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Along Came a Cowgirl: Daring and Iconic Women of the Rodeo and Wild West Shows
Lucyle Richards tightened the grip she had on the rope attached to the flank strap tied around the steer she was about to ride. The monstrous animal underneath the ninety-nine-pound woman recognized by rodeo fans across the country as the most beautiful of all the professional cowgirls, waited anxiously for the chute to open. The steer was huffing and angry and Lucyle anticipated a rough time. The audience at the rodeo in Kilgore, Texas, on August 13, 1939, were excited to see the accomplished performer and they called out her name and cheered. She stayed on the back of the steer for more than a minute before being thrown head over heels at a distance of twelve feet. Lucyle was a bit shaken but she quickly picked herself up and waved to the crowd. They erupted in thunderous applause and she bowed in appreciation.
Born Lucyle Garms in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, in 1909, to a Choctaw Indian mother and Irish father, her rodeo career began at the age of thirteen. Not only did she ride bucking steers and horses, but she was an accomplished trick roper and rider. She won the World Championship Saddle Bronc riding competition in Chicago in 1930 and earned additional titles for the sport in Boston in 1934.
Married a number of times, her husbands included rodeo stars Oklahoma Curly Roberts and T. J. Richards. “I like to take chances,” she told a Fort Worth, Texas, newspaper reporter in the summer of 1938. “That’s why I do what I do, riding vicious horses for a living. I’ve been riding the rodeo since 1929 – from Texas to London and back. It’s been a good life, lots of fun, but it has not been without its struggles – five broken ribs, a fractured chest bone, and innumerable bruises. But I wouldn’t have changed a thing.”
During the 1940s, Lucyle’s time in the arena was overshadowed by the troubles in her personal life. In late April 1941, she was arrested for the murder of her fiancé, wealthy cattleman Frank Dew. The two had been romantically involved for more than a year when she suspected he had been seeing another woman. Lucyle showed up at Dew’s home to confront him over the matter and during their physical altercation, Lucyle pulled a gun from her purse. The pair wrestled over the weapon and Frank died shortly after being shot. Lucyle denied firing the shot that killed him and a jury found her not guilty at the end of a four-day trial.
At the conclusion of the court case, Lucyle left bronc busting to attend the Chennault Aviation Academy in Houston. After learning to fly she became an instructor. She was one of only four women instructors in the country in the special government training program. During World War II, Lucyle ferried bombers between the United States and England.
By 1951, the accomplished rodeo entertainer and aviatrix returned to the arena winning the Saddle Bronc Riding Championship in Oklahoma City and at Madison Square Garden in New York. Ten years later, she retired from riding and became a police officer in Yoakum, Texas.
In 1987, the woman described as a cross between Annie Oakley and Amelia Earhart, was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame. Lucyle Richards passed away in 1995 at the age of eighty-six.
To learn more about fearless women like Lucyle read
Along Came a Cowgirl: Daring and Iconic Women of the Rodeo and Wild West Shows
