News
Cowboys and hometown heroes recognized at Hall of Fame dinner
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| 2008 Willcox Cowboy Hall of Fame inductees, from left: Sonny Shores, Sr., Bob Straub, and Larry Todd, Sr. (Ainslee S. Wittig/ARN) |
By Carol Broeder & Ainslee S. Wittig/Wick Communications
A Willcox favorite son and three Willcox-area cowboys were honored last Thursday evening during the 26th annual Willcox Cowboy Hall of Fame.
Other honorees that evening included Arizona State Senators Gus and Marsha Arzberger, as well as Larry and Delcie Schultz.
Steve Reno, advertising representative with the Arizona Range News, presented the out-of-town favorite son award to Homer Hansen.
He said the newspaper staff was honored to have the opportunity to recognize a favorite son "who was raised in Willcox and has taken their home-grown talent outside of our borders to help make the world a better place."
"This award is in honor of the late Rex Allen, Sr., and in his spirit," Reno said. "Tonight's honoree was born and bred in Willcox and attained some success by venturing on to the big city."
Hansen has built a successful business out of town despite all the time he spends as a volunteer in Willcox, said Reno, adding that he "spends a lot of time on contract jobs for other interests. You would think they don't like their own business, but it thrives, the family tells me."
Reno told the audience that Hansen's grandma said that "it's ironic she went to school with a little cross-eyed boy (Rex Allen) who didn't look like he would amount to much, and now her grandbaby is getting an award named after that poor little boy who amounted to quite a bit."
Hansen grew up on a little rural homestead and said the best thing about growing up here was all the land and mesquite around them, said Reno, adding that the place "wasn't too far from I-10 here in Willcox."
"He was only four when he and little sister secretly wandered nearly a quarter mile to see what the interstate was all about," he said. "They returned safely home on their own to a frantic mom who had been searching awhile. He matter-of-factly told Mom, 'Cars go fast.'"
While Hansen's Dad, Leon, liked to hunt, Homer was a good shot, but only for targets, Reno told the audience.
"He didn't take to hunting animals. Even at an early age, he liked them too much. Guinea pigs, white rats, raised some chickens in 4-H," he said. "It didn't bother Dad that son didn't hunt. The family was raised to be protective of animals, too. Didn't tolerate mistreating of animals."
His mom Karla "saw how bright he was and guided him towards activities that would make him somewhat of a Renaissance man."
Hansen went to art lessons in fourth grade, played the piano, and played soccer in middle school.
He sang in a play as a seventh grader, acted in another in high school, and eventually became valedictorian of Willcox High School and was voted most likely to succeed, Reno said.
"Even the good-looking girls said he was cool for a genius," he told the audience.
"He went out for baseball his senior year, maybe because he had the perfect name for it," he said. "He didn't really accomplish a whole lot on that field, said mom. But that was OK with Dad, too, who said he admired his son for his sharp mind, especially for mathematics. He was one of those kids who was really good with Rubik's cubes."
Reno said that everyone was friends with Hansen when he attended Willcox High, and when he got that Good Citizenship medal, students started chanting, 'Homer for President.'"
Hansen went to college back East on a full-ride scholarship to study Nuclear Power, but decided it wasn't for him,
"Came back to the UA ... and figured out finally that science was his thing and got his degrees in evolutionary biology and ecology."
At one of the first jobs he had out of college, the boss was killed in a motorcycle accident and his wife didn't want to carry on the business, Reno said. "She asked this kid from Willcox who was just a worker at the company, that if he wanted it, she would give him all the accounts."
Hansen "got all the licenses, grabbed those Tucson clients, and showed he had the right stuff to help them with their hazardous waste questions."
Having his own business meant that Hansen could "take time for other pursuits like being a volunteer teacher at Flandreau Planetarium. He was a master teacher in birding for the Audubon Society. And he got birding brochures published and sold for $6 a piece by Audubon and the American Birding Association," Reno said.
"Plus, you named the business Aplomado, after a grey falcon," Reno said. "So it was only natural that you would follow your heart and help bring the word of some wonderful birds in Willcox to the rest of the world."
