The Will Rogers Memorial Center emerged from a political spat and civic jockeying over the Texas Centennial of 1936. It soon became the beating heart of Fort Worth’s identity and is as relevant today as it was 90 years ago.
By John Henry
By Tyler Hicks
Amon’s Cowshed
The Pickup Man
Josh Edwards went from rodeo pickup man to needing pick-me-ups in the land of Genghis Khan, tackling the Mongol Derby, the world’s longest and toughest horse race.
photo courtesy of Rodrigo Donoso
THE FORT
16 City Dweller
TCU President Daniel Pullin has a most wonderful time of the year.
24 Calendar
Josh Abbott, rodeo, rodeo, rodeo, and Pat Green.
26 Fort Worthian
Mollie Danel’s finger-picking folk grooves are quickly becoming a staple on Fort Worth stages.
30 Cowtown Culture
Roger Miller: They (don’t) call him the fireman.
34 Style
Chaz Pilarcik’s lifelong dream of creating a boot brand became reality on the West Coast.
38 Trends
Mustachioed Matt Davis shoots from the lip.
42 State Lines Nocona: pop. 3,138.
46 The Reverie Musings, commentary, and insights about the people, places, and things that make our city great.
Modern Appliances Classic Service.
A Symbol Can-Doismof
In this edition, we bite off a piece of precious Fort Worth history: the Will Rogers Memorial Center. For the 81st year, the Fort Worth Stock Show returns to the sacred site on the old Van Zandt track for three weeks of rodeo, livestock shows, and sales.
The complex, of course, is a memorial to Will Rogers, the American humorist hero who, Dwight Eisenhower said here in 1947, was a common man with uncommon qualities, and common men never failed to appreciate what he had to give.
“He knew those the world called great,” Ike said at the dedication of the Will Rogers and Soapsuds statue outside the complex, “but stood in awe of no man. Purists, grammarians, even scholars, and statesmen may have at times deplored his flagrant disregard of the particular dogmas each of them hold dear.”
The Will Rogers complex today, just as it was designed to be in 1936, stands tall and sturdy as a symbol of Fort Worth’s status as a leader of the modern West.
More than that, however, is something even bigger. The Will Rogers Memorial Center is an icon of Fort Worth’s fabled derring-do.
The Will Rogers Memorial Center was born out of the Texas Centennial and a group of civic leaders determined for their beloved city to show Dallas “how the cow ate the cabbage.” Dallas had “won” the bid to be the host city of the Centennial exposition. In reality, city leaders there put up the most money to host it.
The idea of Fort Worth hosting the Frontier Centennial in 1936 was, according to Amon Carter, the idea of City Councilman William Monnig, the founder of the department stores.
However, as biographer Jerry Flemmons wrote, there was only one man who dared try — Amon Carter, who, indeed, through
sheer will and innovation, pulled it off.
“This building for whose dedication we are assembled, is, like many another Fort Worth undertaking, largely the product of the initiative and energetic work of your distinguished townsman, Amon Carter,” said Col. Horatio Hackett, assistant PWA administrator, at the dedication of the Will Rogers Coliseum in September 1936.
A significant portion of the structures constructed for the Frontier Centennial was composed of the Will Rogers Memorial Center.
Yes, Amon Carter led the effort, going through federal bureaucrats like a bowling ball through pins.
Yet, it was the citizens of Fort Worth who said “yes” to an almost $1 million in bonds to begin a building program that included the Will Rogers Memorial Center structures. It was her architects and engineers who drew up the blueprints.
And it was Fort Worth laborers who unbelievably erected the buildings of the Will Rogers complex in a matter of nine months.
The Will Rogers Memorial Center is a tangible connection to bold civic forebears of the past while serving as an inspiration to a can-do populace in the present.
In short, the Will Rogers Memorial Center is Fort Worth.
John Henry CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
ON THE COVER:
It was an early Saturday morning — never met a cowboy who isn’t an early riser — when Darah Hubbard photographed rodeo legend Josh Edwards at his ranch just outside the metroplex. There was a short-lived debate over whether the word “badass” would be seen as inappropriate. Our concerns were quickly quashed when the general response to the cover was, “That’s badass.”
CORRECTIONS? COMMENTS? CONCERNS? Send to executive editor Brian Kendall at bkendall@fwtexas.com.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
From my mom when I was about 5: “This (pointing to an electrical outlet) is not a keyhole.” Truly lifesaving.
From a basketball coach: It’s amazing what can happen if you just show up. Go to work, the interview, the party, or event with unbounded enthusiasm and curiosity. Just show up.
Never quit a job before you have a new one … by the way …
Focus on the things you can control and not on the things you can’t control.
owner/publisher hal a. brown president mike waldum
EDITORIAL
executive editor brian kendall
contributing editor john henry
digital editor stephen montoya contributing writers tyler hicks malcolm mayhew, michael h. price, charlotte settle, shilo urban copy editor sharon casseday
ART
creative director craig sylva senior art director spray gleaves contributing ad designer jonathon won contributing photographers darrell byers, darrah hubbard, richard w. rodriguez, thanin viriyaki
ADVERTISING
advertising account supervisors gina burns-wigginton x150 marion c. knight x135 account executive tammy denapoli x141 account executive jim houston x158 territory manager, fort worth inc. rita hale x133 senior production manager michelle mcghee x116
MARKETING
director of digital robby kyser director of marketing grace behr events and promotions director victoria albrecht project manager kaitlyn lisenby
CORPORATE
chief financial officer charles newton founding publisher mark hulme
“Don’t try so hard to impress people who don’t care about you.” – Dave Ramsey
Just keep going. No matter what. Like the song, you can’t always get what you want, but if you try, you might find that you get what you need.
“If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.” –William McRaven, US Navy Admiral
Be nice. You never know what other people are going through.
A couple of mantras I say/ use all the time: “Your work is your love made visible” and “It is OK to dine alone.”
DIGITAL EDITION:
The virtual editions of both current and previous issues are available on our website. Flip through the pages to read more about the great city of Fort Worth by visiting fwtx.com.
FortWorthMagazine(ISSN 1536-8939) is published monthly by Panther City Media Group, LP, 6777 Camp Bowie Blvd., Suite 130, Fort Worth, TX 76116. Periodicals Postage Paid at Fort Worth, Texas. POSTMASTER: Send change of address notices and undeliverable copies to Panther City Media Group, PO Box 213, Lincolnshire, IL 60069. Volume 28, Number 1, January 2025. Basic Subscription price: $21.95 per year. Single copy price: $4.99
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26
DANEL
THE FORT
PEOPLE TO KNOW THINGS TO DO PLACES TO GO
Whether at The Magnolia Wine Bar or elsewhere, chances are you’ve seen this month’s Fort Worthian, singer-songwriter Mollie Danel, on stage. But the spotlight wasn’t always her comfort zone.
By Stephen Montoya
WHAT WE’RE WRITING ABOUT THIS MONTH:
On page 16 Sundance Square plays host to a historic wedding. On page 24 The rodeo comes to town, and the symphony channels John Williams. On page 30 How Roger Miller hit the big time. On page 34 Boot designer Chaz Pilarcik embraces the nontraditional. On page 38 The mustache revival continues to grow. On page 42 Boots, ball gloves, and barbecue in Nocona. On page 46 TCU, SMU, and the CFP.
MOLLIE
by John Henry
Jingle Bells?
Actually, those were the wedding bells of the TCU president you heard in Sundance Square.
TCU President Daniel Pullin had a most wonderful time of the year during Christmas holidays.
The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Pullin and Ann Bluntzer, formerly the executive director of the TCU’s Ralph Lowe Energy Institute, married in Sundance Square. It was said to be the first wedding and reception in Sundance Square.
Two days later, on the following Monday, TCU announced that Pullin would become the school’s 11th chancellor, succeeding Victor J. Boschini, who is moving into the role of chancellor emeritus.
“After working closely with him for the past two years, Daniel is uniquely poised to build on the positive momentum we have created here at TCU,” Boschini said. “He is an inspiring leader with a big vision, and his unbounded energy makes him a force of nature. His care for our community, our values, and our students is evident and informs his every decision.”
The succession plan must first be ratified by TCU’s board of trustees in the spring. The change would take effect in June.
Pullin was formally installed as president in November, though he had been on the job since 2022.
University officials said in a press release that the discussion of a chancellor-president leadership paradigm succession plan began in 2020. Pullin’s appointment as president in 2022 set it in motion.
“From the very first moment I stepped onto campus seven years ago, I thought, ‘This place is special,’” Pullin said. “As dean of Neeley and now as president, I’ve said that same thing every day. It’s a daily honor to work alongside Chancellor Boschini
and watch his joyful, kind, and respectful brand of leadership that has taken TCU to unprecedented heights.”
Pullin joined TCU as the John V. Roach Dean of the Neeley School of Business in 2019. Under his fouryear leadership, Neeley’s reputation soared, as evidenced through increased national rankings, through faculty and staff growth, as well as curriculum innovation.
Prior to joining TCU, Pullin was the dean of the Price College of Business at the University of Oklahoma, where he also served as university vice president. Before transitioning to higher education, Pullin worked for global consultancy McKinsey & Company and the private equity firm Hicks Muse Tate & Furst and its portfolio companies.
Boschini’s tenure of 21 years has been impactful.
He oversaw the establishment of the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine. Under his leadership the university’s endowment has grown to more than $2.6 billion. He also oversaw the school’s $1 billion Lead On: A Campaign, the university’s most ambitious fundraising effort.
As for the new Dr. Ann Bluntzer Pullin, she is now the executive director of the Hamm Institute for American Energy at Oklahoma State University.
The wedding motif was Western chic, with a Western swing band providing entertainment. One attendee called the occasion “stunning.”
Ms. Bluntzer Pullin wore a laminated suede Ralph Lauren dress. Mr. Pullin wore a Tom Ford formal jacket.
Clarification: A Tom Ford purple formal jacket. Naturally.
Trailblazing at City Hall
The City Council votes to approve the hiring of Jay Chapa, but not before some drama plays out.
by John Henry
At its final meeting of 2024, the Fort Worth City Council voted to approve the hiring of Jay Chapa as city manager.
The hiring marks a return for Chapa, a former deputy city manager who spent 25 years with the city before retiring — you might now say stepping away — in 2022. He succeeds David Cooke, who is leaving at the start of the year after 10 years on the job.
Chapa is Fort Worth’s first Hispanic city manager.
The city conducted a national search that led to more than 150 applicants. Fourteen vetted candidates were presented to the City Council.
“Jay is a man of brilliant creative thinking, has led most of the publicprivate partnership efforts in the city over the past 10 years, and has an unmatched ability to hit the ground running,” said Mayor Mattie Parker in a statement.
There was drama involved with this.
Councilman Chris Nettles, who represents District 8, called the process to hire Chapa “baked and unfair.”
He accused his fellow council members of orchestrating a process designed to favor their chosen candidate, adding that the process should have been open to more public scrutiny.
“We did it for the chief of police. We did it for heads of other departments. Why not city manager?” Nettles said to the Star-Telegram.
Jared Williams, who represents District 6, agreed with Nettles’ concerns about the process, calling it a “sudden rush to finalize the decision.”
In the final vote on Dec. 10, Nettles was the lone “no” vote in a 9-1 approval. Williams abstained.
Five semifinalists were selected to be interviewed in December.
Councilman Carlos Flores, the longest-serving member of the council, stated that he believed a racial divide existed regarding Chapa’s hiring, with Hispanic leaders supporting the decision while Black faith and business leaders voiced concerns about the process. Nettles and Williams are Black men.
“That pains me to say,” Flores said. “Fort Worth is better than that.”
We’d sure like to think so.
Gyna Bivens, the only Black woman on the council, who is not running for reelection in 2025, was an ardent supporter of Chapa’s hiring. She even went so far as to make a biting criticism of Nettles, saying that not everyone on the council comes to the table with experience hiring C-suite talent.
Eight members of the nine “yes” votes signed a letter expressing support of city staff, the city’s HR department, and legal department “who have worked tirelessly to ensure a diverse talent pool of candidates, fair process, and thoroughly vetted competitive finalists.”
Elizabeth Beck, another “yes,” did not sign it.
Get ready for more of this.
One of Chapa’s first orders of business is hiring a new police chief. Chief Neil Noakes said he will retire in 2025.
Stephen Montoya
Great Scott
The famed Scott Theatre, Fort Worth Opera both headed to limbo. by
Fort Worth’s storied Scott Theatre made a symbolic exit stage left at the end of year with the Fort Worth Opera’s production of Mark Adamo’s “Little Women.”
It marked the final curtain call for a space that had served as one of the city’s creative cradles for nearly six decades.
And it will stay that way, city leaders, including the mayor, have vowed,
even as the Scott Theatre enters the next stage of limbo — the uncertain phase of redevelopment. The city is again taking bids to redevelop the property after rejecting two proposals in the final stages of bidding in May. Mayor Mattie Parker has pledged that she will not approve of any proposal that does not include a theater as a community arts space and serve as a “world-class cultural hub.”
Around Cowtown in 8 Seconds
A smattering of things you might’ve missed
1. Cop Stories: Two retired Fort Worth police officers have penned a book, Fort WorthCops:TheInsideStories.Kevin Foster and J.C. Williams collaborated with writer and editor Kathy Sanders to tell unvarnished tales. It’s on Amazon.
2. Education Unlocked: Texas Wesleyan says any qualifying Pell Grant student can go to school there tuition-free, beginning in the fall of 2025.
3. She Is Still Beautiful: The Fort Worth Botanic Garden, the former Rock Springs Park, turned a landmark 90 years old in December. Park leaders marked the occasion by reflecting on the “enduring beauty and profound impact this sanctuary had had on our community.”
4. Breaking News — Heartbreak: Steve Lamb, longtime sports broadcaster at WBAP, was among those laid off by parent Cumulus. A Texas Radio Hall of Famer, Lamb had the longest uninterrupted weekday tenure of any radio sports figure in Texas history — almost 39 years.
5. F-35 you, Elon Musk: It is relevant to note that Elon Musk’s negative comments regarding Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth jet, the F-35, are ethically challenged, considering his SpaceX is a competitor of Lockheed Martin. Leave our part of the military industrial complex alone.
6. Bravo, Yunchan Lim: At just 20, the South Korean pianist and Cliburn gold medalist continues to wow audiences. His rendition of Chopin’s “24 Études” at Carnegie Hall earned the notice of TheNewYorkTimes, which called it one of the standout classical performances of 2024.
7. Whipper-snacking: Healthy snacking entrepreneurs Sophia Karbowski and Austin Patry, both TCU graduates, earned distinction as members of Forbes’ annual 30 Under 30.
8. Lord, Have Mercy: The yearslong dispute over the Mercy Culture Church’s plans to build a shelter for human trafficking survivors in Fort Worth was met by approval by the City Council. “I know we pleased the Lord tonight,” said church co-founder Heather Schott. That makes one. The Oakhurst neighborhood rigorously opposed the plan, citing traffic and security.
