Past Honorees

A fifth-generation rancher and cowboy, Tom Moorhouse has dedicated his life to the land and livestock of West Texas. His career includes work on historic ranches such as the Tongue River Ranch and 6666 Ranch, where he developed exceptional skills in horsemanship and cattle management. A renowned horse trainer, Moorhouse earned two All-Around Cowboy titles at the Texas Ranch Roundup and was inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2005. Through the Moorhouse Ranch Company, he and his family continue to manage cow/calf, farming, and stocker operations across West and Central Texas. His lifelong commitment to stewardship, horsemanship, and progressive ranching reflects the values of a true working cowboy and helps ensure the ranching tradition endures for future generations.

For more than 30 years, Jeff Bilberry has served as general manager and now vice president of Singleton Ranches, one of the nation’s largest ranching operations, spanning more than one million acres across New Mexico and California. Still working from the saddle, Bilberry leads by example and shares his knowledge with the next generation of cowboys. His commitment to ranching extends to his community, with leadership roles including Chaves County Commissioner, Elida School Board president, and positions with the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association and New Mexico Agriculture Board. A fourth-generation rancher, Bilberry carries his family’s cowboy legacy with pride, humility, and a commitment to hard work, faith, and stewardship.

As co-owner of Lyons Angus Ranch, Jan Lyons has been a respected leader in the beef industry for decades. She was the first woman to serve as president of both the Kansas Livestock Association and Kansas Angus Association, later leading the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Her leadership during the 2003 BSE crisis earned widespread respect, while her advocacy for beef promotion, genetic improvement, and consumer confidence helped advance the industry. A mentor and steward of the ranching way of life, Lyons considers passing her love of ranching and the land to her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren her proudest achievement.

Joe N. “Buzz” Thorp has spent nearly his entire life as a cowboy, starting at age seven alongside his father in Throckmorton County, Texas. After earning a degree in animal husbandry from Texas Tech, he built a career that took him to Tennessee, Montana, and New Mexico. Returning to Texas, he worked on the R.A. Brown Ranch and Wagon Creek Spade Ranch. Now in his 90s, Thorp is recognized as an outstanding horseman, stockman and teacher.

Stephen J. “Tio” Kleberg, a fifth-generation member of the King Ranch, has devoted more than 50 years to its growth and innovation. As vice president of agricultural operations, he revitalized the Quarter Horse program, helped develop the Santa Cruz cattle breed, and advanced wildlife conservation. He later served on the ranch’s board and held leadership roles with the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute and the East Foundation. Inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame in 1997, Kleberg is widely respected for his faith, integrity, and lifelong dedication to ranching and conservation.

James “Jimbo” Humphreys has pursued cowboy life from various directions during his 52-year career by making a living punching cows, cooking on chuck wagons, training horses, building fences and corrals, and crafting bits and spurs. Humphreys got his start at an early age on the Pitchfork Land & Cattle Co. ranch where his father served as ranch manager for most of his childhood. As Humphreys entered back into the horse business, he introduced Ray Hunt’s gentler approach to horse training at the Pitchfork ranch and mastered another skill – building bits and spurs. In 1995, Humphreys started working for the Guitar Ranches, a third-generation family-run operation, earning the role of ranch manager and cowboying daily.

Craig Haythorn is the fourth generation of Haythorns to own and operate Haythorn Land & Cattle Co. in Arthur, Nebraska. At age four, he went on his first cattle drive and by age 13 was put in charge of the hay crew. After college, Haythorn moved back to Nebraska where he began managing the family’s south ranch. Since the first generation of Haythorns, the ranch has dedicated resources to developing its horses. Haythorn’s commitment to his ancestors’ vision in the horse program earned Haythorn Land & Cattle the AQHA’s first-ever Best Remuda Award in 1992. Today, Haythorn leads the fourth, fifth and sixth generations of the storied Haythorn Land & Cattle Co. along with his family.

For nearly eight decades, Wes O’Neal has cowboyed on three of the best-known ranches in Texas. O’Neal’s cowboying career began when he was 13 years old, breaking broncs with his brother, Boots O’Neal, on small spreads, eventually leading him to the JA Ranch. He went on to work for the W.T. Waggoner Estate for 58 years, serving as Wagon Boss and later as horse foreman directing the breeding of broodmares and stallions. O’Neal’s insight into breeding horses laid the groundwork for the W.T. Waggoner Estate being recognized as having the best ranch horses in the country.

