Longtime friend Ty McClary: Lari Dee Guy 'best female roper there ever has been'

Editor's note: This is the 10th and final story in a series on this year’s Big Country Athletic Hall of Fame inductees. The induction banquet has been postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Driving back and forth to Fort Worth was sure worth it for Lari Dee Guy.

Guy in mid-January was honored at Billy Bob's Texas, where she and four others, including Abilene-based country singer Aaron Watson, were inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame.

These days, she's still waiting on driving back and forth from her ranch to Abilene.

"It's what I have worked for all my life," she said of her statewide recognition seven months ago.

A few weeks later, she was named to the Class of 2020 for the Big Country Athletic Hall of Fame. She would be inducted in early May.

"I thought it was a huge honor," she said

Of course, being publicly honored has not happened.

The COVID-19 pandemic struck and the event, like many others, never made it out of the chute.

The event was rescheduled for August, but has been postponed again.

More:Ropin' the wins: Abilene cowgirl Lari Dee Guy is '20 hall of fame inductee

More:Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame inductees -- two with Abilene ties -- made their mamas proud

"And all the BS in between," Guy said earlier this summer of what transpired between January and June. "All the other stuff that's going on. It's crazy times right now."

And it still is.

Last year, hall of famers included Jackie Ramsey, the first trap shooter to be honored. Mark Oates was the first gymnast.

History is made again with Guy, who was selected as the first rodeo cowgirl.

"I think I am probably the first cowboy or cowgirl in there," she said. "Being recognized for rodeo is a pretty cool thing. Women in rodeo finally getting the recognition that it needs.

"I think it's cool that I'm one of the people getting recognized. I want it to come across as an honor, not arrogance."

Ty McClary, a longtime friend, auctioneer and former actor (as Ty O'Neal), said no one he knows is more deserving of recognition than Guy.

"She is a pioneer in her sport," he said. "If you're a girl or a woman, and you don't look up to Lari Dee Guy (he laughs) ... there's something wrong with you," adding he and other cowboys look up to her.

"She's one they'll be talking about from now on. She has been such a legacy with her sport, and she continues to rise to the occasion."

Darn close to lifelong cowgirl

Guy first was in a saddle at 2, and was competing in rodeo events at 7.

She began in events for girls, such as barrel racing and goat-tying. Her mother ran barrels. Nothing wrong with that, and Lari Dee was good.

But, she said, she grew up on a ranch near Abilene and learned more. Her father and brother who's three years older, roped, and she picked up on that.

"I grew up in a ranching-rodeo family. Living on a ranch, participating every day and working cattle, roping became a big part of what I did, and I grew to love it," she said. She practiced roping with her brother, Tommy, and, of course, it got a little competitive.

"I had someone to base my progression up against," she said. "I kept raising the bar all the time.

"Barrel racing was primarily the women's event, roping really wasn't," she said. "Now, break-away roping has grown to be one of the biggest events of rodeo.

"I'm really glad I stuck with it and did it."

Her progress was more than adequate, even as she learned to rope right-handed. She was a lefty.

She became a winner in the arena, winning 11 consecutive junior titles, and eventually rodeoed at Vernon Junior College and then at Texas Tech.

Her biggest fan and friend

McClary was more than pleased to talk about Guy. He gushed like an oil well.

"I could talk to you for three days straight and not tell you everything about Lari Dee Guy," said McClary, who formerly lived here but today lives with his family near Valley View, which is between Denton and Gainsville in north Texas.

The Guy and McClary families have been longtime friends, he said. She already was making a name for herself in rodeo as youngster when they met, when he was about 7.

"From Day 1, Lari Dee was like a big sister to me," he said, recalling summers he'd spend at the Guy ranch northeast of Abilene. It's where he learned to rope and watch her get better.

"I got to see it first hand."

McClary and his wife, Christie, have a 9-year-old daughter named Marley. He does an RFD show called "The Cinch High School Rodeo Tour."

Dad said he wished they didn't live 200 miles from Guy so that Marley could experience what he did as a young boy when he learned the rodeo craft.