HANG A LITTLE FORT WORTH ON YOUR WALL
The Scott Theatre for years leading up to this moment has tried to face down the multilayered challenges of deferred maintenance, dwindling resources, and Father Time, still undefeated, as they say, into the 3rd millennium. The cityowned building and complex, known as the Fort Worth Community Arts Center and most recently leased by Arts Fort Worth, faced a $30 million renovation price tag, a bridge too far for the city. The City Council accepted a study recommending redevelopment as the best course forward.
The Scott Theatre, named for benefactor William Edrington Scott, has been a cornerstone of Fort Worth’s cultural landscape since opening in 1966. Its European-style layout, with no seat more than 65 feet from the stage, offered an intimacy unmatched by modern venues. Designed by Joseph R. Pelich and Donald Oenslager, its gold-domed ceiling has echoed with the voices of opera legends, the laughter of playgoers, and the quiet reflection of art enthusiasts.
The Fort Worth Opera’s production of “Little Women,” the story initially told through Louisa May Alcott’s beloved novel, was both a celebration and an elegy. Ironically, Adamo’s opera tells a story of family, resilience, and the enduring bonds that shape us.
As with every artistic expression, that story line for the final performance was intentional, says Fort Worth Opera’s general and artistic director Angela Turner Wilson.
“In a year so divided, we wanted to stage a story that brings people together,” she says. “It’s about family, community, and what truly matters. That’s what this theater has always represented. This stage has been a launching pad for so many careers. It’s bittersweet to think it might not serve that purpose anymore.”
The city’s vision for the site is ambitious. Officials hope to include a theater, an incubator for emerging artists, and spaces for existing tenants, all while preserving the venue’s historic architecture. By 2025, the city aims to finalize a ground lease with a developer who can
balance these aspirations with modern needs.
“I worry about our company, about our community,” Turner Wilson says. “This can’t just be an afterthought. Fort Worth deserves a vibrant cultural hub, not just for visual art but for the full spectrum of creative expression.”
That’s a sentiment shared by a unified front of audiences, artists, and city leaders alike.
Like the theater, the Fort Worth Opera, too, is in limbo.
The Scott Theatre has served as home to the company for decades. The company currently has nowhere to go for a performance the size of “Little Women,” a spokesman says. Other venues would be more accommodating for smaller productions. The company has a proud history that includes local and national recognition by critics for its artistic excellence and community-based cultural engagement.
As the final notes of “Little Women” faded into silence, the cast and crew took their bows to what could be the final applause the theater will hear in a while. It was a fitting send-off for a theater that has given so much to Fort Worth.
In its quiet, reflective moments, the Scott Theatre seemed to remind its audience of one last thing: Art is resilient, and its echoes — whether carried in song, memory, or reimagined spaces — never truly fade.
For now, the theater’s story ends on a note of uncertainty, with a community determined to preserve its legacy and carry its spirit forward into whatever comes next.
“I wish there was another obvious plan. I wish we were reinventing this space, rejuvenating the space, or that we knew where we were going to replace it,” Turner Wilson says. “[Being] in the top 15 cities in our country, all of them have opera companies, and they’re not just secondary thoughts. They are at the forefront.”
New Mexico red enchiladas, a red chili cream based enchilada sauce that is smooth and full of flavor! Topped with roasted corn, black beans, queso fresco and chopped red onions.
New Mexico red enchiladas, a red chili cream based enchilada sauce that is smooth and full of flavor! Topped with roasted corn, black beans, queso fresco and chopped red onions.
January
3-4
Josh Abbott Band
Once labeled “the Lone Star State’s best-kept secret” by No Depression, the country octet with roots in Lubbock swings by The World’s Largest Honky Tonk for a twonight stint.
Billy Bob’s Texas billybobstexas.com
10-11
Sci-Fi Symphony
The Fort Worth Symphony brings to life the incredible scores of your favorite science-fiction flicks and TV shows, including “Star Trek,” “X-Files,” “Alien,” “Jurassic Park,” and “Star Wars,” to Bass Performance Hall.
Bass Performance Hall basshall.com
17-Feb. 8
Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo
From bull riding to barrel racing and judging bovines, this isn’t just the city’s biggest annual event, it’s also the event that most encapsulates Fort Worth staking its claim as “Where the West Begins.”
Will Rogers and Dickies Arena fwssr.com
20
The Music of Sam Cooke
This world-premiere show starring Bradd Marquis will depict the life and music of one of the greatest R&B artists of all time, who topped the charts with “You Send Me,” “Only Sixteen,” “Cupid,” and many others.
Bass Performance Hall basshall.com
22 Rodeo Pre-Party on Bulls’ Night Out
Before heading to Dickies Arena for the popular Bulls’ Night Out rodeo event, slide over to the nearby Amon Carter Museum for some pregame festivities that include a round of craft cocktails and country hits spun by DJ Ronnie Heart. Amon Carter Museum cartermuseum.org
25
Pat Green
The Fort Worth-dwelling country artist returns to the spot where he recorded his first live album in 1999 — four years before his Billboardtopping “Wave on Wave” hit the radio circuit.
Billy Bob’s Texas billybobstexas.com
29
Cliburn Sessions: Sir Stephen Hough
A knighted pianist, composer, and writer, Sir Stephen Hough has 50 albums to his name, is a former juror for the prestigious Cliburn Competition, and is worldrenowned in the sphere of classical music.
Tannahill’s Tavern and Music Hall tannahills.com
30-Feb. 16
‘Primary Trust’
The regional premiere of this Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a small-town man whose life is unexpectedly thrown into a tailspin, which results in a captivating journey of self-discovery. Stage West stagewest.org
‘Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark’
There’s no better way to rinse oneself of the most recent Indiana Jones flick than to return to the epic John Williams score from “Raiders of the Lost Ark” as performed by the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.
Bass Performance Hall basshall.com
30-Feb. 22
‘Destroying David’
The downtown Circle Theatre hosts the world premiere of this play that takes audiences on a private tour through the history of Michelangelo’s “David” — which the audience’s guide plans on destroying. Circle Theatre circletheatre.com
photos provided by Billy Bob’s Texas // Bass
Hall // Will Rogers and Dickies Arena
Josh Abbott Band
By Stephen Montoya
Mollie Danel
Singer-songwriter/student/teacher
Photo by Darah Hubbard
For Mollie Danel, music isn’t just a career — it’s a way of being. It’s melody and meaning, stage lights and soul. It’s where she finds herself, one note at a time.
If Danel seems familiar, it’s probably because you’ve already seen her — she plays regularly at Magnolia Wine Bar (every Saturday night), has gigged in almost every local venue, and is a regular on the local open mic circuit — her finger-picking folk grooves quickly becoming a staple on Fort Worth stages.
Informed by artists like Bonnie Raitt, Susan Tedeschi, Mavis Staples, and Carole King, Danel’s sound is a quilt of influences, stitched with folk storytelling, blues grit, and soulful honesty.
“It’s the storytelling tradition I connect with most,” Danel says. “But I also want to sing like a soul singer. I just love that raw energy.”
While now a Fort Worth mainstay, Danel didn’t “grow up” in the area. In fact, being the daughter of a military parent, she didn’t really grow up anywhere — moving every two or three years until the family settled in the metroplex when she was 14.
This constant uprooting perhaps even carried into adulthood as a slight case of stir craziness. In 2016, Danel moved to Australia, where she soaked up the culture in Oceania and Southeast Asia while working for a faith-based nonprofit. But the pandemic would bring her back to the Lone Star State, where she plans to remain.
“Returning home made me realize how much I’d missed my roots. Texas holds a big piece of my heart,” she says.
But it was years earlier, while still on the move, when music took on more meaning in her life.
“My parents set me up with a neighbor for piano lessons when I was 7 or 8,” Mollie says. “She wasn’t even a teacher, but I loved it. I’d knock on her door every week, eager to play.”
Piano would lead to Danel playing the flute in the school band, which would later lead to guitar — an instrument she picked up out of necessity when her longtime songwriting partner moved away. “I had no guitarist to
play my songs, so I just started learning,” she says with a grin, reflecting on nearly six years of guitar know-how under her belt.
Though Danel plays with confidence today — her constant gigging giving the impression she feels right at home in the spotlight — performing wasn’t always second nature for her. Though musically inclined, she didn’t muster the courage to sing in front of others until she began writing her own music in her 20s.
“Writing my first song and singing it gave me a confidence I didn’t know I had,” Danel says. This led to Danel embracing Fort Worth’s open mic circuit and live music scene, which she’s used over the past year as her workshop. “Performing helps you work through nerves and grow as a person,” she says. “It’s been a year of learning — not just musically, but emotionally.”
Part of that learning has also been attending literal school — Danel is studying to become a licensed therapist and now has one semester under her belt. But even this journey to getting a professional degree ties back to music, as she hopes to use her schooling to help musicians navigate their mental health.
Her journey is deliberate — like her songwriting process: “For me, it’s an idea first, then melody, then agonizing over the lyrics.” And as she works toward recording her debut album, Danel muses on the idea of “making it” as a deeply personal concept.
“I want to love what I do and challenge myself. It’s about enjoying the art, not being controlled by the industry.” Her goals are simple yet profound: hone her craft, connect with people, and keep growing.
BY THE WAY....
What are your favorite local places to gig?
The Magnolia Wine Bar — “It’s the place to be! The Magnolia Wine Bar gave me my first gig in Fort Worth. I have so much gratefulness and love for the Magnolia crew.”
Southside Preservation Hall — “It’s been standing for over a hundred years, and you feel all that history when you play there. It makes for such a special playing experience.”
1. At The Magnolia Wine Bar when Danel’s weekly residency began. 2. Playing live at the Rusty Nickel IceHouse. 3. With the Songbirds of Fort Worth, a local songwriting group. 4. At a Fort Worth house show with Theo Carracino. 5. Debut single, “Unveiled.” 6. Songwriter night at The Cicada. 7. Adventures in athome recording.
BLAZING TRAILS IN FORT WORTH REAL ESTATE FOR 25 YEARS
For a quarter-century now, Williams Trew has proudly embodied the spirit of Fort Worth and beyond, leading the way in residential real estate with grit and dedication. As pioneers in the local market, we’ve built an enduring legacy of growth and success while honoring the heritage of the communities we serve.
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817.266.1355
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817.570.9401
by Michael H. Price
Cowtown to Showtown
Roger Miller’s improbable journey from Fort Worth to Broadway
Hey! Ol’ fireman Roger has got him a hit record!” Bob Gooch greeted our crew of shoe department salespeople one morning in 1964. Bob brandished the current issue of Billboard, the show-business journal, and added: “And not just on the hillbilly radio stations, either! Ol’ thing is climbin’ the pop-music charts, too!”
The scene was Amarillo’s downtown Fedway store, where Gooch was
a hellbent-for-commissions footwear clerk by day. Most nights, he spent as a municipal firefighter. Gooch had known Fort Worth-born Roger Miller as a fellow smoke-eater during the 1950s in the Amarillo Fire Department. Except that Miller had fought few fires, in or outside the line of duty.
“Hardly a surprise to see ol’ fireman Roger makin’ a go of his music,” Gooch raved. “He mostly used to just
sit around the fire station, pickin’ his guitar and makin’ up those goofy songs of his.” Miller would speak fondly of his hitch with the Amarillo Fire Department, allowing as how his very presence had been a deterrent.
“Just you check the official record,” Miller told me a few years later in an interview for the Amarillo Daily News & Globe-Times. “Amarillo had very few big-deal fires while I was on the crew, as if fire was a-scared of me and just naturally kept its distance. Had just two of ’em, as I recollect. One was in some ol’ boy’s chicken coop — and the other was … well, I reckon I slept through that alarm.”
Miller’s breakthrough hits of 1964 were “Dang Me” and “Chug-a-Lug,” original novelties that peaked at No. 1 and No. 3, respectively, on the country-western charts and scored within the upper 10 titles on Billboard’s Hot-100 chart. Further hits followed, including “England Swings,” “Doo Wacka Doo,” “Kansas City Star,” and his overriding chart-topper, the hobo anthem “King of the Road.” The concentration of stardom was short-lived but hardly premature, for Miller peaked early as a hitmaker, once given strategic promotion. He continued to record for the long term, scoring a final Top 20 C&W hit during 1981-1982 with “Old Friends,” a trio session with Ray Price and Willie Nelson.
Miller continued to record and tour until shortly before his death in 1992, with such highlights along the way as a composer-performer hitch on the Disney animated version of “Robin Hood” (1973). He cracked Broadway in 1985 with the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical “Big River,” an adaptation of Mark Twain’s 1884 novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Raised on an uncle’s farm near Erick, Oklahoma, where his mother had sent him from Fort Worth, Miller had learned to play guitar from a cousin-in-law, country singer-turned-actor Sheb Wooley. During Army service in Korea, Miller made
Photo courtesy of Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
connections that would land him in Nashville. He infiltrated the music business with a job at the Andrew Jackson Hotel, where he became known as “the Singing Bellhop.” Affiliations developed with guitarist-producer Chet Atkins and vocalist George Jones, but Miller spent much of the 1950s-into-1960s as a busy songwriter.
“Every sentence Roger uttered was a potential song,” producer-publisher Buddy Killen once said. Miller’s singing chops went by-and-large ignored, except for short-lived early contracts with Decca Records and RCA Victor’s Nashville outpost, where he fit no familiar stylistic mold.
Strapped for cash and longing to be heard, Miller sold out for chumpchange in advance to Mercury Records’ ambitious Smash label. (Smash had handled the national release for the hit “Hey, Baby!” by Fort Worth-based artists Bruce Channel and Delbert McClinton.) Miller offered to record 16 songs for $100 apiece. The gamble yielded the transformational hits “Dang Me” and “Chug-a-Lug,” along with additional material enough for an album and leftovers. “King of the Road” followed in short order — his most enduring song — and so did “Kansas City Star,” an imaginary autobiography about a local-television personality who prefers the security of small-time show
business over the risk of tanking in a larger marketplace.
Never short for original material, Miller dreaded the time when he sensed his songwriting muse would abandon him. “The human mind is a wonderful thing,” he wrote during this fertile period, adding: “It starts working before you’re even born and doesn’t stop again until you sit down to write a song.”
Miller earned a television show of his own in September of 1966. NBC-TV’s “The Roger Miller Show” lasted for 13 weeks, inspiring the country-music comedy duo of Homer & Jethro (Henry Haynes and Kenneth Burns) to record an affectionate parody, “The Ballad of Roger Miller,” with the recurring lyric, “pickin’ and a-grinnin’, sittin’ on a stool / Here’s to Roger Miller, the crazy and the cool.”
