PENDLETON — The class of 2023 inductees into the Pendleton Round-Up & Happy Canyon Hall were announced May 9 in Pendleton. They are Fred Whitfield (contestant category), Toni Minthorn (Indian category), Virginia Roberts (Round-Up volunteer category) and Omega Supreme (animal category).

The inductees will be celebrated at a special banquet on Sept. 10 and also will be honored on Sept. 13 during the afternoon rodeo performance in the Round-Up Arena. In addition, the inductees will be featured in the Hall of Fame with special exhibits beginning later in the summer.

Fred Whitfield

A Pendleton Round-Up contestant for more than 20 years, Whitfield won three Round-Up championships in tie-down roping — 1996, 2005 and a tie in 1995. The Texas cowboy is an eight-time world champion, seven as tie-down roper and once as an all-round. He became the third cowboy in history to surpass the $2-million mark in career earnings.

Toni Minthorn

Born in 1961, Minthorn has been involved in Happy Canyon and Round-Up her entire life, including participating in the night show when she was 9 months old.

She was chosen as a Happy Canyon princess in 1978, and then as a Pendleton Round-Up princess in 1982. Minthorn was the first to serve on both courts. An expert horsewoman, trainer and teacher, she has provided past princesses with horses and trained them to ride.

A member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Minthorn works as the tribe’s enrollment program director.

Virginia Roberts

Even as a nonagenarian, Roberts spends countless hours volunteering as a historian and archive expert for the Pendleton Round-Up and Happy Canyon Hall of Fame. She has dedicated more than 28 years in volunteer service at the museum and retail store. Roberts’ primary responsibility is to preserve donations and create historical information files for each artifact.

A former Pendleton First Citizen, Roberts has also volunteered at the Umatilla County Historical Society, the Pendleton Public Library and helped Olney Cemetery trace family histories and genealogy.

Omega Supreme

A stallion leopard Appaloosa, Omega Supreme was ridden by Chief Gary Burke for more than 25 years as a raider and a scout in the Happy Canyon Night Show, during the Pendleton Round-Up Indian presentation and in various parades.

Omega won many awards and participated in numerous shows, parades and photo shoots. He was featured in a portrait with Chief Burke displayed in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.

Owned by Doug and Nee-Nee Haynie of Pilot Rock, Omega was 30 at the time of his death.

Founded in 1969, the Hall of Fame museum, 1114 S.W. Court Ave., preserves the traditions and heritage of Pendleton Round-Up and Happy Canyon. For more information, call 541-278-0815 or visit www.rounduphalloffame.org.