2023 Inductees

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B O O T H I L L M U S E U M

Kansas Cowboy Hall of Fame

2023 Inductees

Rodney Cook

2023
Rodeo Historian

Rodney Cook was born June 24, 1939 in Caldwell, Kansas to Perry Jay and Opal May Cook. From an early age he became interested in and intrigued by the rich old west history of Caldwell. In 1957, Rodney graduated from Caldwell High School. After high school he joined the United States Air Force in 1959 and was stationed in France. In France, he worked as a military police dog handler. He returned to the states and married Elaine Turner and had two children, David Russell Cook and Gretta Nike Wise. Rodney worked in many jobs and trades. After his retirement he moved to Caldwell spending time with friends and continued his interest in Caldwell history. He co-authored along with Len Gratteri and James Williams William Sherod Robinson, Alias Ben Wheeler. He also authored George and Maggie and the Red Light Saloon: Depravation, Debauchery, Violence, and Sundry Cussedness in a Kansas Cowtown. He wrote several articles on Caldwell old west history and the Chisholm Trail that were published in True West magazine and in newspapers. Rodney was instrumental in preserving several of Caldwell’s historic
landmarks including saving the Opera House from demolition, locating the “Old Caldwell Cemetery,” founding the “Border Queen Museum,” and the relocation of the Chisholm Trail historical marker. He also participated by portraying Dr. Noble in the “Talking Tombstones” events held in the Caldwell Cemetery. Most of his research and published works were presented to the Caldwell Public Library and the Caldwell Historical Society for use and enjoyment by historians and Old West enthusiasts. He was also instrumental in researching and mapping of most of Caldwell’s early-day business establishments. Due to his earnest and in-depth research, Caldwell’s history is preserved for use by future generations. Rodney Cook passed away February 7, 2017, at the age of 77.

Phil Epp

2023
Cowboy Artist

“The wide-open spaces and the horses, cowboys, Native Americans, and prairie
creatures that inhabit this empty landscape have been a lifelong passion.”

Phil Epp was born August 28, 1946 in York, Nebraska to Isaac and Rose Epp. He was raised in rural Nebraska on a crop and cattle farm. The celebration of the open sky and landscape with a hint of human occupation are reflected in his paintings. He also strives to include into the landscape timeless universal icons. His recent works place an emphasis on content and subject over technique and medium. This was done to better communicate with the viewer. Phil has received several awards and accolades by several associations and individuals. They include the Kansas Governors Artist award in 1985, 8 wonders of Kansas Art in 2009, Water Tower of the Year in 2010, Best of Show award at the Panhandle Plains Invitational in 2010, and the best 2-D work at the Buffalo Bill Art Show and Sale in Cody, Wyoming in 2023. His paintings have been shown at galleries in Chicago, Kansas City, New Mexico, and New York. His work has also been displayed in American Embassies in Africa, Fiji, and Latvia. In 2009, Phil was selected as a U.S. cultural ambassador to Kazakhstan as part of the U.S. Department of State's Art in Embassies program. In 2013, he completed three large paintings for the Kansas City Chiefs that are hanging in Arrowhead Stadium. His induction into the Cowboy Artists of America in 2016 was a monumental but humbling honor and challenge. Some of his significant paintings are part of the permanent collections of the Booth Museum in Atlanta, Georgia and The Briscoe Museum in San Antonio, Texas Epp’s studio is based in Kansas, and he continues to travel, photograph and paint wide-open western vistas.

Charles Russell "Chuck" Mckinney

2023
Rancher/Cattleman

Charles Russell “Chuck” McKinney was born January 5, 1941 in Ashland, Kansas to George Wesley and Esther May McKinney. They lived on the Grove Ranch. In 1952, they moved to the ranch homesteaded by Chuck’s grandfather, Charles Wesley McKinney. He graduated from Englewood High School in 1959. He graduated from Fort Hays State University in 1963 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Agriculture. In September 1962, Chuck married Gloria Ann Thompson. After graduating from college, Chuck and Gloria returned to Englewood where Chuck was involved in ranching. In 1968, he built and operated a feed yard in the Oklahoma Panhandle where he became an innovator in cattle feeding. Chuck and Gloria returned to the Grove Ranch in 1975, and he continued his love of ranching. He was very involved in his community. Chuck
was one of the founders and an active fireman on the Englewood Rural Fire Department, a board member of the Ashland-Englewood School Board, a Clark County Commissioner, the president of the Kansas Legislative Policy Group, and a member of the First Baptist Church of Meade, Kansas. Along with ranching Chuck enjoyed fishing, hunting, spending time with family and grandchildren, and piloting his Cessna 210. Charles Russell “Chuck” McKinney passed away on March 30, 2021, at the age of 80.