Miller cooled it with the songwriting in 1978, arguing that his reputation as a funnyman had obscured his more earnest efforts. He resumed upon receiving an offer to compose a Broadway score for Huckleberry Finn, which premiered as “Big River” in 1985 at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre. For the role of Huck Finn’s good-for-nothing father, the producers chose John Goodman, who was succeeded by Miller himself. Seven Tony awards resulted, including a Best Original Score citation for Miller. Miller resumed touring, as a soloist,
in 1990. He cut that schedule short in 1991, having received a diagnosis of cancer. His final television appearance occurred on a Nashville Network tribute to countrified comedian Minnie Pearl, née Sarah Ophelia Cannon. That program appeared on October 26, 1992, a day after Miller’s death. Though conveniently labeled as a C&W artist, Miller’s style and influences defy classification. As fellow fireman Bob Gooch had said way back in 1964 upon learning of his friend’s pop-chart status, Miller was scoring “not just on the hillbilly radio stations!” In other words, the artist defied expectations so thoroughly that popular expectations would come around to expecting the unexpected. Most of Miller’s songs are humorous by nature, with nonsense phrases and jazz-like scat singing — but the transcendent “King of the Road” is a good-natured meditation on the loneliness of an untethered existence. And 1966’s “Husbands and Wives” is a downright mournful composition.
Perhaps the most succinct summation of Roger Miller can be found in Lyle E. Style’s biographical study, Ain’t Got No Cigarettes (Great Plains Publ.; 2005). Style perceives Miller as “uncategorizable,” except perhaps as a genius.
photo courtesy of Jimmy Ellis, The Tennessean
Boots Nouveau
Chaz Pilarcik dreamed of owning her own boot company since she was 10. Whether that dream included country music’s biggest stars wearing them on stage, we can’t say.
By Stephen Montoya Photos by Richard Rodriguez
Becoming a boot designer might sound like something that takes root in the dilapidated stables of a dusty Western town — somewhere between sprawling plains and rugged mountains. But for Chaz Pilarcik, founder of CHAZLYN Boots, it all started in a classroom in Fort Worth.
Though only 10, Pilarcik knew exactly what she wanted to do when she grew up. “I would imagine my own line, my own brand,” Pilarcik says. “It was something that was always there.” Pilarcik envisioned a world where boots weren’t just a fashion fad or utilitarian footwear for ranch hands, but a statement — a reflection of both personal identity and cultural heritage.
“I think I always wanted to design shoes because it was so out of reach,” she says. “Everyone around me was looking to become doctors, lawyers, and celebrities. I wanted to design boots. And not just boots — boots with a story.”
Despite growing up in the Fort Worth area, where the roots of Western wear and cowboy culture run deep, Pilarcik never felt a connection to the traditional cowboy boot. “It was great for its purpose,” she explains, “but I wanted to take the core of that tradition and push it forward.”
It was clear her vision went far beyond the Tarrant County line. Perhaps even as far as — dare we say — the West Coast. Truth is that her ideas might have required a tinge of California influence to push them across the
finish line. As her company’s website puts it, Pilarcik “longed for life outside of the South.” Some people outgrow their hometown, and who’s anybody to stop them? She’d attend California State University, Long Beach, where she received her bachelor’s in fashion merchandising and would remain in the Los Angeles area post-graduation.
Pilarcik would then refine her creative edge while working as an art director — directing high-end photo shoots and mastering graphic design — for brands and boutique agencies. And with her childhood dream remaining an ever-present ambition, she’d make the leap into footwear in 2020. Concerning the timing, Pilarcik says the pandemic gave her an opportunity to reflect and take stock of the knowledge and skills she’d accumulated.
“I’ve always said starting a shoe company is way harder than you think,” Pilarcik admits. “But I knew I was ready. I wanted something that felt fresh and clean, something that could take traditional Western elements and give them a new life.”
Thus, in August 2023, CHAZLYN was born.
Rebuffing the traditional stitching and pointed toes that have come to define Western boots, CHAZLYN boots, currently made exclusively for women, pair a more rounded toe with 4-inch block heels and a sleek aesthetic that foregoes ornate or gaudy stitching patterns. They’re unmistakably cowgirl boots but also unmistakably more contemporary.
CHAZLYN, named for the amalgamation of Pilarcik’s nickname, Chaz, and her full first name, Chaslyn, clearly combines the spirit of Pilarcik’s Texas upbringing with the drive she found in Los Angeles.
“I wanted to make boots that would feel at home on the streets of New York but would still speak to someone from Texas,” Pilarcik says. “It’s about a boot that’s timeless but still contemporary. I wanted people to look at the boots and say, ‘That’s different,’ but in a good way.”
Pilarcik also made sure to combine style with substance, using design elements that go beyond aesthetics to ensure the boots can withstand the demands of a long day. To put it bluntly: They’re damn comfortable. It wasn’t just about making a pretty shoe; it was about offering a practical yet stylish option for those who wanted to wear something that felt like an extension of their own identity.
And, with the recent cowboy boot resurgence and meteoric rise of the Western aesthetic, the launch of CHAZLYN couldn’t have come at a more perfect time. With the likes of Billboard-topping pop stars Beyonce and Post Malone embracing their Texas roots with country albums, the definition of Western apparel has also broadened. And Pilarcik saw a clear opportunity to bring her own voice to the conversation.
“I always felt like I was a little ahead of the curve,” she says, “but when I launched CHAZLYN [just over a year ago], it felt like the universe was on my side.”
Within weeks of launching, Pilarcik began receiving attention — and orders — from all over the country, and it wasn’t long before the boots started showing up on celebrities. Though deliberately untraditional, the first famous names to embrace Pilarcik’s fashion-forward footwear were country stars Kelsea Ballerini and Carrie Underwood.
“It’s surreal,” Pilarcik says, recalling the moment she first saw a pair of her boots on stage. “I never imagined it would happen so fast. It felt like the dream had crossed over from something I thought about as a kid to something real.”
Even more surprising was the quick pace at which CHAZLYN’s popularity grew. Pilarcik doesn’t have a massive marketing team, relying instead on word-of-mouth and connections made through her work as an art director. Of course, getting on the feet of celebrities and trend setters doesn’t hurt, either.
“It’s funny,” she says, “because
I don’t even really know how it all happens. I’ll send boots to a stylist, and weeks later, I’ll see them on stage or on social media. It’s all very natural.”
She recalls how the relationship with Ballerini’s team started when the country star’s violinist tried on a pair of boots and loved them. Once those boots made their way onto the stage, the floodgates opened, and Pilarcik’s boots became a go-to for artists who wanted a stylish, Western-leaning boot they could wear for hours without feeling pain.
“That’s what sets [the boots] apart,” Pilarcik says. “You can wear them all day and still feel like you’re walking on air.”
But such growth, especially for a first-time entrepreneur, comes with its fair share of challenges. Pilarcik had no background in footwear manufacturing so was forced to learn on the fly. After cold-calling factories, she eventually connected with a plant in León, Mexico, the world capital of boot manufacturing. The road to production was long — seven prototypes to be exact — but eventually, Pilarcik found her stride.
“Learning how to work with the factory, figuring out the right molds, it was all a huge learning curve,” Pilarcik says. “But I’m proud of how far I’ve come. The first year was the hardest, but now I’m finally seeing my vision come to life.”
CHAZLYN currently offers five styles of boots, but Pilarcik has plans for more designs and products. If there are any men drooling over the prospect of a more masculine CHAZLYN boot, you can expect a product coming down the pike. “I’ve had so many people ask me for men’s boots, so that’s definitely on the horizon,” she says. Pilarcik is also eyeing leather goods, including handbags and clutches, as natural extensions of her brand.
“I’m just getting started,” she says. “But the journey has been incredible. I’m so proud of what we’ve built and excited for what’s to come.”
From Pedro Pascal to Henry Cavill, mustachioed celebrities have ushered in an era of flattering facial hair. But when it comes to robust whiskers, these A-listers don’t hold a candle to Matt Davis.
There was once a dark period, one that happened in our lifetimes, when the mustache fell out of vogue. It was the late 1990s when the above-the-lip bristles tumbled to a point that a New YorkTimesarticle wondered if this trim of facial hair would ever return to its former glory. It was an epoch that saw the mustache relegated to a comedy bit or attempts to dress as Magnum PI for Halloween. The period rivaled the stache’s lowest point, one which followed a 1907 science experiment that determined kissing a mustached man would pollute a woman’s lips “with tuberculosis and diphtheria bacteria.” This has since been disproven.
But, thanks to many factors and a few celebrities who champion the facial coif, the mustache might now reign supreme on the facial hair hierarchy. And Fort Worth, a city with a penchant for nostalgic looks and thick bristles, is a welcoming home for the mustachioed man.
And one of the city’s most vocal lip mane advocates is Matt Davis, full-time owner of a sign-making company (Dynamic Graphics), part-time whisker warrior, and owner of one of the region’s most robust handlebar mustaches that he regularly enters into competitions. Yes, those really are a thing.
We sat down with Davis, 41, a full-blown mustache advocate and educator, at Low Doubt Bar for what turned into a very enlightening chat about men’s facial hair, proper grooming, and even a little etiquette. Take notes, y’all.
FW: So, when and where does your mustache journey begin?
Matt Davis: Every Christmas, our church puts on a Christmas skit, and I play this Shakespearean Bible story reenactor named Reginald Fastidious III. He’s as wild as you’d think. We’ve been doing different variations of the same character for a few years, and in 2020, I said, “Hey, it would really make this character over-the-top if I grew a mustache. And not just this overthe-lip Chevron [a trimmed mustache angled downward]; we’re talking fullblown handlebar mustache. And it just became its own thing.”
FW: And you’ve since entered it into competitions. What are those like?
How do they judge?
Davis: Well, there are two types: online and in-person. For in-person competitions, you’ve got very selective styles. For instance, I would enter the handlebar mustache category, and I’d have to shave my lower lip hair because the lower lip hair means it’s no longer a handlebar. And they’ll judge you on its length, whether you have symmetry, and whether everything looks nice
Photo by Darah Hubbard
dependent on the style you’re going for. I’ve got a curl. If I were to straighten [the curl] out, that’d be an Englishman-style mustache. There are tons of different [styles].
Online is more flexible. There are three to four judges, and each judge will give you a challenge. For example: They’ll ask for you to take your mustache outdoors and do something outdoorsy with it. And you make a goofy little video doing something outdoorsy. And some will ask questions, like, “How do you share kindness in the world?”
FW: Kind of like a beauty pageant. Davis: Yeah, it’s kind of like a beauty pageant. Kind of “‘What’s the perfect date?’ ‘April 25.’”
FW: What made you decide to go with the handlebar look?
Davis: I wanted to stick with the Shakespearean look for the Reginald Fastidious III character. I thought he’d have this very elegant, fancy mustache. And, honestly, I can’t grow anything on the side of my face.
Like his keys or his wallet, Davis always carries a tin of this stuff in his pocket. Founded by a Fort Worth firefighter, the Cowtown-based Stache Salt offers a full line of waxes, beard balms, and shaving products and contributes a portion of its sales to first responder families in need. stachesalt.com
FW: Your secret’s safe with me.
Davis: Don’t write that down (laughs). Yeah, I just embrace it. And, apparently, [what I have right now] is a style. It’s called the musketeer. It’s the goatee combined with the handlebar mustache. That’s what that is, and I embrace it.
FW: What makes a good mustache?
Davis: Honestly, it’s the confidence you have when you carry it. Every guy has a terminal length to their mustache — you can only grow it so long. I’ve seen some people where it’s just barely over
their lip and others two feet long. That doesn’t matter. What matters is your confidence in it, your care for it, and how you style it.
FW: Any recommendations for people considering growing a mustache?
Davis: Be patient. You’re going to have a very uncomfortable 12 weeks where it’s poking your lip. It itches. It’s not curling. You got to give it time. You’ve got to let it grow. When I started mine, I got a lot of unflattering comments. Don’t let that negativity sway you into shaving. Give it room and give it time to fill out. And just have fun with it. Also, never trim in the middle. If you trim anything over your lip, you won’t be able to pull [the hair] back to where it [flares out]. The middle is what holds it up. In order to get lift, you’ve got to just leave it growing.
If I trim, I only trim on the ends — light snips only.
FW: And once you have a mustache, how do you care for it?
Davis: I’ve got a sizable collection of beard oils and balms and washes that I use. You don’t want to use shampoo or body soap. Such products will strip your face of its special oils and cause dryness and itchiness. So, you want to make sure you’ve got your mustache moisturized with oils.
I would highly recommend getting a beard oil and beard balm before you get a wax. When you first start growing your mustache, you’ll get the beard itch really bad, and beard oil will help reinvigorate your skin. Then, once you get a wax, you’ll decide if you like a light, medium, or strong hold. You’ll then, naturally, want to get a wax remover oil. This way you don’t have wax just sitting in [your mustache] for a few days. It builds up quickly.
FW: What do you look for in a mustache wax?
Davis: I usually go for a stronger hold because I want it to stay [in place] on an off day. [My mustache] is usually pretty wild and all over the place. So,
I want [the wax] to actually grip it, but not so strong that I’m pulling hairs out when trying to style it.
FW: I would assume once you’ve committed and you’ve grown it, you’ve got a stache for life.
Davis: My marriage is dependent on it. My wife has told me that if I shave, it’s a no-go for her. I love her dearly, so I’m sticking with it.
FW: What are some issues that arise when one grows such an impressive mustache?
Davis: Oh, man, saucy foods, wings, yogurt. You’re going to just get it everywhere. But you can learn to drink a certain way or eat a certain way so you don’t mess yourself up as much.
FW: Is the mustache fully back?
Davis: I feel like COVID changed the game for facial hair. I think a lot of guys were at home not having to shave for work, and they started growing [facial hair]. Since then, I’ve noticed a lot more mustaches in particular. And, of course, when you see it in the mainstream, when you see celebrities wearing it, it has that trickle-down effect. So, yes, it’s back.
FW: Who has the better mustache, Sam Elliott or Tom Selleck?
Davis: It depends. Sam Elliot’s got more of a walrus-style mustache where you just have that straight-down comb — big, burly cowboy mustache. Tom Selleck has the Chevron, where it’s real nice and clean. It’s kind of like asking, “What’s your favorite music?” OK, well, what mood am I in? Where am I at? Everybody has preferences and everybody puts their own spin on it. A mustache says a lot about a person.
FW: What would yours say about you?
Davis: That I’m patient, creative, and probably just a little bit out there.
YoucanfollowMattDavisonInstagram@ mustachedmrmatt
Matt Davis Product Rec: Stache Salt
by
Nocona, Texas
Population: 3,138
If you were a cowboy riding up the Chisholm Trail in the early 1880s, the area around Nocona was your last stop in Texas before crossing the Red River and entering Indian Territory. You’d bed down your herd beside the water at Red River Station and then ride a few miles to the outpost of Spanish Fort, which was neither Spanish nor a fort. Here you might drink a few rounds of coffin varnish (whiskey) and dally with soiled doves (prostitutes)
— but you could also go to church or see a doctor about that rash. Most of all, you would stock up on supplies for the 1,000-mile journey ahead of you to Abilene, Kansas.
It won’t be a cakewalk, and you need new shoes. You’ve noticed a few other stockmen in town wearing a newfangled style of boots with high heels and tapered toes. You ask about them and are pointed toward a wooden store-
front owned by H.J. “Big Daddy Joe” Justin. He’s inside at the workbench, stitching designs on leather boot shafts — to keep them upright, he says. It’s a clever idea, and it looks good, too. You order a custom pair of boots and plan to pick them up on your way back down the trail (if you don’t die in a stampede, river crossing, lightning strike, or Indian attack).
