Florence Price Youree

Florence Born in Duncan, Oklahoma, in 1933, Florence (Price) Youree grew up a horsewoman on her parents’ ranch. She joined the Girls Rodeo Association in 1953, competing in breakaway roping, flag racing and barrel racing, the latter her favorite competition. Over the years she won or placed at major venues such as Cheyenne, Fort Worth, Denver and Houston.

Youree was instrumental in getting the Rodeo Cowboys Association to recognize barrel racing as a sanctioned event in 1954. With the National Finals Rodeo established in Oklahoma City, she convinced the OKC Chamber of Commerce to include barrel racing in the NFR venue with added money of $1,000. (She qualified for the NFR event eight times during the 1960s.) Years later, with the NFR in Las Vegas, Youree again convinced the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce to partner with the Barrel Futurities of America to establish the largest barrel-racing futurity in the nation.

Florence Youree also served womens’ rodeo sport for many years as director, secretary-treasurer and president of the GRA and WPRA, and as president of the Barrel Futurities of America for 20 years. In recent years, she and her husband, Dale, hosted horsemanship camps on their ranch and conducted barrel-racing clinics around the country.