McSpadden earns Western Heritage Award
During the 1950s formation years of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, Chester A. Reynolds asked Clem McSpadden to help promote the idea from his vantage point as a rodeo announcer.
At the 2008 Western Heritage Awards ceremony, McSpadden received the Chester A. Reynolds Memorial Award, granted a person contributing to the preservation of American West History and Heritage.
Reynolds’ idea became the Cowboy Hall of Fame and Museum in 1955, established to honor the cowboy and his era. Later that year, the name was changed to National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Museum and since 1960 has been the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center.
McSpadden, who was introduced at the awards ceremony by Oklahoma Lt. Gov. Jari Askins, reflected on the early years of boosting the idea at rodeos and calling on fellow announcers to spread the word.
Now more than 200,000 square feet of display space unfolds to a collection of western art, historical galleries of the American cowboy and American Rodeo Gallery, Native Americans and firearms.
Prosperity Junction is a turn-of-the-century western prairie town where visitors stroll the streets and peek into store windows.
There are three Halls of Fame— Hall of Great Westerners, people who lived through the frontier era to the present; Hall of Great Western Performers, for actors only; and Rodeo Hall of Fame, great rodeo performers.
McSpadden was born to the land of the west, son of a pioneer Indian Territory Cherokee Indian family. He and his two brothers grew up on the Will Rogers Birthplace Ranch near Oologah, owned by his great-uncle Will Rogers.
He spent his lifetime in the rodeo arena, first as a roper, then more than 50 years as a rodeo announcer, a state Senator, U.S. Congressman and currently advocate for several state agencies. He produced and announced the National Finals Rodeos in Oklahoma City, where he introduced Reba McIntire to the audience when she sang the National Anthem.
That was the beginning of her career as a star of music, screen and stage while continuing to maintain friendships with fellow Oklahomans and rodeo performers. McIntire and “Reba” show co-star Barbara Jean shared in the Heritage Award presentation via film.
McSpadden, who lives in Chelsea, shared the awards ceremony by his wife, Donna, his children, brother and friends from Rogers County as well as throughout the nation.
Others who made appearances at ceremony were musicians, writers and actors including Red Steagall, who can claim credit for giving Reba the opportunity for a start in big-time country music; Wyatt McCrea, son of Joel McCrea, co-star of Will Rogers and a frequent visitor to the Will Rogers Memorial before his death; Barry Corbin and Michael Martin Murphey, who have visited the Claremore museum; and Dean Smith, cowboy actor and Wild West Show performer.