This is where cowboy boots were born…probably. We don’t know exactly where they originated, but we do know that H.J. Justin was one of the first to make them. He moved his shop a few miles south to Nocona after the railroad arrived in 1887, launching the town’s long-standing reputation as the leathercraft epicenter of the American Southwest. Justin Boot Company relocated to Fort Worth in 1925, but H.J.’s daughter Enid stayed in her hometown and launched Nocona Boot Company, which operated another six decades before merging with Justin in 1981, then shuttering its factory in 1999.
But Nocona’s heritage of handmade boots and fine leather goods is alive and well at Fenoglio Boot Company’s factory and boutique. You’ll find the shop on historic Clay Street in the heart of Nocona, a revitalized neighborhood with century-old storefronts
Fenoglio Boot Company
Shilo Urban
Quanah Parker, son of town namesake Peta Nocona
CONGRATULATIONS
Mike Hernandez iii
CEO, D&M LEASING
on THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, longhorn council, SCOUTING AMERICA recognized MICHAEL HERNANDEZ III, ceo of D & M LEASING, with the 2024 distinguished citizen award.
The Distinguished Citizen Award honors Individuals who share Scouting’s belief in leadership, Determination, and values. HONOREES have contributed significantly to the growth and vitality of our community. THIS ANNUAL EVENT also provides critical financial support TO longhorn council Scouting programs across 23 counties in north and Central Texas.
THANK YOU TO OUR TRANSFORMING SPONSORS
and a touch of New Orleans-inspired architecture. Whether you buy, browse, or just breathe in the sweet, earthy smell — every pair of boots you see is made right here in town.
Once you’ve caught the scent of tanned cowhide, mosey on over to another establishment preserving local tradition: Nokona American Ballgloves. Open since 1934, it’s the last baseball glove manufacturer in the country where baseball was invented. On Mondays and Fridays, you can take an up-close-and-personal tour of the factory, located in the old Nocona Boot Company building. Dozens of workers stitch, cut, and lace various types of leather to create heirloom-quality gloves (Nolan Ryan is a big fan).
It all comes together at Nocona’s Tales ’N’ Trails Museum, a stout little collection of exhibits on leather and the Western way of life, from Native American culture to the cattle drives that once passed through. Whether you come for the craftsmanship or the cowboy stories, traveling to Nocona is a trip through Texas history.
Explore Nocona
Savor: Nocona’s most infamous dish is the tantalizing “Bowl of Crap” at Fenoglio’s BBQ, a downhome mainstay that’s been around three decades. Named accidentally by a firefighter, the beloved bowl features housemade beans (cooked fresh daily) topped with grilled onions and jalapenos plus brisket, sausage, and hamburger meat. For something lighter, go with the classic pub fare like loaded nachos and fried pickles at Nocona Beer & Brewery. Situated in the former Nocona Boots factory, the taproom pours a malty Tennessee stout and a citrus-tinged Lime Light ale — plus 20 other beers on tap. Try their perky Tangerine IPA with OJ in a Nocona mimosa. Sample local wines at Red River Pizzeria, known for thincrust pies with heaps of toppings, or head out to visit the Red River Valley vineyards for yourself. Blue Ostrich, Arché, and 4R Ranch wineries are all within a 30-minute drive.
Shop: For handcrafted, made-inAmerica cowboy boots, you can’t beat the quality of Fenoglio. Buy a pair off the rack or order them custom-made. You may also want to check out the footwear at the Old Boot Factory, whose customers include country musician Vince Gill and “Yellowstone’s” Moses Brings Plenty. At Nokona American Ballgloves, you can design a glove while you’re there and watch as it’s laser-engraved. You’ll also find hats, hoodies, and T-shirts — and if you go on a factory tour, your ticket price counts toward your purchase. Browse Texas pop art paintings at LG Lemons Gallery & Studio: dogs in old pickups, hay bales in fields, and fat ‘lil horny toads adorned with Lone Star flags. Pick up a hat to go with your boots at Peonies Market and drop by Grace & Grit boutique for colorful Western dresses.
Enjoy: Mardi Gras hits big in Nocona with a series of parades and performances that start the previous Thursday (Fat Tuesday falls on March 4 this year). There’s an ATV parade, a kids parade, and the perennially popular Krewe de Barkus pet parade — and then the BIG parade on Saturday afternoon with bountiful bead-throwing and decorated floats. Feasting abounds, including a gumbo dinner and a crawfish boil.
In September, the Wheels & Grills festival features two days of classic car and motorcycle shows with barbecue cook-offs and a Bloody Mary competition.
Snooze: Overlook the action on Clay Street from the French Quarter-style iron balcony at the Red River Station Inn, conveniently just outside the upstairs bar. Each of the hotel’s 10 rooms is uniquely inspired by a local historical character like Comanche Chief Quanah Parker, whose father Peta Nocona was the city’s namesake. For fancier digs on the same street, consider Airbnb’s Charming Chateau, a delightful cottage with a courtyard and elevated style (think crystal chandeliers and white chaise lounges). Additional rentals are dotted around nearby Lake Nocona if you want to truly get away from it all.
How to Get There: Drive north out of Fort Worth on Interstate 35 for about an hour until you reach Gainesville, then take Exit 498 to US-82 traveling west. Nocona is 36 miles ahead. The trip takes about 90 minutes if there’s no traffic.
Nocona American Ballgloves
Downtown, Photoby NicolasHenderson
Lake Nocona
by Brian Kendall
Welcome to TCU’s World, SMU
As has traditionally been the case when the college football powers that be make their annual selection of teams to vie for the national championship — whether in twos, fours, or 12s — the Dec. 8 Sunday-morning selection show was chock-full of drama.
And whether you dabble in social media or skipped communion to tune into ESPN that morning, you’re likely already aware this drama came courtesy of TCU’s crosstown rival, SMU, and whether they were worthy of making the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff.
The 12th and final slot came down to SMU and Alabama, and the Ponies’ fate was now being litigated by talking heads wondering aloud, “Who’d they play?” “Are they really the better team?” “Would they be favored against Alabama?” The answers typically being no one, no, and no, respectively.
Sound familiar, TCU fans?
While this year’s loss still stings, and the bitter taste of rivalry remains, it’s not a stretch to presume TCU fans might have had some feelings of empathy toward the Mustangs.
After all, SMU found itself in a spot practically invented by TCU.
In November 2003, almost 10 years after the disintegration of the Southwest Conference that hurtled TCU, SMU, Houston, and Rice into midmajor conferences, TCU found itself in the middle of a debate as to whether mid-major conference teams (college athletics’ fancy term for small and undesirable) could or should compete in BCS bowl games — those exclusively reserved for the nation’s top teams.
One could easily blame this era, the infamous BCS era — when computer formulas had a say in rankings and a small slate of bowl games served as consolation prizes for the best teams
not playing in the title game — for creating the large division between mid-major and power conference teams. No era presented more difficulties for a nonpower-conference school.
Yet, entering the season’s 14th week, TCU, then in Conference USA, was one of only two unbeaten teams and coming off a 33-point win over Cincinnati.
This was perhaps the first time Sports Center had ever posed the question: “Do these teams belong in big games against the best teams?” The question, to be more specific, was whether TCU belonged — whether the little Fort Worth school could hang with the literal and proverbial big boys.
“Unbeaten, Unwanted,” a StarTelegram headline read from the Nov. 19, 2003, edition. “History shows BCS’s disdain for outsiders’ perfect records,” continued the subheading.
The article, by Wendell Barnhouse, quotes the coaches of two previous undefeated teams that didn’t make it to a BCS bowl. Bob Pruett, who coached Marshall to an undefeated season in 1999, said, “The system is not rigged for the mid-major schools. TCU beat a good Cincinnati team and dropped [in the rankings]. All you can do is play who’s on your schedule.”
Tommy Bowden, who coached Tulane’s 1998 undefeated team, did not share Pruett’s views. “I’m a big believer in strength of schedule. I didn’t feel we faced the same type of competition week in, week out that teams from the SEC or the Big Ten faced.”
The day after that article went to press, and just as the conversation was coming to a boil, TCU would lose to Southern Mississippi on national TV. The skeptics could again breathe easy … for a minute.
Turns out TCU’s brief flirtation with the BCS left an impression. The follow-
ing seasons, the consistent successes of the Horned Frogs, Boise State, and Utah would open the door for BCS bowl invites. Utah and Boise State would get their opportunities first in 2005 and 2007, respectively. And TCU would soon follow with back-to-back BCS appearances in 2010 and 2011.
But getting in is merely half the battle.
While this year’s committee ultimately did select SMU, they’re now entering a perpetual state of having to prove they belong. (Mid-major teams went 6-3 in BCS bowls, by the way.)
While the ACC technically carries the title “Power Conference,” recent realignment makes any conference not named Big 10 or SEC slightly less-than. And remember, SMU took that 12th spot from someone, and they are very aware from whom it was taken.
The Ponies will be consistently reminded of this supposed injustice between now and kickoff and beyond. And the phrase “strength of schedule,” which is code for “make sure the traditionally great programs remain,” will inevitably make its way into every conversation about SMU.
While this article goes to press before SMU’s playoff opener against Penn State, it seems universally accepted Penn State struck pay dirt and is now on the “easiest path” to get to the final game.
Much like Michigan being ecstatic to draw TCU in the first round of the 2022 playoffs? SMU, a team that no doubt hopes to emulate TCU’s successes, certainly hopes.
This marks SMU’s first foray into the postseason. And like all the great BCSbusting, mid-major subverts before them, the Mustangs are causing people to freak the hell out. “We need to reconsider the whole [College Football Playoff] model,” one analyst said.
SMU hasn’t rocked the college football world like this since 1987. And if laying waste to the college football landscape is SMU’s payback for the “death penalty,” bravo. But just remember, Ponies, you’re walking a path first paved by Horned Frogs.
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Local manners say a Fort Worthian should never gloat, but we reckon there’s only one way to have the city at your fingertips.
THE PICKUP MAN
BY TYLER HICKS
Josh Edwards, a cowboy who long relished staying behind the scenes, steps into the spotlight by taking on the longest horse race in the world.
PHOTOS BY DARAH HUBBARD
“The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast, and you miss all you are traveling for.”
— Louis L’Amour
There was roughly 15 minutes to dusk when the man and his horse pulled up to the white teepee and the family toiling outside. He wore a black cowboy hat, and beneath that, his eyes betrayed the exhaustion that comes with days of riding. His whole body was sore, especially his hips. He wasn’t used to this particular kind of saddle, so the jostling of the beast beneath him reverberated throughout his entire body.
Also, he didn’t know if the family had ever housed a visitor like him. All he knew was that they didn’t speak the same language as him. So, he did the only thing he could do: He hopped off the horse and started miming.
He pointed to himself and rubbed his belly. He fake-sipped from an imaginary glass of water. Then, using his hands as a faux pillow, he pretended to go to sleep. He pointed to his horse and repeated the same motions.
I need to eat, drink, and sleep.
My horse needs to drink and sleep.
The family patriarch, standing just outside the teepee, eyed this cowboy-turned-mime with curiosity. He scrunched up his eyes, and a flash of recognition passed over his face. Nodding, he turned to fetch the item he used to welcome all visitors like the cowboy.
“In Mongolia, they don’t shake your hand,” the cowboy said, recounting the incident a few months later. Instead, “They give you mare’s milk.”
That’s how the 46-year-old Josh Edwards, a pickup man-turnedcompetitive horse rider, found himself drinking mare’s milk in a “ger” (a Mongolian teepee) roughly 7,000 miles from home. He slept in the patriarch’s bed, too.
Their home wasn’t much bigger than your typical living room, Edwards noted, and it housed four people. On that night, he was the fifth — and the father gladly slept on the floor.
Looking back, it’s moments like these that stand out from his experience at the Mongol Derby.
“I wasn’t going only for the experience, and I wasn’t going just to win,” he says with a slightly mischievous smile. “I knew that when I start, how I start, that’ll dictate my process and the journey ahead.”
The Mongol Derby is a horse race based on Genghis Khan’s delivery system. Long before the days of the Pony Express, the conqueror Khan would send messages via horseback, with some of those horses traversing as many as 300 miles in a single day.
Since its inception in 2009, the race has gained a reputation for testing the mettle of the world’s toughest riders. Those riders must navigate 1,000 kilometers of the Mongolian Steppe: unique land that includes arid desert terrain, vast plains, and craggy mountain passes. Horse riders from Norway, Sweden, Kazakhstan, and Australia were all part of the most recent derby, as was a Waco-born man the riders called “Cowboy Josh.”
Edwards is accustomed to nicknames. For years, his colleagues in the rodeo business called him “Hollywood” (more on that in a little bit). Yet apart from the apt sobriquet bestowed upon him by his competitors, everything about the Mongol Derby was unique.
The Mongol Derby is a 1,000K+ horse race through the Mongolian steppe. Here, Josh Edwards poses with fellow podium finishers Josh Dales and Grace Neuhaus.
He subsisted on bread, rice, and water. He lost 11 pounds in 15 days. He rode all day, often in complete silence and often in pain. And apart from one fortuitous evening when he managed to mime “Wi-Fi?” to another man outside a ger, he didn’t talk to his wife, Kristi.
“To us, he was just a red dot on a screen,” she said, describing how she and her two sons would watch Edwards’ progress throughout the Derby. “We didn’t really know at all how he was doing, so all we could do was hope for the best.”
To be clear, this isn’t to say Cowboy Josh couldn’t handle it. In fact, the unique difficulty of the race was one of the key reasons he decided to apply for it in the first place.
“You have to continually put yourself into a situation that’s uncomfortable,” said Edwards — and to be clear, he’s talking about both the Mongol Derby and life in general. This philosophy is what led him to compete in the Ironman triathlon, and it kept him motivated throughout a 25-year career as a rodeo pickup man.
So, Edwards wasn’t daunted. But this isn’t a story about a badass cowboy who defied the odds and competed in an international horse race in his 40s.
Well, it’s not only about that.
It’s also about what happens when you stay curious: the people you might meet, the experiences you might have, and the connections you might forge.
“I was just sitting there, in that ger, drinking mare’s milk while everyone stared at me, because it’s not like you can just sit and visit, you know?” Edwards said. “Part of your brain is like, ‘What am I doing here?’ But the other part of you goes, ‘What else would I rather be right now?’”
“A cowboy is a man with guts and a horse.” — Will James
Not long before that golden hour encounter outside the ger, Josh Edwards retired. For a quarter century, he was a pickup man in the rodeo. It’s one of the rodeo’s most important gigs, and what’s more, it often goes unnoticed.
Their principal role is safety: People like Josh ride alongside the bucking bull or bronco during the event, and when it’s time for the main competitor to dismount, the pickup man is there for them to latch onto as needed. Likewise, if a rider gets tangled up or if the bucking horse is running amok, the pickup man is there to help. All of which means the gig requires a very particular set of skills, including the ability to ride, rope, and guide animals who, in many cases, would rather not obey anything you say.
