Rick Kaplan who's the executive producer network news is kind of the province of New York City and it's sometimes really difficult to sell stories about land and people and animals on the island of Manhattan just to give you a little sense of what I went through I mentioned wolves and they said what and I badgered them for a couple of weeks and the movie had come out so I you know I used the hook as they say of this smash film that it come out recently and I went off to Minnesota and Montana and came back and was working on it and exact one of the producers said

so how's that coyote thing coming so you see what we're up against sometimes but the beauty of something like this is that it gives me ammunition to go back and and keep trying to do these kind of things so thanks very much to Robin thank you for the your gracious support and this has been terrific even thank you the next winner is the story of one woman's encounter with centuries-old Native American tradition the outstanding magazine article is strange and benevolence monsters the story appears in the December issue of American way magazine please welcome Catherine Marshall and Riley and Pitch Shoes by the American Idol that's a great honor to be here in 20 years as a novelist and a journalist I've traveled all over

the globe both actually and psychologically but no work has given me more pleasure than the magazine series I recently completed on the American West I owe a big thanks to Doug Creighton the terrific editor of American way magazine who had and who continues to have the confidence to let me run with my ideas I'm indebted to Jeff Posey also of American way Jeff worked with me on Strange and Benevolent Monsters and I want to thank my husband Bob DeTilla who has lived with my ongoing obsessions and who continues to encourage me in my work in every way but above all I want to thank the Hopi people who were kind enough and generous enough to let this stranger into their lives thank you American Airlines is pleased to accept even a small portion of the credit that's due you Catherine

for your article that appeared in our in-flight magazine the American way we're really happy that you chose us our magazine to showcase your work to literally thousands of passengers that flew on American around the world thanks for sharing this with us and thanks for contributing to American Airlines truly being something special in the year thank you Olaf Wighorse was deeply in love with the West its people its way alive and a man who excelled at the interpreting of his admiration on canvas horses have been my life whatever measure of success or driving force I've experienced I owe to them Wighorse words are manifest in his work every painting every pencil sketch etching and sculpture includes horses in some form so great was his knowledge of the horse that he could paint

complex positions and movements with no reference to models dramatic lighting effects vast landscapes and turbulent skies reflect his pension for detail and his first hand knowledge of the rugged outdoor life in the West he sets sail from Denmark to follow his dream of painting and working with horses to become a cowboy soon young Wighorse signed on with the US cavalry serving on the Mexican border where remnants of a dispute with poncho via still lingered on following his discharge in 1922 he realized his dream riding through Arizona new Mexico finding work as a cowboy and painting the cowboy life lasted for two years put a tug of the heartstrings led Olaf back to New York City Olaf Wighorse joined the mounted police in Manhattan he served as a member of the police show team and he was the instructor of the trick-riding team all this while painting the images

burn in his memory from his years in the West his work was gaining recognition in 1944 he retired to live the life of a successful artist he counts among his many admirers John Wayne Barry Goldwater and other prominent collectors critics praise him as one of the centuries finest western artists praise earned during a lifetime of living and breathing the American West his legacy echoes in his words all the information the future generations will get of the passing of the West will surely come from the pen of the author and the brush of the artist here to accept and be half of his great father the royal Wighorse I'd like to thank the national cowboy hall of fame and and the board of directors and all of the

staff for this very wonderful honor for my father and all through his life he had a goal he wanted to record on canvas the great American West and I think with this wonderful honor this evening he certainly accomplished that dream on the part of the Wighorse family I'd like to thank you all very very much ladies and gentlemen John Edwards I was but a small boy father bought me many books about the creatures of the river banks and the sins of old sea cook but the ones I never left behind with those long forgotten games were the tails of one windy slope and the man they called Will James now the living of his cowboy dreams

all so it seemed to me a perfect combination riding high and living free now as she goes where his horses and he drew them clear and true and on every page that come alive that jumps straight out at you but his race for the sundown was the high mountain kind like a coyote always looking back he left no tracks behind so I've memorized those pictures boys they're still the very best if whiskey was his mistress then his true love was the way

oh but I'm happy rich but I'm not in the good Lord knows the reason but I'm just a cattle shy and nervous the range I know I drift with the wind no one cares where I go I gotta die in these war out of jeans so I'll stop eating steak and I'll go back to peace