Clark Willingham is a native Texan whose ranching heritage stretches into Oklahoma and the historic Hitch Ranch through his wife, Jane (Hitch). Willingham’s drive, fortitude and commitment to family propelled him into leadership roles within industry organizations where he guided discussions to create a bright future for cattle producers across the country. He has served at the highest levels for the Cattlemen's Beef Board, United States Meat Export Federation, National Livestock and Meat Board, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, Texas Cattle Feeders Association, Texas Beef Council, Texas Agricultural Land Trust, Texas State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners, Texas Rangers Law Enforcement Association, and American Law Institute.

Joel Nelson has spent decades working on some of the most respected cow outfits in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Hawaii, specializing in breaking colts. Nelson’s ability to take the raw materials of ranch life and express them in poetry have made him a regular performer at the annual Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nev., and resulted in his being named a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2009. His Breaker in the Pen album of cowboy verse is the only cowboy poetry ever nominated for a Grammy Award.

Monte Cluck is the fourth generation in his family to ranch and farm in the Texas Panhandle. Cluck’s parents were early pioneers of the cattle feeding industry and today Cluck is CEO of Dean Cluck Feedyard and general partner of Dean Cluck Cattle Co. With three locations in the Texas Panhandle, the company has a total feeding capacity of 102,000 head. Cluck was a member of the Texas Cattle Feeders Association Board for 11 years, including six years on the executive committee and chairman in 2009. Cluck grew up in Gruver, Texas, where his flagship feedyard is located.

Ed Ashurst is a working cowboy who has ridden and gathered cattle and horses on over 7,000 square miles of the American West and accumulated more than 50 years of experience as a big ranch cowboy in Arizona and New Mexico. He has worked on over 20 different ranches in his career. Ashurst has served as the president of the Arizona Cowpunchers Rodeo numerous times and has been a contestant in several events. In addition, Ashurst has written 12 books stemming from his experiences in the saddle.

Bob McCan is a descendent of a Texas ranching family that can trace its roots to 1877 in Victoria County. He is co-owner and general manager of McFaddin Enterprises, a family-owned land and cattle company operating in Victoria, Refugio and Bee counties. He grew up as a fifth-generation cow-calf producer in a family environment of advocacy for the cattle industry. McCan has served as president of both the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association

With nearly 80 years in the saddle, Boots O’Neal has experienced and observed more changes in the way of how cattle are worked and handled than almost any other person in the business working for some of the largest ranches in Texas. O’Neal’s cowboying career began as a young boy breaking broncs with his brother, Wes O’Neal, on small spreads. He has cowboyed for the JA Ranch, Matador Ranch, and Waggoner Ranch, where he was promoted to foreman. Boots has been employed at the Four Sixes Ranch for the past 30 years, where he is involved in all phases of cattle work. He has been awarded many honors for his dedication to the cowboy way of life.

Red Steagall has held celebrity status since the 1970s as a Western entertainer who emphasizes ranch life, Western heritage and cowboy values. He has spent a lifetime telling the story of ranching through his music, poetry and syndicated radio and television shows. Steagall has kept the rancher and cowboy in front of a mainstream audience and helped ensure that the stories of the real West don’t fade into obscurity. Even more important, Steagall reflects the values, integrity and character that have always been part of ranch life. He has been inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City as well as numerous other Halls of Fame. In 2006, he became the only cowboy poet ever named Poet Laureate of Texas.

Dr. Glenn Blodgett of Guthrie, Texas, became resident veterinarian and manager of the horse division at the Four Sixes Ranch in 1982. Under his management, the ranch earned numerous awards and distinctions, including the coveted AQHA Best Remuda Award in 1993. Blodgett became an American Quarter Horse Association director in 1991 and rose through the ranks in service to the organization and the nation’s equine industry to become AQHA president in 2015. He received the 2011 AQHA Racing Council Special Recognition Award and was inducted into the Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2015. The American Association of Equine Practitioners presented him with a Distinguished Life Member Award in 2016 for his leadership and exemplary service.