Bobby Steiner, a bull rider and member of the National Rodeo Hall of Fame, once said that being a pickup man is all about “staying in control in an uncontrolled situation.” A knack for control and stability has always been one of Edwards’ talents, but Bret Richards, who has known Edwards for 30 years, says there’s something else at play, too.
“Josh is a horseman,” he says. “There are cowboys and there are cowgirls that can get on there and rope fast and do all kinds of stuff, but Josh can do that and then some. He can get in there and get
horses to trust him in a short amount of time.”
For his part, Edwards says his career as a pickup man was “kind of an accident.”
He was raised on a horse and cattle ranch in Waco where the cowboy lifestyle was really the only one he knew.
“We liked to ride colts and raise horses,” he said. “It’s a very fulfilling feeling when you can take a young colt and turn them into something.”
While some of his fellow young Texans dreamed of playing in the Super Bowl, Edwards wanted to make it to the National Finals Rodeo: the cowboys’ equivalent of the Big Game. One of his fellow dreamers was Richards, a calf roper and small-town kid who first met Edwards on the high school rodeo circuit.
Edwards was a couple years older than Richards, but they struck up a friendship over their shared passion for a unique sport.
“I remember going to one of my first rodeo events, and when you’re in a situation like that, you’re looking around, trying to see where all the gravity goes,” Richards said. “All the gravity was going to Josh.”
He had — and has — what Richards calls “cowboy cool,” an effortless mix of confidence and humility. And even now, despite the passage of decades, Richards still talks about his old friend like he’s the freshman and Edwards is the “big dog” who everyone knew was the guy to beat at calf roping. The way Richards tells it, those years on the junior rodeo circuit turned the pair into something bigger than friends. The Western movie “Young Guns” was popular around that time, and in the film, the heroes call themselves “pals.”
“They’d put on this big, entertaining show for companies who wanted the rodeo experience,” Edwards recalled, “and one day, they were short a pickup man.”
He filled in — and fell in love. He especially enjoyed how it combined the speed and energy of calf roping with the raising of horses he’s loved since he was a kid. Plus, he was both in the thick of the action and active behind the scenes — moving livestock, training horses, and doing all of the nitty-gritty cowboy work that makes the rodeo happen.
He didn’t know anything else that allowed him to do that.
“I don’t think I ever quit roping calves; I just quit entering rodeos,” he explained. “I phased out my roping career and turned to pickup.”
Even still, Edwards achieved one of his lifelong dreams: He made it to the National Finals Rodeo. Maybe he wasn’t roping calves, but when he stepped into that most vaunted of rodeo arenas, it hardly mattered why he was there. The point was, he was there, part of the biggest show in the business.
“He said he wanted to challenge himself, as a cowboy and as a horseman. My first thought was, ‘Yeah, that tracks.’”
“If you got three or four good pals,” one character remarks, “well, then you’ve got yourself a tribe.”
Naturally, the two calf ropers adopted the moniker.
“Even when I see him today, it’s ‘Hey, pal,’” Richards said.
After high school and college, Edwards kept chasing his rodeo dreams, mostly at the Mesquite Championship Rodeo, a competition with a story that mirrors the rise of rodeo’s popularity.
Legendary stock contractor Neal Gay created the event in 1958 at a time when only two roads led from Mesquite to Dallas. LBJ Freeway was built about a decade later, leading locals and curious travelers nearly straight to the arena, but it was the recurring broadcasts on ESPN that ultimately earned his upstart rodeo millions of new fans. Celebs took notice, too: Everyone from the prince and princess of Monaco to Mick Jagger made their way to Mesquite.
“You could see the transformation of the rodeo,” Jim Gay, one of Neal’s sons, told Western Horseman.
Josh Edwards was in the middle of that transformation. He’d work in the radiology unit of a nearby hospital during the week, then enter competitions in Mesquite on Fridays and Saturdays.
As even the most casual rodeo fans can tell you, calf roping is extremely difficult to master. While riding on horseback, the competitor must catch the calf, dismount, then tie the calf’s legs together before it runs away — all while racing the clock. Edwards had plenty of practice from his upbringing on the ranch, and his skills, instincts, and reliability caught the eyes of the Gay family, who ran a convention rodeo in the offseason.
Not every cowboy gets that chance, and he got it twice.
Brooke Wharton, a longtime rodeo pro who now performs pivot setting at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, says Edwards’ Finals appearance are some of the most impressive elements of his resume. Many people spend months, even years, aggressively campaigning for a spot as a pickup man at the big show, she points out.
“Josh didn’t do any of that. The fact that he was chosen twice to pick up — and was a runner-up five other times — just shows the respect he has from his peers.”
When reminiscing on his pickup career, Edwards pointed to several other highlights, including the first time he picked up at the famous rodeo in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Another memory that sticks out is frozen in time courtesy of a photograph that’s quite popular in the rodeo world.
It was 2009, and an unstoppable force was meeting an immovable object. More specifically, 46-year-old Billy Etbauer, a famous bronc rider, was tasked with riding Painted Valley, one of the GOATs in the saddle bronc world. Etbauer ultimately achieved an 89-point record — quite the feat, especially when going toe to toe with an impressive athlete — and in the photo, you can see him holding on for dear life while Painted Valley tries to vault him into the air.
Edwards didn’t make the picture, but he was there, roughly 15 feet out of frame, doing his job.
“Every time I see that picture, I think about how I was there for this big moment,” he said. “I was a part of something really special.”
He was part of many more special moments over the next 15 years: He worked at every major rodeo competition you can think of, racking up a trophy case of awards for his pickup skills. Ultimately, he decided it was time to retire. He wanted to spend more time with his two sons — one’s an aspiring pilot; the other rides broncos — and he wanted to take some time for his other jobs, too. (As if his CV wasn’t wild enough already, Edwards owns
many businesses, including a Kwik Kar franchise.)
But there was something else he wanted to do — another adventure he’d come across.
“You’re always striving for a goal,” he said. “And when you meet that, you set a new one.”
“It is easy to conquer the world from the back of a horse.” — Genghis Khan
Bret Richards became an auctioneer, and he’d go long stretches without talking to the old pal who embodied “cowboy cool.” Yet no matter how much time passed (“It could be two days or two years”), whenever they’d meet up, they’d slip back into the style of conversation they established long ago.
“Josh usually spends the first half-hour asking about your life, your wife, your parents, your kids,” Richards explained. “Then, finally, you get to ask him a question.”
That’s what happened in January 2024 at the Fort Worth rodeo. Edwards had announced his retirement but was still working as a pickup man for a couple more months. He sidled his horse up to Richards, who was sitting in the stands.
First, Richards wanted to hear about Edwards’ life as a stuntman. That’s yet another side gig he picked up over the years: Josh Edwards is a SAG card-carrying stunt man (hence the “Hollywood” nickname, which he shares with a beloved palomino horse he owns.)
It started with B-movie gigs here and there. He rode horses, or sometimes he fell off them. (If you’ve seen the TV show “Zoo,” you may have seen him in action.) Over time, it blossomed into other gigs. One time, a hockey flick needed a guy who could get hit, so they hired Edwards.
On that particular day in Fort Worth in early 2024, he had a recent car crash scene to tell his old friend about. But Richards also wanted to know what was next. What does a guy like Josh Edwards do in retirement?
“Well,” Edwards said, flashing that mischievous grin, “I’m excited to tell you about that.”
Richards had never heard of the Mongol Derby before, but as Edwards explained it (1,000 kilometers, 10 days, rough terrain), he realized how much sense it made, retirement be damned.
“He said he wanted to challenge himself, as a cowboy and as a horseman,” Richards said. “My first thought was, ‘Yeah, that tracks.’”
Brooke Wharton had a similar reaction when she heard Edwards was interested in the Derby. When he mentioned the race in a 2023 conversation, he had no idea Wharton had competed in the Derby in 2017, placing sixth out of 40 riders.
“It’s something you can’t be prepared enough for, no matter how prepared you are,” she told Edwards. “No matter what you think it is, it’s more extreme.”
That said, she liked Edwards’ odds — and she connected him to a fellow Derby alum, Frank Winters, a lifelong cowboy who competed in the race in 2019, placing seventh.
He was 57 at the time.
As he later told a TV station near his home in the Panhandle, Winters had been dreaming of Mongolia ever since he learned about it at 14. He read a book, he explained, where a hero traversed the steppe. He wanted to be that guy.
Upon Wharton’s suggestion, Edwards and Winters met in person and worked out a plan.
Don’t worry about cardio, the veteran horseman told Edwards. “Just ride horses.”
“When I went, there were some of the most in-shape people I had seen in my entire life,” Winters said. “They could run for miles and do very kind of calisthenic on the planet, but when it came to riding horses, they were wiped out.”
Taking Winters’ advice to heart, Edwards devised a 20-mile trail near his home in Forney and rode it every other day. He had competed in multiple Ironmans at that point, so he was no stranger to intensive training. For better or for worse, he was also accustomed to building his life around his race prep regiments.
Once, while on family vacation in Galveston, Edwards knew he had to get in some swim time. There was just a slight problem: The family was on a hike, and the only body of water appeared to have trash in it — maybe even fecal matter. Still, he swam — and proceeded to get stung by roughly half a dozen jellyfish.
“I was so mad,” said his wife, Kristi, shaking her head and smiling. “But there was no stopping him.”
If you’re one of the 40 Derby riders chosen from the thousands of international applicants, your loved ones can watch your progress in the race courtesy of a real-time tracker tracing the progress of each contestant.
That’s how Kristi found herself watching a red dot on the other side of the world this past August.
Edwards finished his 25-year rodeo career after receiving Pickup Man of the Year honors in 2023.
“When I was sleeping, he was racing,” she said. “So, I tried to stay up as late as possible, just to see how he was doing.”
Richards said something remarkably similar:
“They were racing while we were asleep, so you’d look before going to sleep, then wake up and check it, first thing. And I’d know, from the distance, how much Josh had got the horse to trust him.”
Here’s how the race works:
Riders like Edwards randomly draw a horse to begin the race, then ride to checkpoints spaced out every 35 to 40 kilometers. At those checkpoints, they randomly draw a new horse, then another new horse, and so on. In between each stop, it’s up to the riders to navigate how to best race the course within a designated corridor stretching from the starting point to the finish line. There are plenty of penalties, too: Riders will be forced to sit for two hours if they stray outside the width of the corridor or ride more than 14 hours a day. Likewise, they’ll be forced to sit if their horse’s heartbeat is at a certain level when they reach a new checkpoint. The idea is to win the race without pushing the horse too hard.
“I’d say there are really four elements at play,” Edwards said. “There’s horsemanship, navigation, and nutrition. Then there’s luck.”
For many of those elements, Edwards relied on the people around him. It’s just his nature to be friendly, and he also remembered a story Winters told him.
In the 2019 Derby, the veteran cowboy was making good time and setting himself up for a top-three finish. Then, one of his fellow riders — someone with whom he’d gotten close — got injured. Winters stopped, turned around, and tended to his friend.
Then he told her he wasn’t sure if he could finish the race.
This wasn’t wholly surprising for Kristi. She’d heard tell of how grueling the Mongol Derby could be, and as she watched the dot symbolizing Josh advance across the steppe, she conjured all manner of hardships he must have been experiencing.
But still, she knew her husband. She knows he can fall off a horse, get checked in a faux hockey game, and get stung by six jellyfish. She knows he can take all that and keep going. So that’s what she told him.
He seemed to take heart in her words of encouragement, and soon, he started talking about something else.
He told her about the families he met when the sun was descending, and most folks in their right minds would send a stranger packing. He told her about the kids with whom he played games, and how he’d let them wear his cowboy hat.
“The people you meet were the best part for me,” Edwards later said. “The culture there is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. It makes you stop and be still, because the world slows down to damn near a halt. It makes you just be a part of it.”
“You have to continually put yourself into a situation that’s uncomfortable.”
“At that point, you’re like, ‘What really matters?’” Winters says. “Finishing as who I was as a person rather than trading that for some kind of advantage ... it wasn’t worth it for me.”
Edwards didn’t try to pull a fast one on anyone. He spent a lot of time riding in a pack, and when he felt it was time to turn right, he told everyone as much. At other times, it was just him and one or two other riders — his new friends Missy Morgan and Sam Jones. Harkening back to his “Young Guns” days, Edwards refers to their ragtag trio as “our little tribe.”
“We’d ride for miles together, chatting the whole way, and other times we didn’t say anything for what felt like hours.”
He paused, reflecting on the time spent with riders from around the globe. Then he added, “I think they call it ‘trauma bonding.’ That’s what I learned over there.”
There was one time, toward the end of the race, when Kristi was pacing the perimeter of the family pool back in Forney. It was late, technically morning, so the stars dotting the pitch-black sky were reflected in the still water near her feet. She was worried about her husband, who, according to his red dot, hadn’t moved in a while. And even though she wasn’t expecting a call, she held her iPhone in her hands.
It rang: Her husband was FaceTiming her from Mongolia for the first time since the race started.
When she answered, a tired Edwards told her how he’d managed to convey “Wi-Fi?” to a man outside a ger (the electrical tower, standing in a nearby field, aided his mime performance).
Those run-ins with loving, welcoming families also “softened” him, he said. They didn’t completely blunt his competitive edge, but this strong sense of kinship — and his budding friendships with riders like Morgan and Jones — reminded him that the experience was far more important than victory in any race.
That’s why he doesn’t really mind that one of his horses bucked him off and left him stranded in the dust. It’s also why he doesn’t much mind that he came in third, right behind his two new pals.
“If Josh raced in the Derby 10 times, he’d probably win seven of them,” Wharton said.
Winters echoed that thought: “It came down to luck of the draw. He drew a bad horse toward the end, and it cost him.”
It’s not that Edwards disagrees with their assessment; he thinks there’s a chance he could’ve won. But for now, he’s focused on those memories that will last much longer than the high of any win:
The youngsters racing around the steppe, wearing a stranger’s cowboy hat; the nod of a family patriarch, welcoming Edwards into his home; and the long hours riding beneath the Mongolian sky, sometimes talking, sometimes saying nothing.
“It’s an experience I could never repeat,” he said.
So, he isn’t going to try.
Many people compete in the Mongol Derby multiple times, but Edwards says he’s on to the next adventure. Maybe the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race; maybe another race that’s less famous but just as tough.
“He’s going to find something else to challenge him,” Kristi said. “I know he will.”
In a way, he already has. Being a dad, after all, can be just as taxing as any race — and just as much of an adventure.
“It’s our kids’ turn now,” he told Richards when they talked last January.
Still, don’t be surprised if you see him competing in another race sooner or later.
“I don’t know what’s next,” he admitted, grinning once more, “but I’m looking forward to it.”
AMON’S COWSHED
The story of the Will Rogers Memorial Center begins in the muck of politics and just a bit of envy.
By John Henry
by Olaf Growald
For going on 90 years, the Will Rogers Memorial Center has been as entertaining, amusing, and lively as its beloved, witty namesake cowboy, who was as witty and charming as he was capable as a trick roper.