now pick up a tin spot and press it I know riding the bronze in the big blue to you oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh you good you thank you very much I appreciate this is uh from 31 years on the with a award show in 31

years since my first paying job singing cowboy songs I really uh this is as far as you can go I mean this is this is it this is better than any music industry award that could ever be as bestowed upon us for uh people who are in the type of music that I'm in and been playing all of my life and uh I uh thank the cowboy Hall of Fame I thank my wonderful wife Kathy and my daughter's Courtney and Lane and uh just all the people that had things to do this the cowboy poetry gather milk on Nevada and Michael Martin Murphy for taking a chance with his career to bring western music back in before the people and give us all cowboy singers a little chance at it too thank you so much we appreciate it thank you very much our next presenter did just what we're doing last year he was master of ceremonies for the 1991

western heritage awards and everybody's glad he's back this evening he began his motion picture career as a stuntman in such films as angel and the bad man and red river my own personal favorite with John Wayne he received an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor for the film comes a horseman and recently starred opposite Kathy Bates and James Cahn in misery and Robert Redford in Havana he and pal Wilford Bremley star and a brand new CBS series The Boys of Twilight please welcome mr. Richard Farnsworth all right thank you all we slide the barn door wide and cough dust swarms the half berry droppings of horses and owls like feathered dusters unclean for decades the round of rollers echoes in the barn abandoned to straw that was never changed accepting the award for the digs and escondita canyon our author water

McDonald window broom of Texas tech university press one of these in a lifetime is grace this second one is good lightning striking twice or like rain two times a season in west Texas where I'm from grateful to those who read and said yes to these poems thanks also to my editor Judith Keeling and to the director dr. broom for his faith in my work for more than a decade thank y'all very much we're in 30 new law banished all eastern tribes to the end in territory more than a century later some native Americans in Oklahoma are still strangers in their own land you're in a small

clearing in the woods witnessing a ceremony unchanged for generations but more impressive than the ceremonies the fact that these Apache still exist at all they were a people of the land until the land was taken from them they managed to survive where others might not digging their roots into crevices and simply holding on they were promised the land through treaties but the treaties were broken led by Geronimo they fought until they could fight no longer they surrendered and eventually became prisoners of war at Fort Sill men women and children and here to accept awards for strangers in their own land our producers Linda Kavanaugh Marianne X. Dean director Randy Williams and photojournalist Tony Steezer

we never left the state of Oklahoma in doing this 11-part series but in the months that we worked on we entered worlds we never knew existed and it was only because of the trust of tribal elders that we were able to accomplish what we did so it's on their behalf that I accept your honor and we thank you very much the next award is for the outstanding short story collection there's no shrinking violets and author Jane Candy at Coleman's Western world because as Coleman writes the West then and now is no place for fragile blossoms stories from Ace of County is a collection of short stories of Western women past and present please welcome Jane Candy at Coleman and Sharon honor

the swallow print I was at a book signing one day and they had a handwriting analyst analyzing all the authors handwriting and he looked at mine and he said now don't get mad and I said I won't and he said if you weren't a writer you should be a horse trader and I've traded a few horses in my day and I said that's all right what else and he looked at my handwriting and he said now don't get mad and I said all right I won't get mad what he said you're the stubbornest woman I ever saw and I'm glad that I was because one everyone friends writers publishers editors were telling me that the Western was dead I refused to believe it and I kept on writing my stories yes

we're all here tonight because none of us believe it we know better I thank you very much I thank Ohio University swallow press God bless you thank you this year's outstanding juvenile book is Monster Slayer a partial recreation of a story and more lies for centuries by the Navajo a terrible monster is plaguing the Anasasi villages of the southwest canyon country now the twins respond to the villagers cry for help and set forth on a brave pilgrimage to destroy the monster the walking giant the Navajo story is retold by writer Lee Brown illustrated by Bahi White torn and please welcome them along with David Ginny

of Northland publishers I like to thank everybody but there's too many of you so I just like to thank myself for all the hard work all the sweat a couple years ago our friend of mine Bruce Anderson called me and said there's a nice story for you to work on and I wasn't sure what it was and then I was told what it was and I was you know I just said well sure I always wanted to do this this is a story I grew up with this is a story that I knew by heart and this was a good opportunity for me to do my artwork and share it with you thank you you