Marley, he said, "has started roping a little bit but there's no guarantee she'll follow in our footsteps. But she looks up to Lari Dee. They're already pals.

"I wish Marley could have more time with her, like I did."

A young boy looking up to girl was no issue with him.

"I have been a huge fan of hers for years. I am tickled to death to have part of her life."

Besides skill, confidence is key

Guy said she was confident in saddle, even at an early age.

"I won a lot," she said. "That builds confidence. I owe it all to my family, raising us like they did to be good. I had every opportunity I could have. That molded me to who I am."

For most women, that would be the end of the line. Few went on to compete nationally. There wasn't much glamour or money in that, to name two reasons to retire from competition.

But she made good on a vow as a youngster to compete for a living, and became an eight-time world champion.

She still competes, even as she stares down 50 next year. She was on the road again as rodeo events picked up, and had grand plans to be on her horse in the Cody, Wyoming, area come the July 4 holiday.

"It's growing," she said of women's rodeo. "We compete every week."

The next Lari Dees

That's the good news. The bad is that her competition is getting tougher. Reminds her of the Garth Brooks' song.

"The competition's getting younger

Tougher broncs, you know I can't recall."

"The competition is getting younger and they're getting younger in every sport," she said, noting there are so many ways to learn these days, YouTube and schools and such. "There are so many different tools. And it's the way it's supposed to be. The generations should get better every year.

"It's crazy how fast women in sports has grown."

She played basketball in high school before the WNBA was founded (1996). 

"Look how far women in basketball have come," she said of the women's pro basketball league.

McClary said what he may appreciate the most about Guy in 2020 is that she has not been holding back helping her competition.

"Lari Dee is as good a roper and teacher as there is," he said. "You need to teach other people."

Talented people sometimes get "balled up inside" and don't teach, he said.

"She teaches her competition ... everything she knows, they know. I honor and respect her as much for that as her being a cowgirl and roper."

Guy admits the younger girls are on her boot heels.

"They've gotten younger and faster and better," she said. "You have to change with them. I changed some of my styles."

But ...

"We're all getting older," McClary said, but his friend "continues to rise to the occasion" against other ropers.

"She's as good as anyone with a rope in her hands," he said. "Even in guy's sport. You see all those saddles and buckles and awards ... she deserves it. She's had a hall of fame career."

That still is going.

"Always having that experience and knowledge, it sure helps out in the long run," Guy  said, laughing.

Guy cited three key points as a successful breakaway roper:

• "Using your horse," she said. "Having a great horse and being capable of riding it and using it to the top of its ability." Her go-to horse is named Gangster. Rex is her other competition horse. Both are Quarter horses, both about 14-15 years old, she said.
• "Being able to score," she said. It's an art to nod and hit the timing barrier just right when the calf is released. "You have read the calf's pace he's going to go."
• "Being accurate with the rope," she said. Nothing is accomplished with a miss.

Asked which of those aspects is the hardest for a young competitor, Guy first said it's not rushing. 

"They want to get in a hurry," she said.

Then, she said "not using their horsemanship or their horse."

The rider has a "feel" for the horse.

"You don't know how you teach feel. Feel is from experience ... being a little older, competing and training and riding horses all the time, I have a little better feel than they do," she said. 

"The easy part," she said, "is putting a rope around the calf's neck."

Sure it is.

She laughed, and said the hardest part in basketball is getting open and set up for the shot.

"Making the shot itself is not hard," she said.

Still not done

Soon to turn 50, Guy believes she can keep going another seven years. Maybe 10.

Her dad, who's 76, still ropes, though not competitively.

"Ten might be pushing it," she said.

What is special to Guy is helping raise awareness of rodeo as a sport for women. And, with that, the money that is earned.

"I feel like that I'm old for what I do right now. I should be ending my career," she said. "These last few years girls in roping has become so big. I want to continue to be a part of it for as long as I can."

McClary said his friend may be adding years but she is as important to the industry as ever. 

"She is the best female roper there has ever been. Some have gotten really good. Some are close," he said. "She's humble and won't say it. But there's no argument with me."

Greg Jaklewicz is editor of the Abilene Reporter-News. If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to ReporterNews.com.