Since 1936, the Will Rogers Memorial Center has sat with the self-assurance of a rugged cowboy on a hill on 120 acres of the old Van Zandt tract just west of downtown, on the other side of the Trinity River. It is worthy of veneration. Something a step or two, certainly, below adoration.
Nothing in town, not even the Tarrant County Courthouse, is as emblematic of the city of Fort Worth and its history as the structures of the Will Rogers Memorial Center, which today are as relevant as they were when they emerged in 1936 from the ground that had most recently been the nurturing home to scrub oaks and wild sunflowers.
It was built as a memorial to Will Rogers, but also the city’s and West Texas’ place as the center of the livestock industry, as well as a testament to Fort Worth’s growth and modernity.
As it prepares to host its 81st Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, the complex remains the epicenter of Fort Worth’s cultural hub even with the shiny, hot, new thing on the block that stands just several
hundred feet to the south and west.
The complex has been everything and much more that those earlier city forefathers dreamed it would be as an economic engine generating for the city and her local merchants and those in neighboring counties, as well as a gathering place for out-of-towners while at the same time
fostering community right here in the city.
Even as her younger, better-looking, more sophisticated sibling, Dickies Arena, hosts almost 1 million people annually, Will Rogers Coliseum is more in demand
today year-round than it’s ever been, one local insider tells me, as ground zero of the Western equestrian competition world through the National Cutting Horse Association, the National Reined Cow Horse Association, and the American Paint Horse Association.
Showing in the Will Rogers Coliseum for cutting horse and reined cow horse riders is tantamount to a marathoner running in Boston.
“Busy as it’s ever been,” he repeats for emphasis.
Not to mention a full schedule for the Stock Show and Rodeo.
Its future, therefore, even at this advanced age, is as bright as it’s ever been.
The City Council approved $8.5 million last year to renovate the Will Rogers Coliseum concourse. A more comprehensive plan for the coliseum is in progress, in addition to early discussions to update the master plan for the complex.
A multimillion-dollar, four-phase renovation of the original 1948 cattle barns is nearing completion. That renovation included a new fully air-conditioned show arena. The renovations were a 50-50 public-private enterprise between the city and Stock Show.
Over the years, of course, the city and Stock Show have added substantially to the campus. In 1984, the Amon G. Carter Jr.
Images
A bust of namesake Will Rogers sits in the foyer of the Pioneer Tower.
Exhibits Hall opened. In 1988, the Richardson-Bass Building and Burnett Building, along with a more than 750-space parking garage opened. In 1996, the Charlie and Kit Moncrief Building opened its doors.
Asked to reminisce about the place, Mayor Mattie Parker says: “As we reflect on its legacy and look to the future, we remain committed to preserving this historic landmark and ensuring it continues to showcase Fort Worth’s unique spirit for generations to come.”
A unique spirit indeed is this historic landmark, born immediately into history over a spat involving the Texas Centennial of 1936.
The Legislature in 1934 appointed a committee made up of civic leaders across the state to determine how to mark Texas’ first 100 years, in 1936. An exposition representative of all that had happened since then and all its ranching, farming, and oil would be on
full display.
“All good things of Texas, well-larded by educational displays and cultural events” is the way Amon Carter biographer Jerry Flemmons described it.
The commission secretary Will H. Mayes sent letters of inquiry and proposal forms to the state’s four biggest cities — Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, and Fort Worth — about bidding for the exposition. In fact, any interested city was welcome to
submit bids. A tight deadline and the size of the financial commitment dissuaded many, including one of the state’s biggest cities, from bidding.
By all appearances to history, according to The Frontier Centennial: Fort Worth & The New West, written by Jacob W. Olmstead, there is no evidence Fort Worth ever put in a bid. Flemmons wrote that Amon Carter, who was on the state centennial commission, never even considered getting involved in a bid, considering Fort Worth didn’t exist in 1836. To Amon, according to Flemmons, Houston or San Antonio were the most logical sites because of their relationship to the events of independence in 1836.
Dallas, however, was awarded the exposition with a bid weighted by millions in seed money to throw the party. The city’s patrons literally outbid the rest, an important advantage in the depths of the Depression. “Mr. Dallas,” R.L. Thornton, then president of the Dallas Chamber of Commerce, pledged that he would raise at
least $8 million upfront for the exposition.
When Carter heard of Dallas’ selection, though, he was said, according to Flemmons, to have “set a record for consecutive gawddamns.” To him Dallas had as much claim to the exposition as Fort Worth.
Despite his reported agitation, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Carter’s newspaper, published an editorial in the days following the announcement showing no consternation over Dallas’ selection.
The editorial made a case that Dallas “fairly earned the distinction of being the Texas Centennial City,” and “Fort Worth is happy to bask in reflected glory.”
Moreover, the vice president of the Tarrant County Advisory Board to the Texas Centennial, a Mrs. C.C. Peters, according to Jacob Olmstead, encouraged Texas cities to “stand behind the chosen city and make the celebration as big as the state.” As far Peters was concerned, the proximity of the Dallas exposition was an economic victory for Fort Worth.
“Everyone who visits the exposition will come to Fort Worth, and the Southwestern Exposition and Fat Stock Show likely will draw many.”
Amon Carter, however, was anything but content, according to Flemmons. Rather, he was huffing and puffing about all of this.
According to Flemmons, Carter “gathered his close friends to scheme on a plan of retribution in which Fort Worth would show Dallas ‘how the cow
ate the cabbage.’”
The idea of Fort Worth holding its own centennial exposition, according to Carter, belonged initially to William Monnig, the city councilman and proprietor of Monnig’s Department Store. Monnig was born in Missouri but spent his early years living in a German community, leaving him, it was said, with an accent that he took to his grave.
“I pity anyone who forgets he is a com-
Amon Carter, left, got the first chunk of ground at the ceremonial start of construction on the Will Rogers Memorial Center. Will Rogers, left, and Amon Carter.
mon man,” Monnig was renowned for saying.
Though the idea might have been Monnig’s, only one guy dared try it — Amon Carter, who had a chief accomplice, Van Zandt Jarvis, then both the mayor and president of the Stock Show.
Our “Frontier Centennial” would celebrate the contributions of the livestock industry, its center being Fort Worth, Texas.
Carter ginned up support by insisting that if Fort Worth didn’t do this, the annual Stock Show in the Stockyards, since 1896, was in jeopardy to the rascals out east. And they had better do it in “grand fashion.”
“Our friends across the river, with their new buildings, costing from $15,000,000 to $20,000,000,” Carter explained, according to Olmstead, “could and possibly would absorb our great Stock Show.”
So, off to Austin went a Fort Worth contingent, led by Carter, Jarvis, state Sen. Frank Rawlings, and John B. Davis, Stock Show general manager, seeking a piece of the $3 million the Legislature had appropriated for the centennial. They were seeking $250,000 of the $575,000 appropriated for historical markers and memorials.
An advisory board of historians — the more things change, the more government stays the same — was created to advise the State Centennial Commission of Control on how and where to spend the $3 million.
The proposal, according to Olmstead,
focused on the fundamental importance of the livestock industry to the economic and cultural history of the state. Livestock, the contingent argued, “represented the first industry in the state even before its formation as a republic, and since that time Texas functioned primarily as a ‘cattle state.’ Furthermore, Fort Worth already hosted the largest, most significant livestock show in all of the Southwest.”
Clearly, given that logic, the livestock industry, in conjunction with the great ranchers of West Texas, required its own celebration.
Olmstead, the author of The Frontier Centennial, noted that in “defining Fort Worth as inseparable from the Texas livestock heritage, the proposal implied that Fort Worth also lay claim to a Western heritage based on its historical relationship to the Texas livestock hinterland: West Texas.”
The proposal employed descriptive terms often associated with the livestock industry and its Western identity, including pioneers, cowboys, ranches,
horsemanship, and the West.
It wasn’t, therefore, Fort Worth’s specific heritage — U.S. Army forts, for example — that centennial planners intended to celebrate. Rather, they hoped to “give adequate recognition of the livestock industry [and] the development of West Texas from cattle to an agricultural empire.”
This was a celebration of West Texas and Fort Worth as the place “Where the West Begins.”
To host an exposition worthy of the Texas livestock industry, the delegation said, it would construct “an entirely new livestock exhibition plant,” which was something Carter had already mentioned to Harold Ickes, Franklin Roosevelt’s Secretary of the Interior, who was responsible for dishing out federal funds from the Public Works Administration.
The state funds, the delegation testified, would be combined with a larger PWA loan the Fort Worth people said was already under negotiation. In fact, Ickes had thrown cold water on Carter’s idea to
spend federal money in the Depression on such an expense.
But the delegation said it had in mind about 140 acres near the central city for a 6,000-seat arena, an auditorium, and exhibition building, an arena for auction sales, and a number of buildings devoted to housing various breeds of livestock.
The advisory group appeared inclined to turn them down.
However, the Fort Worth group also made a presentation in front of the State Centennial Commission of Control, hoping to directly persuade those who regulated the distribution of the centennial’s discretionary funds. That is, go over the head of the advisory board.
Rawlings’ speech before the commission was said to be riveting. So much so that Coke Stevenson, he of Lyndon Johnson-U.S. Senate lore, then the Texas Speaker of the House and commission vice chairman, said he would vote to allocate the funds “right now.”
Fort Worth and West Texas pay taxes,
too, he said.
This proposal, Rawlings insisted, also would be more than merely a show of the Texas Centennial celebration. It will be of permanent benefit.
Eventually, the funds were allocated, but with a stipulation. The city was required to raise $1.25 million to match the state allocation. If the feds appropriated money to support the Texas State Centennial, including the Fort Worth earmark of $250,000, the commission would take back its offer.
Insiders in Austin accused the Fort Worth group of backroom deal making, noting that while Fort Worth received $250,000 while two other locations of historical significance only received $50,000. One critic argued that $250,000 put Fort Worth “on parity with San Antonio and its Alamo, and Houston where was fought the Battle of San Jacinto.”
However, with the assistance of Fort Worth Congressman Fritz Lanham, the issue became moot. The federal govern-
Will Rogers Coliseum remains in as much demand today as it ever has as the epicenter of equestrian competition.
ment chipped in $250,000 through the United States Texas Centennial Commission, chaired by Vice President John Nance Garner, a friend of Carter’s.
That left a more than $1 million city bond election and the PWA loan to see that the future Will Rogers Memorial Center was constructed in time for Fort Worth’s Texas Centennial festival.
The bond wasn’t only for the centennial project. The program included a library, hospital, tuberculosis sanitorium, and what became the 1938 Moderne-style City Hall-Jail complex. It served that purpose until the 1971 City Hall was constructed. Today, it is home to the municipal court.
Monnig was put in charge of making the case to voters. His arguments focused the benefit of putting hundreds of Fort Worth laborers to work and immediately off federal relief rolls; losing $1 million in federal and state grants and thereby unable to host a centennial celebration; and, thirdly, Fort Worth might lose the Stock Show to, gasp, Dallas.
There is no better way to get Fort Worth voters off the couch and voting “yes” than the scare tactic of Dallas.
The ramrodded bond program passed despite concerns from the North Side that it would come at their detriment. The North Side might permanently lose the Stock Show.
One councilman said he would “bend over backward in favor of the North Side” as a potential site for the new facilities.
“No site has been selected, and the cards are stacked in favor of the North Side because that section of the city has many advantages.”
Nonetheless, the City Council would not name the location before the election or place the issue as part of the bond. The Van Zandt track, as it was called — it was once owned by K.M. Van Zandt — clearly was the preferred location.
Carter and other city leaders wanted a complex closer to the city center that could display the history and message of the West while promoting Fort Worth’s advances and modernity.
In fact, it would not be until 1944, some eight years after the construction of Will Rogers, that the Stock Show would move, a testament to the political power, not so
much of the North Side, but the legendary packing plants.
“I think Will Rogers really just allowed us to grow,” said Stock Show general manager Matt Carter. “It gave us a home where we could expand and grow and that whole seed stock industry that is the bedrock foundation of the genetics that do a tremendous job of putting food on everybody’s plate.”
The Houston Livestock Show and San Antonio Livestock Show and Rodeo weren’t nearly of the scale they are today. For people in livestock, this was the place to exhibit and sell livestock.
Said Matt Brockman, Stock Show communications director, and clearly an able historian: “God bless Van Zandt Jarvis and Amon G. Carter because the move was long overdue. Bear in mind that in 1936 and even in 1944, the Stockyards itself, that complex was at probably its peak relative to the number of animals that were sold and harvested and product that left there on a daily and weekly basis. You had a livestock industrial complex over there, and you’re trying to have a stock show and a rodeo in the midst of all of that?”
Someone more powerful than all the competing parties eventually got involved. A devastating flood on the North Side and Stockyards in November 1942 forced the cancellation of the 1943 Stock Show and Rodeo.
On the West Side the Stock Show would find a permanent home.
To generations now, the Stock Show and Rodeo is synonymous with the Will Rogers Memorial Center. It wasn’t always that way. The original Stock Show was held in the Stockyards for almost 50 years.
Cowtown Coliseum was the site of the world’s first indoor rodeo, and where else would be adequate enough to host a livestock sale than in the heart of the world’s packing industry?
Fort Worth’s Centennial Building Site Committee received at least 23 recommendations. Though only two were considered. And, in reality, only one.
Building the centennial grounds in or near the Stockyards wasn’t viable simply
because of the challenge of passing large crowds across North Main Street, according to the architects on the project, Wyatt Hedrick and Elmer Withers, both hired by the city.
That alone was enough for four councilmembers to declare that the Van Zandt tract was the most reasonable place. Eventually, the city purchased the property for $150,000. The city had also previously purchased the Stock Show property and facilities from the Fort Worth Stockyards Company for $100,000, though $50,000 less than the Stockyards Company’s original offer.
“We have made every effort to locate the Centennial stock show and auditorium on the site now occupied by the Southwestern Exposition and Fat Stock Show,” said one member.
It didn’t matter quite yet anyway until the PWA came through with a loan.
Amon Carter, of course, had inroads there with the vice president and Franklin Roosevelt, an intimate.
Yet, Carter’s pleas with Interior and Public Works Administrator Harry Hopkins were getting nowhere fast. In fact, he was meeting resistance and rejection.
The application for a PWA loan for “Amon’s Cowshed,” as it had become known in Washington, was turned down by Hopkins and, ultimately, Ickes.
Ickes pointed out that he had approved a school building and a tuberculosis sanitarium for Fort Worth, both of which “clearly outranked a livestock pavilion as socially desirable projects,” Flemmons
quoted Ickes as saying.
“You have knocked us in the creek for good,” Carter wired back.
Carter, not one to take no for an answer, went to the very top in Washington. If Ickes won’t help us, the White House would, he believed. Carter went to Postmaster General James Farley, another Carter associate, who had proven adept during FDR’s first term at mediating disputes exactly like this.
Farley, according to Jerry Flemmons, wasn’t going to do it without having some fun at Carter’s expense.