Jesse James Billy the Kid Wider all historical characters who have become legends the winner of a director's award for excellence in the television presentation mixes the historic with the legendary by the time Wyatt Earp and his brothers became lawman and tombstone Arizona in 1879 Wyatt was already the most legendary peacemaker in the west he first made a name for himself and Ellsworth Kansas in 1873 it was here he backed down a crew of Texas gunman supposedly led by the notorious Ben Thompson in 1874 Erp became Marshall of Wichita Kansas and by the force of his gun and his strong will cleaned up that town as well in truth why it was a violent man who would not hesitate to pistol whip or kill a man while trying to uphold the law some people didn't approve of his methods but there was no question that they weren't eventually Erp moved on to Dodge City Kansas and here he kept the piece by teaming up with another legendary

lawman mad masterson by 1876 Wyatt Earp's reputation was so widespread throughout the west that outlaw barons offered a $1,000 reward to anyone who could put Wyatt Earp in his grave and here to accept awards for legends of the American west are two familiar faces my long time friends Ben Johnson and Harry Curie Jr. and producer marino armoruza this is a real honor for me I want to thank a young director standing behind me here called marino armoruza for giving me the opportunity to host a couple of his shows you know Ben's wife Carol was in the room one time and marino said I'm gonna be the Italian John Ford and Carol said no you just be the marino armoruza marino armoruza thank you my motto is honesty realism and respect

and if I can get these young kids to go along with me I can save them a lot of hardships we've got somebody like marino here that that's his idea is to put something decent on the screen we can all take our family to see thank you you know if somebody would have told me when I was a kid growing up on East 36th Street in Brooklyn New York that someday I'd be at the cowboy hall of fame wearing a tuxedo and a cowboy hat and speaking with a very heavy flappish accent and getting a western heritage or what I wouldn't have believed it I learned to love the west through the films of John Ford and all the wonderful people in the John Ford stock company John Wayne Henry Fonda Ben Johnson and Harry Carrie they

were my heroes and they're still my heroes and I always said I wanted to be a director like Ford and make western films and I've been real fortunate that I've been able to do that but I'd be even more privileged that in the three western films I've made so far I've had the honor of harry Ben Johnson and Harry Carrie star no three it's truly a wonderful thing to grow up and have the opportunity to work with your heroes so I'd like to thank Ben and Harry not only for the work that we've done together but for the example they set and the inspiration they provided a kid from Brooklyn who wanted to be a cowboy thanks guys and I was involved in the making of a film the man they call Will James and I stood on this stage who has produced her Gwen Clancy last year and accepted her anger for it and tonight it's truly a privilege to see my hero Will James get inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners

in the National Cowboy Hall of Fame there aren't many people who get to live their dreams but Will James did as an artist and a writer he found a way to let the whole world share his cowboy adventures when it comes to getting down on paper all the power of a horse in motion there's never been anybody like you you don't just see the horse you feel it like you're the cow here right there on top he was actually born and raised in French speaking Canada his real name was Ernest Duphold he spent most of his early years dreaming about being a cowboy and drawing pictures to match his imagination when he was 15 Ernest left a safety of home and headed west James said his first collection of short stories to Charles Scribner's and sons it was a top notch New York publishing house and just about everybody was surprised when Maxwell Perkins the

legendary editor took a like into Will's natural style Will's stories about life on the range were a hit Perkins told him he should try his hand at writing a novel James liked the idea a year later he finished Smokey the Cowboy James probably never figured that Smokey would be such a hit it was translated into six foreign languages and made into a movie three times turns out the public was hungry for an inside view of the work in west these horses have got what I call the look of the Eagles every one of them was standing there with his head cocked and his nostrils flared and looked like he was about to take off with the tall and uncut which I really like in all of us and I don't leave anybody else Russell or Remington they they were fine artists but they never got the look in a horse's eye that Will James did and here too except Will James on his behalf of any of his kid now as Mr. Jutser

thank you Mr. Farnford you probably think it's easy standing up here like this but it isn't thank you I wanted to say thanks to the members of the Friends of Will James which is a group that got together to get this accomplished particularly my wife Diane who really ramrouted the whole thing the best thing about this thing I got involved with though it was meeting people meeting Cowboys like Richard Farnsworth and Ben Johnson I'm astounded how he entice him I'm astounded at how many of these guys will tell you that they are living their lives as a result of reading Will James books when they were kids and I'd like to suggest that you haven't read Lord Cowboy or a smokey or the any Will James books read them they're fabulous thank you ladies and gentlemen Michael Martin Murphy