Dave Edmiston is a third-generation rancher who is a passionate advocate for agriculture and was instrumental in establishing the Texas Beef Checkoff. He was at the helm of the Texas Beef Council during a time of substantial change and progress and has served as a director on the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and chairman of its Global Growth and Export Committees. After serving the Texas Farm Bureau in local, county and state positions, Edmiston was elected to its state board of directors in 2009 and served through 2015. He also served as state vice president in 2014-15.

As a joint owner and senior management member of the family-owned True companies of Casper, Wyoming, Dave True has spent a lifetime following the dream of his parents to build a business within the ranching and energy industries. The True companies include True Ranches, True Oil, True Drilling, Eighty-Eight Oil, Black Hills Trucking, Toolpushers Supply, and Belle Fourche and Bridger Pipeline. True Ranches has grown into a multi-segmented beef operation that now spans the eastern third of Wyoming with seven commercial cow/calf operations, two feedlots and several farms.

James Herring is President and CEO of Friona Industries, one of the leading cattle-feeding operations in the world with four commercial feedlots and a one-time capacity of 290,000 head. He is past president of Texas Cattle Feeders Association and has served as a director and member of the Executive Committee of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. As head of Friona Industries, Herring has made great strides in raising the competitive position of beef by leading an innovative approach in coordinating efforts of ranchers, cattle feeders, beef processors and retailers to enhance quality and consistency of beef.

Jon Means’ family has been ranching in the Davis Mountains of West Texas since 1884. He owns the Means Ranch Co. and resides at Moon Ranch in Jeff Davis County. Means has carefully implemented natural resource conservation efforts in the region and sustained the ability of Means Ranch to produce quality beef while simultaneously protecting the natural resource base. When Hurricane Ike destroyed ranchland and livestock in southeast Texas, Means was serving as president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. He led the organization in helping distressed ranchers relocate thousands of cattle.

Quarter Horse News called Buster Welch “one of the most celebrated horsemen and cattlemen of the 20th century.” Welch won five National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) World Championship Futurities, four World Cutting Horse Championships, and three NCHA Derby competitions. He was inducted into the NCHA and the American Quarter Horse Association Halls of Fame and received the Charles Goodnight Award. Welch raised cattle under the “B Lazy W” brand and marketed calves to Coleman Natural Meats for almost two decades to fill a demand for naturally grown foods.

In addition to a 27-year career as one of the most honored players in baseball, Nolan Ryan owns and operates cattle ranches in South Texas and has been breeding and raising Beefmaster cattle since 1972. Ryan is a limited partner in Beefmaster Cattlemen LP, a branded beef company that markets Nolan Ryan’s All-Natural Tender Aged Beef. The product line began out of a desire to produce the very best beef through a process that starts at the ranch and carries through from licensed feedlots to the meat counter.

Bill Tullos raised cattle and sheep on his property for seven decades after taking over the family ranch when he was only 16 years old. Tullos kept the condition of his range foremost in mind by running a conservation program he began back in 1959. His service in agriculture included leadership roles at the state and local levels in the Texas Farm Bureau and nearly 60 years of membership in the Middle Concho Soil and Water Conservation District. He was a former director of the Mohair Council of America and Honorary Director for Life of the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association.

Jack Maddux was a fourth-generation rancher and manager of the Maddux Cattle Co., a 3,000-head feed yard and a 2,500-head cow-calf operation located on some 40,000 acres of deeded and leased land. He was named Cattle Businessman of the Year by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Cattleman of the Year by the Nebraska Cattlemen’s Association, and Livestock Leader of the Year by Colorado State University. He was also honored for excellence in the management of Nebraska rangeland and listed in the Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement.

Bob Moorhouse managed the Pitchfork Ranch from 1986 to 2007 and is a board member of the Pitchfork Land and Cattle Co. He serves as a director of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, American Quarter Horse Association and Working Ranch Cowboys Association. Moorhouse has been inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame and presented with a bronze star on the Texas Trail of Fame. His photography depicting the cowboy way of life has been published extensively and displayed in museums, offices and homes across the nation.

Jay O’Brien’s ranching career has been built largely around buying and managing stocker cattle. He is a former president of the Texas Cattle Feeders Association and has served in key leadership positions with the Cattlemen's Beef Board, the Texas Beef Council and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. O’Brien is managing partner of the JA, Corsino, The Swamp, and Adobe Walls Cattle Companies. These companies raise, graze and feed cattle in Texas, Colorado, New Mexico and Oklahoma.