"Eleven years as chairman and the driving force behind Wings Over Willcox, you helped it grow from a birding gathering into a nationally known nature festival drawing birders and folks interested in Willcox area history, mining, farming, and conservation. People return year after year for your programs on raptors and sparrows," said Reno, adding, "First day ticket sales for this year exceeded $6,000."
"And now you're spearheading the Willcox Playa Watershed Partnership, bringing together stakeholders with water usage-municipal, agricultural, conservationists as well as ordinary citizens to examine use of our precious water and ways we can best utilize this resource while allowing economic activity to flourish and grow," he said.
Hansen is the fifth generation of his family in Willcox. His great-grandparents are buried in Turkey Creek and his great grandfather and uncles are in the Cowboy Hall of Fame, Reno said.
"Yes, you left Willcox at 18. You're 39 now and always maintained your legal residence in Willcox," he said. "You have land here. And typical of your efficient and environmental conscience, you want a rammed earth energy efficient home eventually on that land."
"It is for these reasons, Homer Hansen, or as Russ Bethel might say, homerless Hansen, you are our favorite son, 2008, Willcox, Arizona."
Accepting his clock plaque, Hansen said, "If it wasn't for all my parents taught me, I wouldn't be in the place that I am. Everything I've done is a reflection of the people out here - they have always provided support and have been a pleasure to be around. All of these efforts (Wings Over Willcox, Willcox Playa Watershed Partnership, etc.) come back to the people I've been around. Willcox is a great place to call home."
There was no in-town favorite son or daughter this year, as no nominations were turned in.
Bob Straub, Larry Todd, and Sonny Shores, Jr., were the living inductees into the Willcox Cowboy Hall of Fame. There were no posthumous inductees this year.
Straub accepted the recognition, saying, "I feel very honored to be inducted. It really makes a man feel better to associate with people like Sonny Shores and Larry Todd. I thank all of you for coming."
When his turn came, Todd said, "I don't have much to say. The Lord's been good to me. He's blessed me with a wonderful large family to have along the way... I've never felt like a stranger here. It's because of all the great people the Lord has put in my path to help me along the way that I've had the life I've had. I did a lot of dumb and stupid things in my life, but I did those on my own!"
Shores said, "I want to thank everyone that had anything to do with this. It's the biggest honor I've ever had. I love you all!"
Then, Shores led the audience in singing "God Bless America" with the help of the band at the closing of this year's banquet.
State Senate President Tim Bee, Reps. Jennifer Burns and Manny Alvarez, as well as Cochise County Farm Bureau President Jim Graham and Arizona Farm Bureau President Jim Clicker, and Kristen Almquist, Gov. Janet Naplitano's Southern Arizona Office director, participated in a tribute to retired State Senators Gus and Marsha Arzberger.
Mentioning what the couple has done for the Arizona agricultural community, Clicker said, "You can sleep better tonight knowing that Phoenix can't take your water because of Arzberger legislation."
"Both Gus and Marsha have earned the title 'statesmen,'" Burns told the audience.
When it came their turn to speak, Marsha lifted a pair of spurs on high, saying, "We're hanging up our spurs."
Julie Ream, who assisted in presenting the National Day of the Cowboy Award, produces western events all over the U.S.
She was in Willcox this weekend, bringing her "All Star Western Round-up" from Studio City, Calif, to Rex Allen Days. It included a tribute to the television show, High Chaparral.
Ream said, "We need to keep our memories alive or they will just fade away."
Their award is given to someone who works hard to keep cowboy heritage alive.
National Day of the Cowboy Chairman Bethany Braley said she has had a "hard battle over the last four years" to bring the National Day of the Cowboy into the public's eye, and was rejuvenated in her quest to do so by "two people who were brimming with enthusiasm. Their optimism was contagious, and they helped bring the National Day of the Cowboy to several significant milestones to preserve our western heritage."
Delcie and Larry Schultz were presented with the award.