I was in the Arroyo gathering strains you know Cowboys and cattle don't get holidays I would have been finished except for one little guy who kept leading me farther away I crossed over the mason through the ravine to the Indian ruins and the muddy red string I stopped for a minute as I was bone tired and I guess that I started to dream I saw three painted horses three dark skinned men masked maid of clay and voices like wind and sing and we see so with all that is good we come bearing corn water and wood stop any

hope all that is good gives thanks for the cold water and now I'm an old trail hand and I've always believed that your boots and your saddle are all that you leave no miracles happen and no angels appear but I swear there were three men standing there I shook myself over had I been asleep of that's just three pueblo children tending their sheep and they sang Mary Christmas as they brought me my stray and their voices

rang through the Mesquite we seek the soul of all that is good we come bearing corn water and wood stop any old all that is good give thanks for the cold water and and here to accept the word with Michael are the writers of corn water and wood we see so with all that is good we come bearing corn water and wood as popular songwriters we're swimming upstream in a river of increasing cultural

homogenization. I know I work in LA in Nashville and it's tough out there to preserve any sense of regionalism or individuality in these times when Michael started doing these wonderful cowboy poetry records. I was so excited. I begged his producer Steve Gibson to let me sweep the floor, make coffee, maybe ride a lyric and I was really fortunate to be able to work with Steve and my wonderful musician friend and editor. Michael did a fantastic job. We need you otherwise it's going to be really tough out there for songwriters and for music. I'm a westerner and I'm very honored to be here and receive this award.

Thanks so much to all of you. I don't know about you Wendy but I was the girl that the horse always ran away with. Only in my dreams was I the girl who cannered across the range and into the sunset with the handsome cowboy by my side. Winning this award is more than a dream come true for me because even in my wildest dreams I never imagined that I would be honored by real cowboys in their national hall of fame for something that I would write. I thought you had to rope and ride to get into this roundup. This song at least my part in it would never have happened without Michael Martin Murphy and not only because he recorded it but because one of his earlier albums, Geronimo's Cadillac,

first inspired me to start writing my own songs and playing the guitar and finally I'd like to thank the judges and everyone here at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame for this prestigious award and this delightful weekend in Oklahoma City for this metaphoric gallop across the plains and into the sunset with not one but a whole room full of handsome all-american cowboys. Thank you I think the important thing about this wonderful song is that it points out a connection between cowboys and Indians that we often overlook and in it the Indian children and the spirits point out that the cowboy lacks some

spirituality and he would only understand that there is a connection between his spiritual life and the land that that he would have a better Christmas so they thank God for the corn and the water and the wood. Let's hope that songs like this point out this connection between the cowboy, the Indian and the world connection with the land now the hall has asked me if I would like to present the next award to a very good friend of mine he's a neighbor this award is named in honor of the man accredited with founding the National Cowboy Hall of Fame the late Chester A Reynolds it goes to people whose lives epitomize the values that the hall itself stands for this year's recipient of the Chester A Reynolds Memorial Award is a fellow New Mexican Don Davies. One look and anyone can see that

Don Davies is a real cowboy he's been working the trade in one way or another for most of his life. Don's native American he has maintained friendships with members of the Black Feet Tribe even though he was adopted as a small child. Don's adoptive parents send to the Culver Military Academy where he would graduate from high school but his heart was in the West rodeo cut his career at the University of Arizona short and in 1938 Davies hit the circuit the sport became a lifelong love when he wasn't riding and roping himself Don helped train other champion cowboys while a cattle and buffalo forming at the film aren't ranch in New Mexico he again worked for young people guiding thousands of young boy scouts. Don Davies is renowned for the prized polo horse as he raised and as a raw-hide master craftsman. Through it all his wife Henny is at his side today they run the Santa Fe trail in in Simuron, New Mexico a rambling a delby home that serves as a bed and breakfast. Not unlike everything that Don Davies