Helen Groves was reared on the 825,000-acre King Ranch, where she learned about ranching, line breeding, genetics, and working cattle. Known as the “First Lady of Cutting,” Groves spent decades breeding, raising, and riding cutting horses. She began competing in cutting horse events in 1972 and won numerous championships before being inducted into the National Cutting Horse Association Hall of Fame. She was also inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame and the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame. Groves was a leading supporter of equine research and was active in both the cutting and racehorse industries. She also managed a cattle ranch near Baird, Texas.

Chip Merrill was a fourth-generation Texas rancher and grandson of a trail driver. He lived on and operated the XXX Ranch (family brand since 1872). Merrill was director of the TCU Ranch Management Program for 33 years before stepping back from administration and serving as Burnett Ranches Professor. He retired in 1996 as Director Emeritus. Merrill was a past president and fellow of the International Society for Range Management and received the Frederick Renner Award as the society’s highest recognition for contributions to the profession.

Donald Butler was a leader in the cattle industry for 30 years before becoming director of the Arizona Department of Agriculture in 2003. When Butler was president of the National Cattlemen’s Association, he worked with President Reagan to obtain an executive order establishing a fee structure for grazing on public lands. Under appointments from two presidents, Butler was a leader in opening world markets and negotiating trade agreements to benefit the beef industry. He served in leadership roles in the Federal Reserve Bank, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and the National Public Lands Advisory Committee.

Rebecca Lockhart spoke up in the 1960s against the prevailing establishment and advocated the start-up of a Paint, stock-type horse registry, helping to set rigorous breed standards for the Paint Horse. Working with ranchers who shared her concerns, Lockhart helped found what eventually became the American Paint Horse Association, registering 720,000 American Paint Horses in 43 nations and growing to a membership of 104,000. Another of Lockhart’s goals was to get youth involved in the horse industry. Today thousands of youth are active in the American Junior Paint Horse Association.

Jimmie Powell is a third-generation rancher who has devoted his life to the livestock industry and ranching. Powell lives on the Six Mile Ranch and raises registered Hereford and commercial Angus cattle in Texas and Nebraska. He is highly regarded for his wise use of natural resources and conservation practices as well as his commitment to education. He has served as chairman of the National Cattlemen’s Association Tax Committee and president of the National Wool Growers Association, Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association and Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.

With an historic family tree in Texas ranching and commerce, Anne Marion stepped into her own place in history when she became president of Burnett Ranches and the Burnett Foundation. As a child, Marion spent summers on the iconic Four Sixes Ranch, earning respect from the cowboys as she learned their skills. That respect resulted in her induction into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, the American Quarter Horse Association Hall of Fame, the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame and countless other inductions and awards.

John Lacey is a third-generation rancher who oversees cattle and land across California. Lacey and his family are members of the Lacey Livestock Partnership, which manages the Lacey Ranches. While building his cattle operations, John Lacey served as president of the National Cattlemen's Association in 1990. Later he was instrumental in merging the NCA, National Live Stock and Meat Board, and the Beef Industry Council into the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. In 1996, Lacey became president of the newly formed NCBA, making him the only person to serve as president of both associations.

Rob Brown is the third of five generations of Browns who have worked the north central Texas R.A. Brown Ranch, a family business since 1895. The ranch began as a Hereford operation but became a leader worldwide in innovative cross and composite cattle breeding. The National Cattlemen’s Association named the R.A. Brown Ranch “Cattle Business of the Century” in 1998. As a result of also being a top breeder of Quarter Horses, Rob has served as a past president of the American Quarter Horse Association and been inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame.

Robert Josserand was president of ProChemco Cattle Co. when it merged under his leadership with AZL of Arizona in 1979. In partnership with others, Josserand bought AZL Cattle Co. in 1983, renamed it AzTx Cattle Co., moved the headquarters to Texas, and grew the company into the fifth-largest feedlot operation in the nation. Josserand devoted his career to improving the cattle industry, serving as past president of the Texas Cattle Feeders Association and the National Cattlemen’s Association as well as holding other leadership positions.

