Sul Ross State University

2008 ANRS & Rodeo Hall of Fame Inductees

Gary Dunshee, Alpine; Elisabeth Prude Longbotham, Clyde; and the late Keith Streater, Hamilton, have been named 2008 inductees to the Sul Ross State University ANRS and Rodeo Exes Association Hall of Fame.  They will be inducted at the ANRS and Rodeo Exes reunion, scheduled July 25-27 in Alpine.

Dunshee, a 1973 Sul Ross graduate, is the co-owner of Big Bend Saddlery, a founder of Trappings of Texas and long-time curator of the annual event. Longbotham, ‘55, a retired educator and rancher, was the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association’ s (NIRA) All-Around Cowgirl in 1953. Streater, who died 2005, was a 1965 graduate and a three-time regional champion in bareback riding at Sul Ross.

Gary Dunshee

(Photo provided courtesy of Gary Dunshee) Dunshee, former president of the ANRS and Rodeo Exes, has demonstrated his saddle-making skills nationwide, including the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. and at San Antonio’s Folkstyle Institute. He purchased Big Bend Saddlery in Alpine from Mrs. George Nix in 1977 after working there since 1971. In 1979, Bret Collier joined the shop as a partner. The business has done custom work for Tom Selleck, Larry Mahan, Charlie Daniels, Sam Shepard and Nolan Ryan among others.

Dunshee has participated in the WRCA World Championship Ranch Rodeo, Western Heritage Classic Ranch Rodeo, Texas Ranch Roundup Ranch Rodeo, Tejas Vaquero Trail Ride, Cowboy Spring Gathering and he has built World Championship and Rookie of the Year saddles for the Professional Cowboys Rodeo Association. He is a corporate sponsor of the Working Ranch Cowboys Association and founder of the Big Bend Ranch Rodeo’s Chuck Wagon Cook-off.

His community, church and organizational participation is diverse and widespread, including membership on the Alpine Economic Development Board, Soil Conservation District and High Frontier boards, and the First Presbyterian and Holy Anglican churches of Alpine. Dunshee has been a sponsor for numerous community and regional events, including scholarships for Sul Ross. He is an avid recruiter for Sul Ross’ ANRS program and a founder of the annual Trappings of Texas, serving as curator for 16 years.

Dunshee and his wife, Hillary, a graduate of the Sul Ross Vocational Nursing Program, have two children, Wade and Mattie. Wade plans to attend Sul Ross this fall.

Elisabeth Prude Longbotham

(Photo courtesy of Elisabeth Longbotham)The daughter of Sul Ross graduates John G. and Ruth Prude, Longbotham managed balanced education and ranching careers for most of her life. She received a B.S degree from Sul Ross and a Master’s degree in Education from Texas A&M University. Longbotham taught in Ysleta, Snyder, College Station, Georgetown and Clyde, and is a retired professor of Education from McMurry University, Abilene. She is also an owner/manager of ranches in Brown, Callahan and Scurry counties, along with properties in Jeff Davis County, raising Hereford cattle, quarter horses and buffalo.

At Sul Ross, she was active in numerous activities, including the Rodeo Club, concert band, Methodist Wesley Association, Student Council and was crowned Brand Queen. She won the 1953 NIRA All-Around Champion Cowgirl award. She was honored at the NIRA Finals in Rapid City, S.D. in 2002, and in 2003, was recognized at the 50th-year reunion honoring NIRA champions at the NIRA Finals in Casper, Wyo. Two scholarships have been endowed at Sul Ross in her honor.

Longbotham wrote “The Young West Collection,” a trilogy of children’s buffalo stories titled “Buffalo Bill and Cody.” She was the first woman elected to the Clyde School Board and the first Clyde/Callahan County resident elected to the Texas State School Board Association. Longbotham is a lifetime member of the Bloys Cowboy Camp Meeting and a member of the Founding Families. She and her husband, Jack, who received his M.S. degree in biology from Sul Ross, established the Jack and Elisabeth Longbotham Ag Rodeo Club Endowed Scholarship at Texas A&M.

The Longbothams, who have been married 52 years, have four children and 19 grandchildren.

Keith Streater

(Photo courtesy of Alumni Affairs, 1964 Brand) Streater enrolled at Sul Ross in 1961, shortly after winning the American Junior Rodeo Association (AJRA) World Champion Bareback Rider award. He won the NIRA regional bareback title three times as a collegian, and was ranked fifth in the world during his senior year.

Following graduation in 1965, Streater taught at Quemado for 26 years. He also worked Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) events in Texas during the winter months, then traveled north in the summer to other rodeos.

A Vietnam veteran, Streater died of cancer in October 2005.