has touched during his lifetime in the West, it's a success. For one welcome to my friend Don Davies. Thank you very much for this award it makes me very happy. I'd like to say a few words about the man in my life that mashed me in the shape and put me in the condition to wind up up here. His name was Curly Whitsel. He was an old top hand up in Montana and we spent 30-40 years of training and working together and finally I moved down to New Mexico and I got a lonesome frame one day and I told my wife I think we'll go up and see Curly he's getting older and so I found him in the Elks Club it's certain Wyoming and started to

tell him what I thought of him and how much I appreciate and he said hell don't come here tell him you're troubled let's go have a drink and that wound up all the heavy talk for the day was certainly before he passed away he sent me a letter and it's a very strange letter it's red as follows. Sheriff of Custer County Montana Curly Whitsel you are respectfully invited to witness the execution of I'll say John Doe I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings here in Custer County Montana October 16th 1935 a attendance only on presentation of this invitation and then on the back it said Don I found this in an old trunk up in bed his attic I had forgotten about it I knew the sheriff

well so he sent me this invite he later became a US Marshal I didn't go to that hanging but if it was for you I might have gone CW well Curly wherever you are I sure miss you and wish you were here tonight well Teddy Roosevelt was the first cowboy to live in our White House then our next presenter had to be the second he starred in the daytime series the Young and the Restless with Billy Crystal and when Harry Met Sally's made several television appearances and is a member of the board of directors of

the National Cowboy Hall of Fame today he spends a lot of his time running Turfway Park Race Track in Northern Kentucky and just being an all-around cool dude okay please welcome Steve Ford all right it's a pleasure to be here this is my third year for MC in the Western Heritage Awards I'm really glad to be back here with all of you tonight the first award is for a story about one man he's been called a rare combination of national commentator philosopher and showman and after nearly a century the words of Will Rogers still speak to us never before in a 30-year history of the Western Heritage Awards as a broadway production garnered a Wrangler until tonight the magical choreography of Tommy Tune the music of psych Coleman set to stage for the Will Rogers follies

get all tangled in a figure eight he tries to spin but I've had luck in my rope made me free I spun my fancy figures wrote my columns make my speeches love my forces love my family's fun and love the life that's what happened to I'm behalf of the board of directors it's my pleasure to present a director's award for excellence in a theatrical presentation to Max Whiteson

offer for and Stuart Lane for the Will Rogers follies well on behalf of my partners mr. Lane had to apologize his father was taken ill I'd also like to express the gratitude of Tommy Tune Keith Caradayne who couldn't be here tonight because fortunately has to work psych Coleman Betty Coleman and Adolf Green I also like to thank very much the help of Joe Carter from the Will Rogers Memorial without his help I doubt if this show would have taken place the follies is the embodiment of Will Rogers a great American and a great

Oklahoma 57 years after his death America has again taken him to his heart to their hearts and he represents the spirit of what we are here to celebrate tonight our next award is for the outstanding television drama not unlike their counterparts in many areas of the world in the 19th century citizens of the new frontier met with religious intolerance the problem is encountered by the peacemakers in the young riders so how many of you are there back in 2012 I think too many I just

dance a lot against black birds because they know more of us are coming next week we begin building our church a hundred of our people will join us here's almost the biggest town you're not the first to realize that we'll stop here move it along would you say get this wagon out of here no move we'll move with them here to accept for the peacemakers episode of ABC's young riders our executive producer Jonas McCord producer Christopher Sites director James Keach and writer Charles Grant Craig well first I want to thank the fellows behind me Charlie wrote a great script Chris produced a great show

Jonas Jonas gave me the opportunity to do something I've always wanted to do director western I'd acted in a bunch of them and with some of the guys here in this room Mr. Plants I don't know if you remember but I played your son in the Hatfields the McCoy's and Dobie Gray was in the long riders and well my grandfather introduced me to the west and my dad introduced me to film he used to come home from playing bit parts in the lone ranger telling me how they wrote were dark hats riding around and then put the white hat so they didn't have enough people to play the extras and more than anybody I like to thank my wife who has supported me for the many months I've been away directing and acting these years and this means a lot to me thanks and I used to play with toddlers and a little kid I used to get high class as the outlaw may have had something to do with me six three with a beard at 11 or may have had something to do with that cowboy spirit inside of me that refused to

