EVENTS
All-Around Champion Cowgirl
Born in 1885 in St. Louis, Lucille Mulhall came to Oklahoma at age four with her father, Col. Zack Mulhall. He intended his daughter to make a hand, and by age 10 she was an expert at riding, throwing a rope, and branding calves. “She threw steers so hard,” her father said, “that I was surprised when they even got up.”
When Lucille was 13, Zack Mulhall presented a Wild West Show that included Will Rogers, Ellison Carroll, and Tom Mix. Mulhall’s five children rode in the Grand Entry. After 1900 Lucille and her brother Charley were featured performers. For 15 years American and European audiences raved about the beautiful girl who could outrope and outride the men.
Theodore Roosevelt called her “The Golden Girl of the West.” In 1903 she was dubbed “Queen of the Range” when she won a thousand-dollar championship in Fort Worth. Lucille Mulhall quit performing in 1915 when her father retired. An unfortunate car accident took her life in 1940. Writing of her retirement, her childhood friend Will Rogers said that she was “the direct start of what has come to be known as the cowgirl. There was no such thing or no such word up to then. It’s not a bad legacy, to leave as the Best Horsewoman in America.
