© National Cowboy Poetry Rodeo 2015
2019 Judges
Jim Gray
The Cowboy, Jim Gray is a 6th generation Kansan with roots in Kansas Territory. Great-grandfather, George Gray, set up Gray’s Ranch in central
Kansas in 1883. Gray raises cattle on a portion of the old ranch. Gray published The Kansas Cowboy from 1996- 2008. The publication served the
mission of the C.O.W.B.O.Y. (Cockeyed Old West Band Of Yahoos) Society, organized to promote and preserve the Cowboy heritage of Kansas. The
articles researched and written by Gray examined the frontier history of Kansas from Gray’s own unique perspective on history. “I’ve always had
an interest in things that have gone before. These Kansas plains have been witness to untold stories of joy and desperation. Many have been told
over and over. Others have lapsed beyond recognition.” Gray authored Desperate Seed: Ellsworth Kansas on the Violent Frontier in 2009. The
Way West, a weekly newspaper column about Old West Kansas is carried in several newspapers across the state. The 2011 150th Anniversary
Cattle Drive from Caldwell to Ellsworth, Kansas, revisited the old-time cattle drive with cattle on the trail for two hundred miles over a three-week
period of life under the open sky and long days in the saddle. Gray has been a speaker for Humanities Kansas since 2011. Rest assured Gray can
put flesh and blood onto the bones of stories that have been buried but not forgotten.
Michael Hook
Del is a Western Music Singer, Song Writer, Entertainer and Nashville Recording Artist, as well as an award winning Cowboy Poet.
Along with being the Cowboy Singer on the top rated Television Show, Best Of America By Horseback, Del is also the Co-Host of the show
which has been airing now into its Eleventh year. He was Trail Boss on a trail ride that lead 46 riders from Mexico to Canada in 2009. There
are 5 Cruises to His credit on which he entertained both on and off the ships in locations such as Alaska, the Yukon, Belize, on the steps of
the Mayan Temples and Caribbean Islands.
Del has recorded five CDs of which he has had a song stay number 2 on the charts for three quarters of a year and two other of the albums
in the top ten. His poetry skills have landed him Runner up at he Echoes of the trail Competition and People's choice award, and Humor
Award at the Kansas Cowboy Symposium in Dodge City Ks. Del is regularly featured in numerous Magazines and on Radio shows across the
country.
He still loves spending time training and shoeing horses at his home, The High Trail Ranch near Humboldt Ks where he and his Wife Shevawn
spend time nurturing the surroundings to make them Grandchild friendly. They are the parents of five children who have in turn given them
seven grandchildren to keep up with. Along with the many avenues pursued, Del also has a background in Ministry and preaches as a fill in
for the Church of Christ in Iola Ks where he and his family attend.
Co-Host of Best of America By Horseback on RFDtv
Dennis Weese, 2019 Judge Foreman
Dennis Weese, Born on a farm in SW Colorado Canyon County and raised to be a Free Man. Always had horses and a few cow critters. First
paying job was riding fence, checking salt and water holes for the Neighboring Rancher along with my brother. We were ages approx. 8 &10.
I got $3 a day, my brother got $6. I was “too little.” Together we made a pretty good hand. Water jugs, sack lunch, single shot 22 rifle,
fencing pliers and two steady Mountain horses, one of which we broke ourselves. Trained a lot of good horses in New York, Massachusetts,
and New Hampshire. Won a few Bronze door stops along the way. Came to KS in 1992 for a Town Job and to provide a good home for my
little family, the better half pictured alongside in the photo. My sanity and I have existed on the grace of using the neighbors pasture land
and cows since that time whilst working in Town. Still have a couple of steady steeds on a little place in the country outside Abilene KS.
Ready and waiting for the demand for Cowboy Gunfighters to come back.
Community Relations & Commercial Sales Director, Eagle Communications, Abilene, Kansas
1971-2016 - Click here for more information on this great cowboy
we all loved and admired so very much..
In Memory of Jack “Trey” Allen,
Director Dickinson County Heritage Center
Michael Hook was born in Kansas City, Missouri, but spent his early years immersed in the cowboy culture. His father, Larry, attended School of
the Ozarks in Branson, Missouri, and then they moved to Galveston, Texas where Michael was able to see first-hand the ranchers and cowboys
that kept the Texas cattle drives alive.
As the family moved back to Kansas City, Michael started playing baseball, and was able to pitch in college for Longview College and Missouri
Western State University. His first job that he took was unloading trucks at Wal-Mart, but he was able to work his way up to Store Manager
near Des Moines, Iowa.
There was always a missing void in Michael’s life, and he went on searching for it as he completed his degree in History from Arizona State
University. He ended up in Abilene, Kansas where he was once again immersed in the cowboy culture. He is the Event Coordinator for the
150th Anniversary of the Chisholm Trail; he is the president of the Seelye Foundation; the Director of the Dickinson County Heritage Center;
and the Treasurer of the Kansas Cattletown Coalition.
Sharon Meyer
Sharon is a California native, growing up on a small ranch in the San Joaquin Valley – raised by an “ol Arkansas Cowboy”. Always in jeans and
boots! Now living in Carlton, with her husband Don Meyer – who she met while living in Fort Collins, Colorado. Don said he had a
“chuckwagon” and she was smitten! Sharon has judged many speaking contests and has won Toastmaster Competitions. She has loved
Cowboy Poetry all her life and enjoys the many poetry competitions they have attended in Colorado, Nevada, Wyoming and now Kansas. There
is a family “rumor” that her great great grandfather was a drover on the Chisholm Trail, while the truth is her family homesteaded in the
Hiawatha, KS area coming from Ohio in their wagons prior to the Civil War.
Sharon and Don have cooked for wagon trains (Wyoming and Oregon) and Mormon Trek’s in Wyoming. They are members of the Ben Kern
Wagon Train Club and continue to enjoy and treasure the friendships they have made over the years with those who love and cherish the
“Western Life and The Cowboy Way!”