accept any limits on my dreams well in honoring this particular show about religious freedom the cowboy hall fame is also honored the cowboy outlaw ethic that says television doesn't just have to tranquilize it can teach it doesn't have to enslave the mind as it entertains but it can enlarge it I want to thank these men for for putting on film something that does enlarge the mind and celebrates the cowboy spirit that we're all here to talk about I also want to thank my wife and muse who has when she acts for me puts music to my words and our life brings poetry to our marriage thank you angry romantic powerful and poignant words critics have used to describe this year's outstanding motion picture it's a story of Chinese laborer

seeking to co-exist in the late 19th century American West it's also the moving saga of one woman's personal triumph and struggle for independence I have another job now how many do you need at least I'm his boarding house is that so and the new manager I live there now save my gold find a way to go home in springtime I thought you were doing a pretty good job of making this place your home in fact you seem to have just about taken over while you care about is making money Charlie it's no good for me to live here

as soon as you just find when you needed it I'll leave tonight or that's just fine then and good riddance don't come whining back either because I'll be here and I'm leaving to here to accept for thousand pieces of gold our executive producer Sidney Canner producer Kenji Yamamoto director Nancy Kelly writer and make peace and co-star Chris Cooper and I want to thank all of these people for letting me be a part of thousand pieces gold it was not her and to marry in my wife thank you

perhaps the most unlikely person to accept this award I don't look like a cowboy I don't think maybe I can thank my father for not asking me to be a president of a car company and he did he did give me one advice and which was the sort of the spirit of thousand pieces of gold which is not a film that was produced or distributed by a major motion picture company and he said you know you just have to strive to to believe in what you want to do and long ago I wasn't introduced to this story by my director and my wife Nancy Kelly and he said you know it's it's better to aim for the moon and miss it than to hit the skunk and

miss it all right and hit it so I just like to thank him for encouraging me and thank you very much for years Louis Lemours Penn gave us the consummate Western hero such characters as Evie Teal a woman with enough strength and spirit to go to loan in the frontier yet romantic enough to write poetry and attach it to tumbleweeds and another classic hero in the Lemours tradition Con Conniger Mr. I'm gonna swap and mood I need a box of 44 cartridges and some beams and coffee where do you have to swap I usually do a cash on the barrel head business they'll stand to clean them unusual for a man to want to swap rifles they belong to a pair of patches

jump me up in the muggy homes it was three of them I'd quite a go around for a couple of minutes three of pastures you're lucky you got your hair you said there was three of them a patchy's mister yeah I come you only swap them with two rifles I only killed two of them one to the third but he made it to cover well do you go in after him and hunt him down mr. nobody would have fool going to the rocks after one of the patchy please welcome executive producer and writer and good guy Sam Elliott co-star and writer Katherine Ross producer John Curry co-star Barry Corbin writer Jeffrey M. Meyer director Renardo Villalobos and Zernona Clayton of Turner Network Television ladies gentlemen grew a little hair since that scene was shot didn't I well I'd

like to thank firstly the board of the directors and all the supporters and national cowboy Hall of Fame it's always an honor to come here this is like the final rewards somehow for people that make movies when they hold foremost their mind honest and integrity and those things that Ben was talking about a little earlier I kind of feel the same way about family films you know there's a real shortage of them out there today and we set out to make one this time and I think we pull it off I'd particularly like to thank Lewis Lamore I'm real sorry that Lewis isn't here with us tonight because I think he had been real proud of what we did we were I think foremost in our minds with Katherine and I and and the rest of these folks behind me when we developed this project was we were remaining true to Lewis material material and maintaining

the honesty and integrity of Lewis piece and it's been my experience over the years the times that I've done a piece of material that was adapted from a novel that this in the adaption the screenwriter always said well yeah that's a pretty good piece of material but you know let's put a little twist on it we stayed away from the twist and tried to stay as true of Lewis material as possible there's a lot of people behind me that I know would like to say thanks again like thank everybody at the hall I'd like to thank my mom who's sitting out here for a lifetime of support and encouragement like thank my dad who's out there I think somewhere up there listening to all this thing who managed to kick me in the tail once in a while to keep me going the right road he was here tonight he'd probably be after me with a set of shares but he'd be real proud of the company that I was keeping here tonight and he'd be real