Farley took the matter directly to FDR. He had Carter wait outside the room in the White House but purposely left the door ajar, so Carter could hear the conversation.
According to Flemmons, Farley spoke loudly to the president.
“Amon wants to build a cowshed,” Farley said. “A cowshed!” the president exclaimed.
Eavesdropping outside, Carter rushed in, Flemmons wrote, shouting “Now gawddammit, it’s not a cowshed!”
Flemmons, Farley, and the president proceeded to convulse with laughter.
In November 1935, after the proposal was resubmitted, Fort Worth received its funds through the determined effort of Amon Carter.
“Your cowshed has been approved by the administration,” wrote Jesse Jones, director of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and a Houstonian, by the way.
Carter had always wanted the complex
to be a memorial to Will Rogers, who died in a plane crash in 1935 in Alaska. The two were close friends.
Carter had even traveled to Washington after the crash to chaperone Rogers’ body back to Oklahoma.
“Your going to Seattle was the … most comforting thing of all the loving things that were done for him,” Rogers’ wife Betty wrote Amon Carter only weeks after Rogers’ death. “No one but you could have thought of this, and how I love you for it. All those long hours my thoughts were with you. I do want you to know how deeply touched we were and how each one of us appreciate your warm affection and sincere friendship for him.
“He loved you.”
Time would erase the debate over the location of the new livestock memorial and the centrality of the Southwestern Exposition and Fat Stock Show to Fort Worth’s centennial celebration. As discussed, the show proved integral to both the shaping of Fort Worth’s Western identity and the origin of Fort Worth’s Frontier Centennial.
The Will Roger Memorial Center became just as its founders dreamed. In the ensuing years, it emerged as a cultural hub featuring world-class museums and performance spaces that have elevated Fort Worth into an international destination for arts, history, and innovation.
It will still be a thriving economic engine at Texas’ 200th birthday in just 11 years and well beyond.
2025 Private School Guide
Gifted,
Cassata Catholic High School, Fort Worth,
Creme de la Creme,* Colleyville, cremedelacreme.com
Cristo Rey Fort Worth College Prep, Fort Worth, cristoreyfw.org
2025 Private School Guide
North Park Christian Academy,* North Richland Hills, northparknow.com
Christian Academy,* Arlington, pantego.com
Primrose School at Eagle Ranch,* Fort Worth, primroseeagleranch.com
Primrose School at Heritage,* Keller, primroseheritage.com
Primrose School at Hidden Lakes,* Southlake, primrosehiddenlakes.com
Primrose School of Bedford,* Bedford, primrosebedford.com
Primrose School of Columbus Trail,* Fort Worth, primrosecolumbustrail.com
Primrose School of Grand Peninsula,* Grand Prairie, primrosegrandpeninsula.com
Primrose School of Hall Johnson,* Grapevine, primrosehalljohnson.com
Primrose School of Keller,* Keller, primrosekeller.com
Primrose School of Mid-Cities,* Hurst, primrosemidcities.com
Primrose School of NE Green Oaks,* Arlington, primrosenegreenoaks.com
Primrose School of Parkwood Hill,* Fort Worth, primroseparkwoodhill.com
Primrose School of Southlake,* Southlake, primrosesouthlake.com
Primrose School of Walnut Creek,* Mansfield, primrosewalnutcreek.com
Saint Andrew Catholic School, Fort Worth, standrewsch.org
Fort Worth, southwestchristian.org
Elizabeth Ann Seton School, Keller, seton.school
George Catholic School,* Fort Worth, stgeorgecatholicschool.org
St. John the Apostle Catholic School,* North Richland Hills, stjs.org
2025 Private School Guide
CHOWTOWN
LOCAL EATS AND RESTAURANT NEWS
THE GREAT ESCAPE
On page 80 Get up to speed with local foodie news in the monthly Chowtown Lowdown. On page 81 We take a look at our crystal ball and give our readers a much-too-early list of recommended restaurants slated to open in 2025. 78
New in the Cultural District, The Chumley House is a sophisticated, Europeaninspired steakhouse with British flair, offering dishes such as beef Wellington, tenderloin stroganoff, and handmade cobblers in a cozy, cool setting.
By Malcolm Mayhew
WHAT WE’RE CHEWING OVER THIS MONTH:
The Great Escape
Opened by a TCU grad, a new steakhouse in the Cultural District called The Chumley House offers an otherworldly culinary adventure.
By Malcolm Mayhew
The best restaurants in our city, some will argue, are the ones that perfectly capture what it’s like to live and eat in Fort Worth. Think Angelo’s Barbecue and its walls of taxidermy. Or Reata, with its Texican-inspired menu. Bonnell’s, Fred’s, and Lonesome Dove are other Fort Worth restaurants that paint vivid culinary pictures of our city. When you’re eating at one of these restaurants, you know you’re eating in Fort Worth.
There’s another argument that I also tend to agree with: that the city’s best restaurants are not just the ones that remind you of Fort Worth, but the ones that offer you an escape from Fort Worth. Grace, Bocca Osteria Romana, Paris 7th — these are restaurants that transport you to anywhere else but Fort Worth.
It’s in this group of restaurants where newly opened The Chumley House belongs. From the second you walk in to a lively bar scene and softly illuminated dining room, to the time you walk out, wherein your server shakes your hand and helps you put your jacket on, you are somewhere else. Where that somewhere else is, though — that’s up to you.
In the eyes of Benji Homsey, the TCU grad whose Dallas-based company Duro Hospitality opened The Chumley House in November, it’s Europe, where handsomely appointed, low-lit, boisterous restaurants that serve beef Wellington, stroganoff, and steaks are the norm. For me, The Chumley House has Chicago written all over it, not because of the cuisine, which is decidedly not Chicagoan, but because of the laidback luxe atmosphere. My wife’s vote: New York.
“There’s a reason food tastes better when you’re on vacation,” Homsey says a few days later during an interview. “That’s what we’re going for here — to take diners out of Fort Worth, out of the bad days they’re having, out of the argument with their significant others, or whatever it is they’re dealing with that day, and drop them in this other place
where all that stuff just melts away. It doesn’t surprise me that you’re taken to one place and your wife is taken another. That’s what the restaurant is meant to do — be a transportive experience.”
Much of the restaurant’s charm rests on the shoulders of its snug dining room, which is divided into small rooms, much like a house. A room called The Study indeed feels like a study, with its mahogany walls, custom fireplace, and English hunting motif. Elsewhere in the restaurant are design and architectural appointments that further enhance the coziness of home: herringbone-patterned dark wood floors, Scottish plaid rugs, pumpkin-hued saddle leather banquettes, plush green velvet fabric decorated with mallard ducks.
“We looked at the design of this restaurant through a residential lens,” says Homsey, who graduated from TCU in 1999. “We wanted the design to look like what you’d expect to see
in someone’s home. We have four or five different styles of chairs because that’s what you have at home. The goal here was to create a very soulful restaurant — the design, the lighting, the music, the smells coming from the kitchen. We want you to feel at home.”
Design of the 3,500-square-foot space, which seats 90 indoors and 25 outdoors, is the handiwork of Duo Hospitality partners Corbin and Ross See of Sees Design, who worked with Patrick Craine of Dallas architectural firm Practice to emulate the feel of a British manor with contemporary touches.
The menu is made up of European classics with touches of American and Indian cuisine. Key dishes include beef Wellington, a center-cut tenderloin wrapped in a puff pastry; herb popovers with salted butter; a halibut “porterhouse” with chimichurri; butter chicken pot pie with coriander-glazed roots and ginger
Beef Wellington
yogurt; tenderloin stroganoff with ricotta dumplings; and chicken schnitzel with lemon Parmesan cream.
The nearly half-dozen steak options include an eight-ounce tenderloin filet, a 10-ounce prime shortrib steak, and a dry-aged prime bone-in rib-eye that weighs in at 20 ounces.
Each table receives freshly baked scones, paired with a cup of rose lychee tea.
Founded in 2020, Duro Hospitality, which also includes Chas Martin, who grew up in the Fort Worth area, has opened a number of award-winning restaurants in Dallas that include The Charles, Mister Charles, Sister, El Carlos Elegante, Casa Duro, and Cafe Duro.
Two Duro restaurants — Mister Charles and El Carlos Elegante — were recently honored with Michelin recommendations.
The Chumley House marks Duro’s first restaurant outside of Dallas.
“Fort Worth has always been on our radar,” Homsey says. “I’m a TCU graduate, Chas grew up in Fort Worth — this city is very near and dear to our hearts, and we knew that someday we’d open something here.”
Although the atmosphere and food may transport diners somewhere else, the service is very old school Fort Worth, echoing a time when servers and bartenders cultivated relationships with their guests.
“It’s somewhat of a dying art, that kind of service where bartenders ask you about your day or your servers shake your hand and introduce themselves and ask you your name,” Homsey says. “It’s a difference-maker. It builds loyalty for the restaurant. I like it when a bartender remembers my name and my favorite drink. It makes me want to go back over and over.
“Those relationships also make our guests feel like we’ve been here for a long time, like home,” Homsey says. “That’s the best compliment we can get — that we feel like home, wherever that home may be.”
After a four-month break, Arlington’s excellent A Taste of Europe has reopened, quelching rumors that the long-running restaurant, featured on the hit television show “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” had closed. In August, owner Alexandre Tsalko said the restaurant was going to close and possibly move to Rowlett, where Tsalko lives. But after the restaurant received an outpouring of support from the local food and restaurant community, he decided to stay put and just close temporarily to make several needed repairs to the building. Tsalko spent four months installing new, dimmer light fixtures, updating the bar area, adding terra cotta tiles to the floor, and sprucing up the market area where you can buy chocolates imported from various European regions. The restaurant, one of the few in the area to serve Euro-style dishes such as handmade pierogies, kolduny (potato pancakes stuffed with beef and chicken), chicken kiev, and stuffed meatloaf, was opened more than 20 years ago by Tsalko’s grandfather, Mikhail Frumkin, who emigrated from the eastern European country of Belarus to the North Texas area. 1901W.Pioneer Parkway,Arlington,tasteofeuropetx.com
Please give a warm welcome to Julio Cartagena, who recently joined Toro Toro Pan Latin Steakhouse as executive chef. Cartagena brings with him a robust wealth of experience and knowledge from tenures at Wyndham Palamas and Wyndham Rio Mar in Puerto Rico, at least according to a press release. If you haven’t been to Toro Toro, you’re missing one of downtown’s best restaurants. It’s located inside the Worthington Hotel. 200Main St.,torotorofortworth.com
An anniversary of great note: It was 20 years ago, as of this writing, at the tail end of 2004, that Fritz Rahr took a chance on a beat-down building and a craft beer concept and opened Rahr & Sons Brewing Co. Two decades later, Rahr and his two sons Hayden and Will, who are now very much involved in the business, are still going strong, having outlived trends and other breweries that have come and gone. The Rahr family celebrated their 20 years in the local beer biz with a food and booze event on Dec. 12, whose proceeds benefitted their animal rescue organization, Rahr Rescue. Good, good people, they are. rahrbrewing.com
Downtown steakhouse Wicked Butcher has a twin restaurant in Dallas that was recently named the sixth best new restaurant in the U.S. by Yelp users. Our Wicked Butcher serves the same menu as the Dallas Wicked Butcher, though, so no need to drive to Dallas to try it out. The Fort Worth Wicked Butcher, open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, opened four years ago as the on-site restaurant for the beautiful Sinclair hotel, housed in a historic art deco building. 512MainSt.,wickedbutcher.com
Lobster and artichoke pot pie
Colossal Stuffed Shells
Get Ready to Get Stuffed
We’ve got one heck of a delicious forecast, Fort Worth.
By Malcolm Mayhew Photos by Thanin Viriyaki
In December, for our annual Best New Restaurant story, we looked back on many of the great restaurants that opened over the past year.
Now, we’re heading full steam ahead into what promises to be another busy year of restaurant openings.
Here’s a sneak preview of some of the restaurants in and around Fort Worth scheduled to open in ’25:
Broadway 10 Bar & Chophouse
OPENING: SPRING/SUMMER
Downtown’s newest steakhouse will be located on the ground floor of Deco, a 27-story high-rise featuring deco-style, luxury apartment homes and penthouses.
Broadway 10 Bar & Chophouse, which will be open for lunch, dinner, and brunch, will be the property’s signature restaurant, and as its name implies, there will be a focus on hand-cut steaks, along with fresh seafood, sushi, and family-style sides such as smoked Gouda mashed potatoes and lobster mac and cheese. This will be the restaurant’s second location; the original is in Oklahoma City.
Details:969CommerceSt.,b10chophouse.com
Carne Asada’s Mexican Food
OPENING: LATE DECEMBER, EARLY JANUARY
Joel Gutierrez, owner of the popular Mexican seafood restaurant Acapulco on the city’s North Side, is slated to open a new breakfast/lunch/dinner concept just a few blocks away. Gutierrez and his team have turned a 1930s, 750-square-foot building into a drive-thru/ walk-up spot with patio seating. Gutierrez says Carne Asada will open seven days a week, from sunup to sundown, serving Tex-Mex and Mex-Mex classics, such as tortas, enchiladas, nachos, chingon fries (fries topped with carne asada, cheese, guacamole, and other toppings), menudo, and breakfast burritos. There will be freshly made aguas frescas, too, plus assorted iced coffee drinks.
More bagels are always a good thing. A Fort Worth outpost of this immensely popular Trophy Club bagel shop will open near TCU in the space once occupied by Black Rooster Bakery, according to CultureMap. Dan’s will also serve cinnamon rolls, cookies, and other baked goods and pastries.
Details:2430ForestParkBlvd.,dansbagels.com
Fort
Redemption
NOW OPEN
Those who frequented the most recent incarnation of Mariachi’s Dine In and, before it, Mariposa’s Latin Cuisine will hardly recognize the Locke Block space where this meat-centric food truck-turned-brick-andmortar now resides. Owner Tony Chaudhry has given the room a gorgeous makeover, adding a waiting area with benches, tidying up the bar, and adding attractive seating, including handmade tables. The nice atmos reflects his upgraded menu, which includes dishes such as rack of lamb, a 16-ounce rib-eye and, during brunch, an outtasite smoked brisket benedict.
Mary Patino Perez, owner of Fort Worth’s Enchiladas Ole restaurants, is behind this soon-to-open ‘cue spot
Rack of lamb at Fort Redemption
in west Fort Worth, which takes over the old Samson’s Ethiopian restaurant. Perez has been testing the waters for a Mexi-cue spot for several months, serving smoked meats and sides out of the Forest Park location of Enchiladas Ole.
Details:4307CampBowieBlvd.
Ko Thai OPENING: FEBRUARY/MARCH
This upscale Thai restaurant will occupy a newly built two-story building on Magnolia Avenue in the Near Southside. The second story will feature an outdoor deck that’ll look upon Magnolia. Ko Thai comes from the same owner as Koracha Thai Restaurant in Bedford but will have a more classy vibe and opulent decor, including a Thai statuary, according to CultureMap. The menu is still in the works, but look for fancy renditions of Thai classics, like pad Thai and basil fried rice.