George Steinberger

2023
Rodeo Cowboy

“By learning procedures, methods, perfecting practice, and focusing on the present, success can be found in the rodeo arena.”

George Steinberger was born August 27, 1937, in Steele City, Nebraska to Thomas and Christine
Steinberger. At the age of four he moved to the family farm near Louisville, Kansas. After graduating from Wamego High School, he continued his education at Wamego Vocational Technical School. It was in high school that George participated in one of the first Kansas State High School Rodeo Finals in 1954. He continued to ride bulls and clown for the Rodeo Association for several years. In 1965, George settled in DeSoto, Kansas. In September 1973 he married Jane Ann Davenport Leahy in Olathe, Kansas. She preceded him in death on July 16, 1998. George later married Marge Bergen on October 5, 2002. He was an employee of Holiday Sand and Gravel until his retirement in 1999. George was a member of the St. Therese Catholic Church in Richmond, Kansas. He organized the first Parents Without Partners (PWP) group of Lawrence in 1967. In 1974, George started the American Youth Rodeo Association (AYRA) and
the Christian Youth Rodeo Association (CYRA) in 2003. During his youth and continuing until his death George was involved in 4-H while helping area children of Anderson and Franklin County. He enjoyed being a cowboy along with teaching and mentoring many young cowboys and cowgirls at his Homestead Rodeo Schools in both Olathe and Richmond. Due to his teaching and mentoring several of his students went on to become professionals in the rodeo arena with some making it all the way to national finals. He was always proud of his students; he always told them it was not the buckles they won but it was the men and women they had become that made him proud. George passed away February 18, 2017, at the age of 79. His life of being a rodeo cowboy could best be summed up in his rodeo school’s mission statement: “we are committed to teaching skills to be used in the rodeo arena and teaching skills to be used in the arena of life. By learning procedures, methods, perfecting practice, and focusing on the present, success can be found in the rodeo arena. By relying on faith, trust, love, the power or prayer, and focusing on his presence, success can be found in the arena of life. Together students, parents, and instructors can share in victories.”

Orban Leon Stephens

2023
Working Cowboy

Orban Leon Stephens was born July 7, 1953, in Neodesha, Kansas to Paul Leon Stephens and Irene Uhls Stephens. Due to his father being a ranch hand the family moved from ranch to ranch which resulted in Orban attending 10 different schools. He graduated from Rosalia High School in 1971. After graduation he attended Butler County Community College in El Dorado, Kansas and Ranch Management school in Coffeyville, Kansas. He married Sharon Ann Roths on April 23, 1977. In January of 1979, he began working for the Spring Creek division of the Matador Cattle Company Ranch in Reese, Kans. In 1989, Orban went to Matador, Texas to work on the main ranch. While doctoring some cattle in the pasture there, his horse slipped on some loose hay, fell, and consequently broke his neck. However, in true cowboy form, Orban gathered his horse and rode back to the ranch, blind without his glasses, trusting his horse to take him there. After he recovered from his injury he went to the Diamond R Ranch outside of Fall River, Kansas
where he worked from 1989-1998. In 1998, Orban became a cowboy for several ranchers in the Southeast Kansas area. Over the past 25 years, he has helped countless cattlemen and women with their operations and built hundreds of miles of barbed wire fence and pipe pens. He passes down his knowledge, and horses, and has impacted several generations who look up to him and go to him for guidance. During his lifetime, he also has seen and participated in the birth of the Ranch Rodeo, attending his first one in 1988 in Uniontown, Kans. Orban traveled with many cowboys over the years and joined the Working Ranch Cowboys Association in 2005. He participated in the WRCA Championship Rodeo in 2008 and in 2010 with Beachner Brothers Livestock and Broken H Ranch, claiming the Reserve World Champion title in 2010. Today you can still find him and his wife near Fall River, still helping ranchers in Southeast Kansas, riding
good horses, following his grandkids to all their activities, and working at the Eureka Sale Barn on
Thursday’s.