proud of this as I am thank you I think Sam just about covered it all there's three things I'd like to say the first is is thank you very much to the cowboy hall of fame I'm very proud of my western heritage I'm very proud to be here tonight the second thing is Louis was very fond of Sam and right after they had done the sack as he said you know there's a there's a story I wrote some time ago that would be good for the two of you and that was Connaker and the third thing I'd like to say is that there's nothing better than working with with your family and the people that you love and your friends which were all here thank you Sam and John Curry for giving me a job I'd like to thank Jeff Remire for writing

such good words and Ray for the wonderful direction I'd like to thank R.L. Tolbert for trying to teach me how to drive a six up in a day and a half we didn't have any wrecks we're fortunate but and I'd like to thank the national cowboy hall of fame for this beautiful award thank you the next award is our third and final inductee into the hall of great westerners tonight he was one of the toughest lawmen ever to patrol the Indian territory later the streets of Muscogee and the new state of Oklahoma as a police officer U.S. Deputy Marshal Bass reads Lawlessness was a rule in the small towns and countryside of the Indian

territory one of the last bastions of the wild frontier lack U.S. Deputy Marshal such as Rufus Cannon and vans of Indian Lawmen called Light Horseman did their best to maintain a semblance of war but it was bass reads who endures is the most invincible lawmen of the mall in a time when outlaws like Ned Christie and Cherokee Bill terrorized the lane bass reads and other black deputies rode for judge Parker maintaining order Reeves spent 35 years as a deputy marshal and was forced to kill 14 men in the line of duty his achievements nose of other Native American and black lawmen are now immortalized in Art Burton's black red and dead bass reads true frontier here and inductee into the hall of great Westerners the National cowboy Hall of Fame except in behalf of his late uncle the United States district judge Paul L. Brady

on behalf of Bass Reeves when I was appointed judge 1972 I recall that it was nearly a hundred years before that Bass Reeves was appointed the United States marshal deputy marshal and Indian territory now I was placed in a position to determine the rights of individuals under the same system of laws that allowed for him to be declared saddle property with no rights whatsoever in although he was born in slavery a creature of the law he nonetheless served the rule of law

with total dedication and distinction and compiled a record on parallel in Western law enforcement we the members of Bass Reeves family are very grateful to the Western Heritage Center for their signal honor in honoring Bass Reeves we honor America and we honor those whose contributions has been overlooked or forgotten in America's Western movement this recognition also helps to provide a more accurate account of our very glorious Western heritage and thank you very much for a generation of television Western fans he was and is wider tonight Hugh Bryan joins Jimmy Stewart Gary Cooper and other legends as an inductee

into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame Hall of Great Western Performers why it hurt why it hurt pray courageous and bold during its seven year run life and legend of wider consistently ranked as one of the top 10 television shows in the country as we'll tell you why there's some nasty talk on around town usually is people don't like to be fooled don't like to spend money buying drinks for public hero one day and next days in jail that's how he's supposed to do give him the money back or it's not very that mad at you so be careful when you make the rounds you know Paul one of these days the sun's gonna rise on which it's on is not gonna be a single citizen mad at me that's the day I turn in my badge among will Bryan's early big screen achievements the 1954 classic broken lands with Richard Woodmark and Spencer Tracy Tracy is a ruthless

cattleman whose lack of compassion alienates his own sons we didn't mean nothing Paul just a couple of little steers uh-huh why I don't know we need the money that's why money but you got money you mean that lousy 40 a month you give it in a now legendary scene oh Bryan is one of the three gunmen vying for the honor of ending John Wayne's life in the shootest oh Bryan continues to bring larger than life characters to television recently in the luck of the draw the gamble early turns he will Bryan remember the hall of great western performers the national cowboy hall of fame ladies and gentlemen please welcome everybody's hero you all Bryan and Ryan R

you thank you very much i'm uh very happy to be here and quite frankly in our business i'm damn happy to be anywhere i mean anytime you get a free meal it's a hell of a good night i'd like to clear one thing up first and that is that i'm i'm not an actor and i've got about 46 pictures to prove it i'm particularly proud to accept this award tonight on behalf of the awful lot of people that have helped me uh maybe get to this point and i'm really uh terrifically honored to realize that uh long after i'm gone uh the picture will be downstairs with painting or whatever with some of the other people that