Delcie said, "I've only been a westerner for two and a half years, but my heart's been there all my life. I want to continue to help" save the western and cowboy heritage for generations to come.
When it was his turn, Larry said, "My thing is to get people to work together as a team. In Willcox, everybody gets out and helps. We can do anything here in Willcox."
Other honorees that evening included Arizona State Senators Gus and Marsha Arzberger, as well as Larry and Delcie Schultz.
Steve Reno, advertising representative with the Arizona Range News, presented the out-of-town favorite son award to Homer Hansen.
He said the newspaper staff was honored to have the opportunity to recognize a favorite son "who was raised in Willcox and has taken their home-grown talent outside of our borders to help make the world a better place."
"This award is in honor of the late Rex Allen, Sr., and in his spirit," Reno said. "Tonight's honoree was born and bred in Willcox and attained some success by venturing on to the big city."
Hansen has built a successful business out of town despite all the time he spends as a volunteer in Willcox, said Reno, adding that he "spends a lot of time on contract jobs for other interests. You would think they don't like their own business, but it thrives, the family tells me."
Reno told the audience that Hansen's grandma said that "it's ironic she went to school with a little cross-eyed boy (Rex Allen) who didn't look like he would amount to much, and now her grandbaby is getting an award named after that poor little boy who amounted to quite a bit."
Hansen grew up on a little rural homestead and said the best thing about growing up here was all the land and mesquite around them, said Reno, adding that the place "wasn't too far from I-10 here in Willcox."
"He was only four when he and little sister secretly wandered nearly a quarter mile to see what the interstate was all about," he said. "They returned safely home on their own to a frantic mom who had been searching awhile. He matter-of-factly told Mom, 'Cars go fast.'"
While Hansen's Dad, Leon, liked to hunt, Homer was a good shot, but only for targets, Reno told the audience.
"He didn't take to hunting animals. Even at an early age, he liked them too much. Guinea pigs, white rats, raised some chickens in 4-H," he said. "It didn't bother Dad that son didn't hunt. The family was raised to be protective of animals, too. Didn't tolerate mistreating of animals."
His mom Karla "saw how bright he was and guided him towards activities that would make him somewhat of a Renaissance man."
Hansen went to art lessons in fourth grade, played the piano, and played soccer in middle school.
He sang in a play as a seventh grader, acted in another in high school, and eventually became valedictorian of Willcox High School and was voted most likely to succeed, Reno said.
"Even the good-looking girls said he was cool for a genius," he told the audience.
"He went out for baseball his senior year, maybe because he had the perfect name for it," he said. "He didn't really accomplish a whole lot on that field, said mom. But that was OK with Dad, too, who said he admired his son for his sharp mind, especially for mathematics. He was one of those kids who was really good with Rubik's cubes."
Reno said that everyone was friends with Hansen when he attended Willcox High, and when he got that Good Citizenship medal, students started chanting, 'Homer for President.'"
Hansen went to college back East on a full-ride scholarship to study Nuclear Power, but decided it wasn't for him,
"Came back to the UA ... and figured out finally that science was his thing and got his degrees in evolutionary biology and ecology."
At one of the first jobs he had out of college, the boss was killed in a motorcycle accident and his wife didn't want to carry on the business, Reno said. "She asked this kid from Willcox who was just a worker at the company, that if he wanted it, she would give him all the accounts."
Hansen "got all the licenses, grabbed those Tucson clients, and showed he had the right stuff to help them with their hazardous waste questions."
Having his own business meant that Hansen could "take time for other pursuits like being a volunteer teacher at Flandreau Planetarium. He was a master teacher in birding for the Audubon Society. And he got birding brochures published and sold for $6 a piece by Audubon and the American Birding Association," Reno said.
"Plus, you named the business Aplomado, after a grey falcon," Reno said. "So it was only natural that you would follow your heart and help bring the word of some wonderful birds in Willcox to the rest of the world."
"Eleven years as chairman and the driving force behind Wings Over Willcox, you helped it grow from a birding gathering into a nationally known nature festival drawing birders and folks interested in Willcox area history, mining, farming, and conservation. People return year after year for your programs on raptors and sparrows," said Reno, adding, "First day ticket sales for this year exceeded $6,000."