Details: 725 W. Magnolia St., kothai.co
Los Vaqueros Restaurant OPENING: FIRST QUARTER OF ’25
The beloved Stockyards Tex-Mex restaurant will soon move from its longtime home to, just a block or so away, the Stockyards Exhibits Building in Rodeo Plaza. Details:2513RodeoPlaza,losvaqueros.com
Margie’s Italian Gardens OPENING: SPRING/SUMMER
Westland Restaurant Group, which brought back Pulido’s, is in the process of resurrecting this iconic Italian joint, which most of us remember as Margie’s Italian Restaurant. Westland tidied up the name a bit, as it’s doing with the restaurant itself. Look for it to reopen in the spring or summer.
Milo’s Cocina Mexicana is a just-opened spinoff of Fort WorthMagazinefavorite Los Jimadores, a well-liked chain of local Mexican restaurants whose food goes above and beyond the norms of Tex-Mex fare. Hermilo “Milo” Acosta Milo’s offers a slimmer menu than Los Jimadores, in a sleeker, more modern setting. There are the traditional enchiladas and chimichangas, but go for the more adventurous dishes such as the Pollo Xochitl, a pan-fried chicken breast smothered in a rich tequila cream sauce over chipotle mashed potatoes and spinach, or the salmon Azteca, comprised of your choice of pan-seared or blackened salmon served over shrimp chilaquiles, all topped with two sauces: a sweet pineapple sauce and a savory poblano cream sauce.
The second of three planned Pulido’s resurrections, the Hurst location of this long-running Tex-Mex mainstay should be open by the time you read this. Like it did with the original, the Westland Restaurant Group, which purchased three locations of the Tex-Mex chain from the Pulido family, took a hands-off approach to the revamp, knocking down some walls to open the space, sprucing up the bar, and adding some largerthan-life photos of the fam. Westland is also planning on bringing back the Eastland location later this year. Details:1224PrecinctLineRoad,Hurst,pulidostx. com
Rex’s Bar & Grill
OPENING: EARLY ’25
This new bar and grill going into the old Macaroni Grill
on University Drive is from Rex Benson, who owns the well-known spot next door, Ol’ South Pancake House. Rex’s will feature a menu designed by onetime Reata chef Brian Olenjack, says the Star-Telegram,with items such as chicken-fried steak, garlic baked chicken, and pork chops. They’ll keep late hours on weekends.
Details:1501S.UniversityDrive,rexsftw.com
Rise Southern Biscuits & Righteous Chicken
NOW OPEN
Popular fast-casual biscuits and fried chicken chain recently expanded to Fort Worth with a location north of the loop. Buttermilk biscuits are made throughout the day, then stuffed or topped with ingredients both savory and sweet, including the restaurant’s signature fried chicken.
Chicago-based steakhouse will open its first location in North Texas in early ’25. The restaurant is known for its two dry-aged steaks: a 16-ounce Kansas City strip and a 20-ounce, bone-in rib-eye.
Details:2102SH-114,Southlake,rosebudrestaurants. com
Terra Mediterranean Grill
OPENING: LATE DECEMBER, EARLY JANUARY
Some of us never knew how much we loved this long-running, family-owned Mediterranean restaurant until it abruptly disappeared in 2019. But our cravings for its killer salmon and hummus will soon be sated as the restaurant will soon reopen, just a block or two from their original location.
Details:2932CrockettSt.,terramediterranean.com
Terry Black’s BBQ
OPENING: SLATED TO OPEN DECEMBER
Tentatively scheduled to open in December ’24, this monolithic barbecue joint marks the Fort Worth arrival of one of the most well-known names in Texas barbecue circles. Look for giant beef ribs, brisket, sausage, turkey, pork ribs, and sides such as mac and cheese, green beans, and cole slaw.
Details:2926W.7thSt.,terryblacksbbq.com
Unnamed restaurant from Hao Tran
OPENING: LATE 2025
After years of hosting pop-up events and running a market on the south side, well-known local chef Hao Tran will finally open a long-awaited, full-fledged restaurant later this year in the newly refurbished Entrepreneur Park mixed-use complex in west Fort Worth. While she’s still finalizing all the details, including the name of the restaurant, she says the focus will be on Vietnamese fare, along with freshly made dumplings, her signature dish.
Details:405JimWrightFreeway.
Shish kebabs at Terra Mediterranean Grill
by Brian Kendall
by Crystal Wise
Susan Semmelmann: 2025 Dream Home Interior Designer
The veteran interior designer is raising the bar yet again, as she tackles her seventh FortWorthMagazineDream Home.
To use a tired sports reference, everything has a Michael Jordan — a Tom Brady, a Babe Ruth, a GOAT (Greatest of All Time). No matter the industry, project, or sport, someone must be long-tenured and, ultimately, rise above the field as the absolute best. And when it comes to Dream Home interior design, Susan Semmelmann of Susan Semmelmann Interiors, is the GOAT.
Celebrating its 25th year of showcasing the industry’s top professionals with a one-of-a-kind homebuild and tour, the Fort Worth Magazine Dream Home has featured its fair share of talented local interior designers. But no one has put their special touch on the annual project more than Semmelmann. This year’s Dream Home, which is currently
under construction in the West Fort Worth neighborhood of Montrachet, marks the seventh time the magazine has partnered with Semmelmann on one of these massive projects.
And there’s a reason this partnership has had such legs: The 25-year interior design veteran continues to deliver jaw-dropping design that raises the Dream Home standard again and again. Everything she touches has gone above and beyond what the magazine and its readers define as a success.
Not one to rest on her laurels, Semmelmann says she’s particularly excited about this year’s home, which readers, homebuyers, and curious onlookers can tour beginning this May. Partnering with builders Scott Sangalli and Brad Davidson of The Morrison
Group, this house, Semmelmann explains, is unlike any Dream Home that’s come before.
“This home calls for something different,” Semmelmann says. “It’s very simplistic, but it also screams a statement. It’s one of the most simplistic designs we’ve done, but each room is a piece of art that isn’t overdone but well done.”
We recently caught up with Semmelmann to chat about this year’s project, what keeps bringing her back to Dream Home projects, and she even gives us a little design advice to boot.
FW: Past Dream Homes have been quite flashy — a lot of pizzazz, so to speak. I understand this one is going to be a little different.
Susan Semmelmann: It is. It’s very organic and swinging on the masculine side. We brought in the cognacs, the olives, and the creams, so everything is very warm. But its biggest difference is that it's such a relaxed environment. It's a kick-up-your-feet, we-want-youto-stay sort of place. We want you to feel at home.
And I've been told, “You've got an organic glam to you.” And this one's going to be more organic. Not organic glam, but an organic slam.
If you were to walk into a very highend lodge that had a modern feel to it in Colorado or California or in the mountains, I think that's what you're going to feel when you walk in here.
FW: Is there anything specific, designwise, that most excites you about this year’s Dream Home?
Semmelmann: There’s a phenomenal first impression: a massive bar to the right when you walk in. The home’s floor plan is very unique. I've never designed a home where one walks into the first great room to a massive bar, which steps down in the foundation and has counter-height barstools. But instead of barstools, we did dining chairs because you're going to want to sit for a very long time. It’s designed for entertaining, and the great room is this huge space for gathering.
photo
I’m also very excited about the master bedroom. We’re calling [the room’s palette] bourbon and bubbles because it’s done with cognacs and champagnes. We wanted to take the masculinity and warmth of the cognac and blend it with the elegance and the sparkle of the champagne without being sparkly. We're calling it champagne, but it's not sparkly because everything is organic. We're doing a very textured approach.
And the bed is phenomenal; it’s tobacco-stained with hand-dyed leather and wonderful finishes. And the coffee table has an old weathered hide that is applied to the top of the table, but it has the city of Fort Worth on it.
But I’m honestly excited about all of it.
FW: This is now the fourth straight Dream project you’ve worked on with the magazine — and seven total. What keeps you coming back?
Semmelmann: It’s the mission-driven message: The spirit of living is in the giving. We love that we can go out and forge that path in our local community to give back to not only a Wish with Wings but also diving into our community with tremendous passion for what we do. For me, that’s why I would do it time and time again; it's a platform to showcase what our Godgiven talents are. I think that we have a team, a very strategic team, that's next level, and every single person on this team is united in the fact that we want to do the unknown. We want to do something different. We want to be progressive. We want to be innovative. And we bring the highest level of energy, knowing that the bar gets higher and higher, and we have to outperform ourselves every single year. It’s the challenge we love. We're already thinking about 2026. What are we going to do? How are we going to be different from all previous years? And I really want different.
FW: Whether you’re applying them to the Dream Home or not, what
are some current design trends that you’re seeing?
Semmelmann: I think we're getting away from a lot of the straight lines; you're seeing more curves. You're seeing more flourishes with flowing lines. It’s lots of curves, lots of rounded and circular lines, and lots of abstract strings. In other words, when you look at art, nothing is very fixed anymore. The trends are moving away from the very straight square looks. And again, that's a trend. Another trend is leaning into the merlot color. The tobacco colors are also making a comeback. And we're doing a little bit of that in the Dream Home with the cognacs. People are no longer afraid of dark and moody. More and more people are getting away from white. So, white is something that we're not really getting the demand for anymore. And I think it's kind of had its turn.
FW: Well, I’m massively disappointed because everything that you said is out of fashion is what I have at my place. Semmelmann: That’s just the nature of the beast. Hang in there another three years, and it's back.
FW: Right. I remember your telling me gray was no longer in vogue a couple years ago, and I was like, “Oh, great. I just bought a gray couch. Cool.” Semmelmann: Do not listen to that. So many people come in, and they go, “Oh, grays are out. Grays are out.” I do not believe that to be true. It is how you design with them. The market still loves the color. People are sometimes influenced by what other voices say, and I always say, “Stand up and stand for something, and be true to yourself.” Because I've got clients that do want it, and they're scared of it because they're hearing those voices telling them that it’s out. And let me tell you something, it's not out. It's how your designer applies it. And that is the key component to everything. Gray is a fundamental, natural color. Just like white. Just like cream. Just like black. They’re timeless. It just depends on the application that goes with it. The
Home Partners
Wranglers and Wishes
Make-A-Wish
On Nov. 1, Make-A-Wish North Texas hosted its annual Wranglers and Wishes fundraising event at the Omni Fort Worth Hotel, attracting nearly 500 guests and raising more than $600,000 for the nonprofit. The evening, expertly emceed by CBS News Texas morning show anchor Madison Sawyer, featured live and silent auctions, a delicious three-course dinner, and inspiring wish stories. Make-A-Wish and friends from the Fort Worth Zoo surprised Kyle Shook with his wish-come-true to go to the San Diego Zoo, and the Waggoner family shared about the transformative impact of Luke’s granted wish for a train house in his backyard.
Lexi Waggoner, Anthony Casey, Ami Waggoner, Tim Waggoner, Tom Davis, Jackie Davis, Rhonda Milner, wish kid Luke Waggoner
Robyn Risenhoover, Chris Salvador
Jon Filbert, John Makalous, Russell Rose Darrell & Christen Armer, Susan Watt, Russ Webb
Christina Rodgers, Tara Warren, Jennifer Brezina
Madison Sawyer, Sarah & Neal Shook, wish kid Kyle Shook
photos by JerSean Golatt
THANK YOU
Fort Worth Magazine proudly congratulates our 2024 Top Attorneys and extends heartfelt thanks to our Gold Sponsor, Forvis Mazars, for supporting the reception held in their honor at Century Hall on Dec. 4.
GOLD SPONSOR
WINNER SPONSORS
Durham Legal, PLLC
Shawn W. Paschall Cole Paschall Law
Top Attorney FortWorthMagazine
FortWorthMagazinehosted its annual Top Attorneys cocktail reception on Wednesday, Dec. 4, at the stylish Century Hall in downtown Fort Worth. The event celebrated this year’s honorees, whose achievements are highlighted in the December issue of the magazine and online.
Attendees mingled over a selection of wine, beer, cocktails, and delicious hors d’oeuvres. The relaxed atmosphere and culinary treats no doubt contributed to the camaraderie among these legal professionals—proving they can play nice outside the courtroom.
A special thanks goes to our generous Gold Sponsor, Forvis Mazars, for its contributions in ensuring a successful event.
Derek Pfeifer, Michael McLean, Christy Bessert, Sabrina Najera, Rob Optiz
Andrea Palmer, Luke McMahan
Cassidy Pearson, Gary Nicholson, Chris Nicholson
Chloe Day, Zena McNulty, Jeffrey Johnson
Whitney & Kyle Morris
Jessica Phillips, Melissa Swan, Taryn Horton
photos by Darah Hubbard
EOE Gala FortWorthInc.magazine
FortWorthInc.’sEntrepreneur of Excellence program culminated in a spectacular gala at the historic Fort Worth Club, celebrating finalists and winners in style. The evening was filled with fine dining, laughter, and recognition of exceptional achievements.
Guests enjoyed entertainment from the renowned Four Day Weekend comedy troupe, whose witty performances brought humor and energy to the event. Winners in each category were announced and awarded custom Justin Boots along with a handsome trophy, symbols of their entrepreneurial excellence.
The night also included a special highlight: honoring Netty Matthews, recipient of the Supporter of Entrepreneurship Award, for her unwavering dedication to promoting entrepreneurship across the region.
A heartfelt thank you to our sponsors—Whitley Penn, Texas Capital, TCU Neeley School of Business, and Justin Boots—for making the evening unforgettable.
Entrepreneur of Excellence 2024 Winners
Andy Mitchell, Jeff Bundy, Josh Governale
Netty Matthews
Cyndy & Gary Tonniges Jr
Texas Capital - Murat Kamacioglu, Jennifer Baggs, Jeremy Brannon, Sarah Khan, Aaron Williams, Amanda Arizpe
Oliver Tull, Ralph Manning
Whitley Penn group
photos by Darah Hubbard
Jan. 11
Grand Entry Gala
Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum, Arena Floor
Junior League of Fort Worth
Jan. 17 - Feb. 8
Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo
Dickies Arena
Fort Worth Stock Show
Jan. 25
Beyond the Bag
Ridglea Country Club
Joan Katz Cancer Resource Center
Jan. 25
Camp Classic Trail Run
Camp El Tesoro
Camp Fire First Texas
No one knows the cause of the pain — this photo was taken in 2008 and retrieved from the FortWorthMagazine archives. Whether physical injury (very likely given the high-risk nature of rodeo sports) or disappointment, the ache and mystique this photo presents are unmistakable. This is largely why the hatless, crouching, and grimacing cowboy has long been an image that’s caught this editor’s eye — the photo is the epitome of the common phrase, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Hell, I’d argue this image could serve as the writing prompt for an entire novel.
Prints of this image, along with many others that have either appeared or not appeared in our publication, are available for purchase on the Fort Worth Magazine website. Check out the QR code for the link.
@jasonkindigphoto
PHOTO BY JASON KINDIG
Pictured: Allen Glover, GM, SouthWest Nissan Stephen Gilchrist, Dealer Operator, Gilchrist Automotive