are down there who i've grown up knowing and having his friends for over a long period of time to be among those people i'm very grateful thank you let's go on here next to the world and i want to start by saying that uh chalton heston accepted the wrangler for will penny in 1969 by saying western cinema and jazz music are our unique cultural contributions to the world if that's true then jack pallets has contributed more than his share he's given us western villains and heroes that we will never never forget chane will be remembered as one of the greatest westerns of all time

who could forget pallets as jack wilson one of the most sinister gunslingers in film history they tell me they called you a stone wall anything wrong with that? that's just funny just be named a lot of that southern trash after all stone wall would they name you after? would you know i'm saying that stone wall jackson was trash himself himself him and Lee all the rest of them ribs you too you're no darn lying yucky prudent

no torrent eventually it's good over evil and allen lads shane prevails pallets is chetrol and obstadly marvin's money was gave us two more of western films most memorable characters look moddy do you have any idea how many cowhands they were in this country ten fifteen years ago well as a hell of a lot fewer now releasing them won't be hardly any the way things are going it's going to get tougher or come on chef things ain't that bad here they are lordy you ain't suggesting that maybe some hardware man till

held out but nobody gets to be a cowboy forever in a time when the western is mostly absent from the big screen a western just wouldn't be a western without jack pallets his performance of the steely eyed curly opposite billy crystal raised hairs on necks and theaters nationwide earning him an oscar nomination for best supporting actor cowboys leads a different kind of life when they were cowboys or a dime breed still means something to me though a couple of days don't move this herd across the river driving through the valley oh there's nothing like bringing them a herd

tonight jack pallets takes his rifle place as a member of the national cowboy hall of famed hall of great western performance ladies and gentlemen please welcome the great actor great american mr jack pallets you there's so many wonderful reasons for enjoying being an Oklahoma particularly sitting right down here and watching this girl in the polka dot dress coming up and down the stairs holy god you know it's a good reason for being an actor another reason for being for enjoying being here is a billy crystal is not here this is something this is somebody who's always around it seems to me

and one more i've met a couple of guys like there was one on stage tonight who said that he played my son in some film i met one other at the hotel the thing i can't believe is that they all look older than i do i uh i must confess that i like that you know this this um this gunfight scene shame shame god almighty you know sometimes you get tired of hearing a word well anyway that gunfight scene reminds me it was seen that we had in the bar a long time ago it in jackson whole way omega and cookie was there i was there we were all tough guys obviously we were cowboys you know we're real tough and we used to stand at this bar the silver dollar bar in jackson whole way hoping and count how many uh somebody else could drink and there's one night cookie had so much to drink that when he started out he was staggering and i thought boy i better help this guy out because he's never going to make it so i walked out with him he said well you're going i said i'm going to follow you cookie i'm going to help you get home

you say i don't need you you know so uh you may need me those while i followed him out when the cross the street and he was staggering and he were looking up at me and finally he got to visit to a point and he said oh what do you want i said cookie i don't want anything i just want to get you into your room so that you so that you're safe and he said this is as far as you're going i said why cookie he says listen i've heard about you hollywood guys i'm still trying to figure out what the hell it meant but there was one other story about um about shame you know i was in uh i was in Miami doing street con named desire when i got a call from George steve that he says let like if it is film i do you ride and i said holy god i'm one of the best and he said okay then the role is yours it was as simple as that and i get out there and i didn't have time enough to learn how to ride so the first scene and i've when the reviews came out they talked about George and they said this is genius director and they said he had palan's come in on

the horse walking well we started to see and then George said i want you to come in as fast as you can i tried that almost fell off a couple of times came in at a trot and i was about three feet up off the horse and uh George finally said all right walk the damn thing and so i i walked it in and George became a great director i think it's uh i think it's fantastic i want to thank you very much for this i love being in your city and i hope i can come again thank you you a better way to end it happy trails to you until we begin the audience began to sway back and for happy trails to the same direction keep smiling under them

who cares about the clouds when we're together just sing the song and bring the sunny weather and happy trails to you till we meet don't forget to help mom in the kitchen always drink up stream from the herd we're proud to be in your company tonight goodnight to all from the national cowboy hall of fame because it's the cowboy way so