![]() Two months before the finals, Ann Lewis her twin sister, Jan their mother, Roseletha and Sissy Thurman, one of little Ann’s closest challengers for the title were killed in a fiery crash while traveling from a rodeo in Little Rock, Arkansas, to one the next night in Waco, Texas. In 1968, little Ann Lewis - “Annie the Okie,” the announcers called her with profound affection - won the barrel racing championship by a few hundred dollars.īut in a twist of fate so cruel that it still makes your heart ache, she did not live long enough to receive the gold buckle. Or at least the aged.Ī half-century ago, it was the polar opposite. It would seem, then, that barrel racing has become a rodeo event for the ages. One can assume it was not her first rodeo. ![]() The 68-year-old grandmother was the oldest to win a pro rodeo title by nine years. Her success follows that of Mary Burger, winner of the gold buckle in 2016. One of the best stories at this year’s National Finals Rodeo is Dona Kay Rule, who is competing at the Thomas &Mack Center for the first time at age 61 and won the second and fifth barrel racing go-rounds. ![]() She remains the youngest champion in pro rodeo history. Ann Lewis won the 1968 barrel race championship posthumously. Ann Lewis was only 10 years old when she was killed in a highway crash in Arkansas before the 1968 National Finals Rodeo along with her mother, twin sister, and fellow barrel racer Sissy Thurman.
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