Dolph Briscoe was owner and manager of one of the largest and most diverse ranches in Texas. By 1972, he was the state's largest individual landowner. As the youngest person to become president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association in 1960, Briscoe and the organization raised $3 million in voluntary contributions to launch a screwworm eradication program that saved Texas livestock producers millions of dollars annually. He also was instrumental in establishing the Mohair Council of America and served as its first chairman in 1970. Briscoe served in the Texas Legislature from 1949 to 1957 and was governor from 1973 to 1979.

Dub Waldrip was president and chief executive officer of Spade Ranches for 37 years. He oversaw growth of the ranches to 350,000 acres in West Texas and Eastern New Mexico. After he was hired in 1967 as a multi-ranch manager, the commercial beef production per acre for Spade Ranches almost doubled and range conditions improved. Waldrip was a longtime national beef industry leader. He was National Cattlemen's Association president in 1982-83, an honorary director of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association and a Texas Cattle Feeders Association director.

A.L. Black was one of the original directors and developers of three feedlots that combined in the early 1960s to become Friona Industries, Inc., one of the largest feedlot operations in the world. With Black as a founding partner and chairman for over 20 years, Friona Industries developed into a large enterprise that included cattle feeding, meat processing, feed manufacturing, animal health supplies, feed mill construction, grain storage and trucking. He also tested and implemented new techniques for soil and water management and brought new pasture and field crops to West Texas.

Kenny Monfort was a visionary pioneer in the cattle feeding and meat packing business. He turned Monfort of Colorado into a Fortune 500 company that was an international, multi-billion-dollar beef feeding, shipping, processing and packing corporation. Monfort was CEO of the family business until the sale of the company to ConAgra Red Meat Companies in 1987. Monfort stayed on as an executive until he retired in 1989. He was elected to the Colorado Legislature from 1965 to 1969 and received the Citizen of the West award from the National Western Stock Show in 1991.

John Cargile’s livestock operations included both cattle and sheep on the S Ranch, the Rocky Ranch and the A.T.A. Ranch. With other members of his family, Cargile purchased Producers Livestock Auction Company of San Angelo in 1954. Under his management the company became one of the top cattle markets in Texas and the largest sheep and goat market in the United States. Cargile served as president of both the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association and the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association.

Linda Davis was a fourth-generation rancher whose father, Albert Mitchell, was the first National Golden Spur recipient in 1978. Davis grew up on her family’s Tequesquite Ranch in Albert, N.M., and learned ranching as a ranch hand. After her marriage, she moved to the historic CS Ranch near Cimarron, N.M., where her children continue to operate the ranch, making it one of the state’s largest family-operated ranches. Her involvement in ranching and the livestock industry extended beyond the ranch to the state, regional and national levels.

Clarence Scharbauer had a diversified livestock background. In 1947 he took over active management of Scharbauer Ranches, one of the larger operations in Texas and the Southwest. After more than 50 years of management, the empire grew to nine ranches in West Texas and the upper Texas Panhandle. Scharbauer was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame and the Horse Racing Hall of Fame. The Texas Thoroughbred Association honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

Jo Ann Smith was the operating partner and secretary/treasurer of Smith Brothers Farming and Ranching in Wachoota, Florida, from 1958 to 1988. Progressive Farmer magazine named her Man of the Year in American Agriculture in 1982 and 1988, and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services selected her as Woman of the Year in Agriculture in 1985. She served on President Reagan’s U.S. Advisory Committee for Trade Negotiations from 1985 to 1987 and was Assistant Secretary for Marketing and Inspection Services of the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1989 to 1993.

Hilmar Moore was a fifth-generation Texas rancher whose family dates back in Texas history to Stephen F. Austin’s original colony of settlers. Moore began owning his own cattle when he was six years old, and as an adult, he and his brother successfully operated the family cattle business. He began raising American Quarter Horses in 1938 and was a charter member of the American Quarter Horse Association. He served as president of the Texas and Southwest Cattle Raisers Association and was on the Board of Directors of the National Cattlemen’s Association.

Jim Barron gained first-hand experience in ranching through his family’s ownership of the Spur Headquarters and Tongue River Ranches in Cottle, Dickens, Motley and King Counties of Texas. He chaired the National Beef Development Task Force in 1976-77 that won congressional approval for a national referendum on a legislative checkoff for beef research and promotion.

While Walter Pfluger was director of the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association in 1949, he was instrumental in the passage of The National Wool Act. This gave price supports to American wool producers as incentive to keep producing, though their product was more expensive to produce than imported wools. Pfluger pushed for the act and then stood firm when mohair, a specialty fiber produced from Angora goats, was about to be written out of the act. In the end, mohair was included in the act.