"And now you're spearheading the Willcox Playa Watershed Partnership, bringing together stakeholders with water usage-municipal, agricultural, conservationists as well as ordinary citizens to examine use of our precious water and ways we can best utilize this resource while allowing economic activity to flourish and grow," he said.
Hansen is the fifth generation of his family in Willcox. His great-grandparents are buried in Turkey Creek and his great grandfather and uncles are in the Cowboy Hall of Fame, Reno said.
"Yes, you left Willcox at 18. You're 39 now and always maintained your legal residence in Willcox," he said. "You have land here. And typical of your efficient and environmental conscience, you want a rammed earth energy efficient home eventually on that land."
"It is for these reasons, Homer Hansen, or as Russ Bethel might say, homerless Hansen, you are our favorite son, 2008, Willcox, Arizona."
Accepting his clock plaque, Hansen said, "If it wasn't for all my parents taught me, I wouldn't be in the place that I am. Everything I've done is a reflection of the people out here - they have always provided support and have been a pleasure to be around. All of these efforts (Wings Over Willcox, Willcox Playa Watershed Partnership, etc.) come back to the people I've been around. Willcox is a great place to call home."
There was no in-town favorite son or daughter this year, as no nominations were turned in.
Bob Straub, Larry Todd, and Sonny Shores, Jr., were the living inductees into the Willcox Cowboy Hall of Fame. There were no posthumous inductees this year.
Straub accepted the recognition, saying, "I feel very honored to be inducted. It really makes a man feel better to associate with people like Sonny Shores and Larry Todd. I thank all of you for coming."
When his turn came, Todd said, "I don't have much to say. The Lord's been good to me. He's blessed me with a wonderful large family to have along the way... I've never felt like a stranger here. It's because of all the great people the Lord has put in my path to help me along the way that I've had the life I've had. I did a lot of dumb and stupid things in my life, but I did those on my own!"
Shores said, "I want to thank everyone that had anything to do with this. It's the biggest honor I've ever had. I love you all!"
Then, Shores led the audience in singing "God Bless America" with the help of the band at the closing of this year's banquet.
State Senate President Tim Bee, Reps. Jennifer Burns and Manny Alvarez, as well as Cochise County Farm Bureau President Jim Graham and Arizona Farm Bureau President Jim Clicker, and Kristen Almquist, Gov. Janet Naplitano's Southern Arizona Office director, participated in a tribute to retired State Senators Gus and Marsha Arzberger.
Mentioning what the couple has done for the Arizona agricultural community, Clicker said, "You can sleep better tonight knowing that Phoenix can't take your water because of Arzberger legislation."
"Both Gus and Marsha have earned the title 'statesmen,'" Burns told the audience.
When it came their turn to speak, Marsha lifted a pair of spurs on high, saying, "We're hanging up our spurs."
Julie Ream, who assisted in presenting the National Day of the Cowboy Award, produces western events all over the U.S.
She was in Willcox this weekend, bringing her "All Star Western Round-up" from Studio City, Calif, to Rex Allen Days. It included a tribute to the television show, High Chaparral.
Ream said, "We need to keep our memories alive or they will just fade away."
Their award is given to someone who works hard to keep cowboy heritage alive.
National Day of the Cowboy Chairman Bethany Braley said she has had a "hard battle over the last four years" to bring the National Day of the Cowboy into the public's eye, and was rejuvenated in her quest to do so by "two people who were brimming with enthusiasm. Their optimism was contagious, and they helped bring the National Day of the Cowboy to several significant milestones to preserve our western heritage."
Delcie and Larry Schultz were presented with the award.
Delcie said, "I've only been a westerner for two and a half years, but my heart's been there all my life. I want to continue to help" save the western and cowboy heritage for generations to come.
When it was his turn, Larry said, "My thing is to get people to work together as a team. In Willcox, everybody gets out and helps. We can do anything here in Willcox."
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