The Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame celebrated the Class of 2025 at River Ranch in Fort Worth on April 26, and Hall of Fame team ropers and friends Tee Woolman and Rich Skelton were among the headliners honored.
Woolman’s a three-time world champion team roper with 46 National Finals qualifications to his credit, including 27 trips to the National Finals Rodeo in the team roping and 19 appearances at the National Finals Steer Roping.
“Somebody has to think you’ve done something spectacular in your career to get into any hall of fame,” said Oklahoma native Woolman, who now calls Stephenville, Texas home and runs the 377 Arena there. “So anytime you get into one, it’s a big deal. It’s always an honor to be recognized, and to go in with one of my best friends, if not my best friend, is very cool. Rich and I have run a million steers together. Going in with him is a big honor in itself.”
Woolman and Skelton were, of course, longtime roping and rodeo partners before Skelton went on to win eight straight world championships with Speed Williams.
“Going into the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame means a lot to me,” said Skelton, who was born in Fort Worth, where Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Famers are featured on the walls of the Cowtown Coliseum, and now lives in Llano. “I filled my permit at the first big rodeo I ever went to, roping with Mike Macy at Pecos. I filled my permit on my first loop that Fourth of July, and every good team roper was there. I’ll never forget, we were 9.6 and won the round. The steers were huge back then.
“The thing about Texas is, if you can win here, you can win anywhere. I lived with Tee and Jacque for five years earlier in my career, and Tee’s helped me so much my whole career. We’re great friends, so to get inducted at the same time makes this even sweeter.”
As the entire rodeo world continues to mourn the unexpected loss of Roy Cooper a couple nights ago, on April 29, the Super Looper’s countless cowboy friends are coming with their favorite stories. There’s a cross-event connection here, too, that goes back 46 years.
“Roy called me one night during the 1979 NFR, when we both lived in Durant, and told me I needed to go to the Finals (in Oklahoma City) with him that night, because Leo (Camarillo) wanted to talk to me about roping,” Tee remembers like it was last night. “He said, ‘You need to come with me tonight, and get it done.’ So I went.
“I’d met Leo before, but Roy’s the one who pushed it over the top for us to become partners (Tee won his first world title roping with The Lion the following December, his rookie year in 1980). Roy was the greatest calf roper there ever was, and he had a heart of gold. Roy loved everybody, and he always had that million-dollar smile. There’s been no one else ever like Roy Cooper.”
The Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame was founded in 1975. This year’s Class of 2025 also included contestants Kappy Allen, Isaac Diaz, Cathy Dennison Felts, Will Lowe and Tony Reina; Josh Edwards, Cliff Overstreet and Randy Schmutz in the rodeo personnel category; empty saddles inductees Jim Bynum and Mitch Terrell; gold card inductees Eldon Dudley and Arnold Felts; rodeo animals Sweetness and Winslow; XIT Rodeo in Dalhart, rodeo inductee; Western Heritage Award winners Margaret Formby and Dixie Mosley; Craig Copeland, directors choice; Johnny Boren Award Ronda May; and Star of Texas Award Buck Taylor.
Congratulations to the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame Class of 2025!
