Though not a native Texan, Robert Duvall, whose death was announced Monday, embraced the state\u2019s Western mystique as if he\u2019d been born to it.<\/p>\n
That admiration, of course, was returned twofold. Duvall\u2019s portrayal of Gus McCrae in “Lonesome Dove” earned him a lasting place in Texas cultural imagination. Duvall also has a star on the Texas Trail of Fame in the Fort Worth Stockyards.<\/p>\n
I found him once in Fort Worth at the brand-spanking-new Dickies Arena in December 2019. Duvall was there for the unveiling of the statue of cutting horse trainer Buster Welch, his good friend, and his famed horse, Peppy San Badger \u2014 \u201cLittle Peppy.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was sitting at a table in the north end \u2014 I believe that\u2019s the north end \u2014 bar and reception area. I didn\u2019t want to be that guy, but it\u2019s Robert Duvall \u2014 Tom Hagen \u2014 we’re talking about.<\/p>\n
I approached him and sat down. He couldn\u2019t have been nicer or more welcoming, though the conversation was difficult. He was nearing 89, and as the conversation wore on, I reckoned his hearing had not aged quite as gracefully as the rest of him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve known Buster through the years,\u201d said Duvall, a bit of a horseman who has done some show jumping. \u201cA great guy. He loved the way my wife rode a horse. She\u2019s from northern Argentina.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buster Welch, who died in 2022 at age 94, was a legend. Welch was a defining figure for NCHA\u2019s premier event for 3-year-olds, winning a record five NCHA Futurity titles (1962, 1963, 1966, 1971, 1977), as well as four NCHA World championships (1954, 1956, 1974, 1976). In addition to Little Peppy, some of his notable equine partners included\u00a0Marion\u2019s Girl, Dry Doc, Mr San Peppy and Haidas Little Pep.<\/p>\n
\u201cI met him through the Perini Ranch Steakhouse in Buffalo Gap,\u201d Duvall said. \u201cA good restaurant. He was looking for the same steak place we were, too. He said, \u2018You\u2019re Bob Duvall.\u2019 I had a feeling it was him. He said, \u2018I\u2019m Buster Welch.\u2019 I said, \u2018I thought so.\u2019 I had heard about him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Duvall was in Fort Worth that night with his wife, Luciana, and others. Another gentleman sat near him at the table chomping on a cigar.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s, uh \u2026 that\u2019s uh,\u201d Duvall thought, unable to come up with a name while sustaining\u00a0an apparent passing senior moment. \u201cWell, his brother is an actor, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turns out it was Rooster McConaughey, brother of Matthew McConaughey \u2014 the alright, alright, alright guy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Though not a native Texan, Robert Duvall, whose death was announced Monday, embraced the state\u2019s Western mystique as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[10541,116,118,117,2862,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-167276","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-dickies-arena","9":"tag-fort-worth","10":"tag-fort-worth-headlines","11":"tag-fort-worth-news","12":"tag-john-henry","13":"tag-top-story"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}