Orr, Alice Greenough (1902–1995)

American rodeo champion. Name variations: Alice Greenough. Born Alice Greenough in Montana in 1902; died on August 31, 1995, at her home in Tucson, Arizona; grew up on a ranch near Red Lodge, Montana; dropped out of school at age 14; married Ray Cahill; married Joe Orr; children: (first marriage) two, including Jay Cahill.

Alice Greenough Orr grew up on a ranch near Red Lodge, Montana, and spent her childhood breaking wild horses; as a teenager, she delivered mail on horseback on her 35-mile route, often through snow drifts. Her goal was to become a forest ranger, one of the many opportunities newly opened to women when men marched off to World War I. When the men returned, however, the door was again closed, so Orr went to work in a rooming house. In 1929, she and her sister read an ad for bronc riders for a Wild West show.

For 20 years, under her maiden name Alice Greenough, Orr was the reigning queen of the rodeo bronc riders. Named to both the Cowboy and Cowgirl halls of fame, she won four world saddle bronc championships and was a star attraction on rodeo tours of the U.S., Australia, and Europe. (She once had tea with the queen of England, Queen Mary of Teck .) Fearless, Orr rode fighting bulls into Spanish arenas, sans sword; she would then dismount and turn the bull over to a matador. She also did occasional stunt work for motion pictures and was a member of the Riding Greenoughs, a team which included her sister Marge Henderson and her brothers Bill and Turk. The Greenoughs could execute most rodeo events from trick riding to bull riding.

During the 1930s, competitors in rodeos were often stiffed by tour operators. To combat this, in 1936 Orr, along with others, founded what is now known as the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. In 1946, she began to run her own rodeo with her second husband Joe Orr. She frequently did exhibitions of saddle bronc riding, an event requiring so much more skill than bareback riding that it is no longer a competitive event on the women's circuit. After retiring in 1954, Orr continued with occasional movie assignments until she turned 80. Her last public appearance was in 1992, at a parade in Red Lodge. She died in 1995 at age 93.