NAU Athletic Hall of Fame

 Cherrie Lee (Osborne) Blair

(Intercollegiate Rodeo, 1938-42)

Cherrie Lee Osborne, Jiggs Hardt and Wess Rutherford represented Arizona State Teachers College at Tucson in the only intercollegiate rodeo in the United States.  Osborne and Tom Finley took first place in the team tying event, and she was the winner of the cow pony race.  At the 1940 Phoenix rodeo, she won the Cowgirl Championship of Arizona, competing in calf and steer roping.  As the Arizona Champion, Osborne was awarded the Clerence Buddington Kelland trophy.  She represented Arizona at the World Championship rodeo in New York's Madison Square Garden.  When the competition was over, Osborne was crowned World Champion Cowgirl.