Cleo Hearn, Calf Roping Champion, Founder of the Cowboys of Color Rodeo, Fair Park, Texas
Artist
Don Russell
(American, born 1953)
Date2015, printed 2017
Mediumdigital inkjet color print on paper
Dimensions22 × 17 inches (55.9 × 43.2 cm)
Image: 18 1/16 × 12 1/16 inches (45.9 × 30.6 cm)
Image: 18 1/16 × 12 1/16 inches (45.9 × 30.6 cm)
Credit LineGift of the artist, 2017
Object number2017.1.21
ClassificationsPhotographs
Label TextCleo Hearn, founder and producer of the Cowboys of Color Rodeo, passed away November 9, 2025. He was the first African American to attend college on a rodeo scholarship. Hearn was a champion calf roper. He earned his Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) membership in 1959. Hearn reminisced, “The problem with most of us was getting disheartened. We weren’t getting half of what the White cowboys were getting.” He said, “I’ll tell you what made me stay hooked: the love of horses was the key to the whole thing.” He spoke in a Cowboys of Color panel discussion at the Stark Museum of Art in 2018.
ProvenanceArtist; gifted May 4, 2017 to the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation; accessioned to the Stark Museum of Art
On View
On viewCollections
Don Russell
2016, printed 2017