W.D. Farr was a Colorado icon in ranching, livestock feeding and water development. He was chairman of the board and major stockholder of Farr Farms, an integrated farming, feeding and ranching operation on 2,000 acres of irrigated farmland, a 26,000-head capacity feedlot and a 16,000-acre ranch near Greeley. He owned the 21,000-acre Seventy Ranch Corp. Farr was active in the National Cattlemen’s Association and served as president in 1970. Perhaps his greatest legacy was four decades of service to ensuring the future water supply of northern Colorado.

Marie Tyler was a North Dakota rancher, horsewoman and national beef spokesperson for more than three decades. Tyler was labeled the First Lady of Beef Promotion during her leadership with the National Livestock and Meat Board because of her advertising, research, education and promotion of red meat. Tyler and her husband, Jim, introduced Santa Gertrudis cattle to North Dakota in 1954. She was the first woman to receive the National Golden Spur Award and the first woman elected “Man of the Year” into the North Dakota State University Saddle and Sirloin Club Hall of Fame.

Foy Proctor began ranching independently in 1917, eventually owning cattle ranches in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona and a large cattle-buying partnership in Nebraska. His primary ranches were the C Ranch north of Midland, Texas, and the Proctor Ranch, which included 95 sections of the old XIT in Hartley County, Texas. The ranches received awards for cattle breeding and soil and water conservation practices. Proctor’s legacy continues to support education and youth with the bequest of his Hartley County ranch to Texas Tech University.

John Armstrong was chief executive of the vast King Ranch in Kingsville, Texas, and oversaw domestic operations in Mississippi, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Florida as well as holdings in six foreign countries. He also was managing partner of the Armstrong Ranch in Kenedy County, one of three Texas counties where his family had owned ranches since 1882. He was named 1979 Man of the Year in Service to Texas Agriculture by Progressive Farmer magazine and held numerous leadership positions, including president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association and president of Santa Gertrudis Breeders International.

Although Ernest Browning was a cowboy most of his life, he worked in and later owned a grocery store (Piggly Wiggly) and meat business. He began purchasing land and cattle with his earnings until raising cattle became his only business. After gaining a reputation as a horseman, Browning became a founding member and a director of the American Quarter Horse Association. He was named president in 1958 and officiated as a judge in almost every major Quarter Horse show in the country.

Watt Matthews was known and respected for his leadership in the preservation of the values and heritage of ranching. Born into legendary pioneer families, Matthews became co-manager of Lambshead Ranch in 1941 and general manager in 1977. The Matthews and Reynolds families were among the first Anglo settlers in the region and helped establish the state’s signature cattle industry. Matthews continued to play a vital role in the ranching industry throughout his life and guided the family business for 56 years.

Fred Dressler achieved international recognition for his progressive ranching practices, his leadership within the industry and his service to his fellow man. Known to friends and business associates as “Fred H.,” Dressler helped found the Nevada Junior Livestock Show and served on the board for 30 years. In 1980 the Fred H. Dressler Cattle Company, a family business, covered 20,000 acres in three counties and two states.

Jay Taylor’s lifetime career as a rancher, businessman and public servant paralleled the development of the cattle industry. Known as “Mr. Beef,” Taylor’s service to the livestock industry benefited all of American agriculture. He was owner of the HH Ranch near Magdalena, N.M., and the Rafter O Ranch near Vega, Texas. He was a partner in the Amarillo Livestock Auction Co. and Western Stockyards, which grew into the world’s largest independent livestock sales firm. He also was chairman of the National Livestock and Meat Board.

Albert K. Mitchell, whose life spanned the era from the 19th century free range to the age of the airborne cowman, was a partner with his father and later his son in ownership of the Tequesquite Ranch, founded in 1896. His father, T. E. Mitchell, brought the first registered Herefords to New Mexico. In its prime, the ranch was home to 30 cowboys and consisted of 180,000 acres. A.K. became manager of the Bell Ranch in 1933 but also continued to manage the Tequesquite. He was one of the original founders of the American Quarter Horse Association and served four terms as president, guiding the AQHA through some of its most difficult times and earning the respect of ranching families throughout the Southwest.