Descendants of Geronimo arrive in Fort Worth to honor Apache leader: ‘It shows respect’

This year, officials with the Texas Trail of Fame in Fort Worth selected Geronimo as one of nine people to be honored for their major contributions to the creation or preservation of the Western way of life.

That’s why Robert Geronimo of Mescalero, New Mexico, and several other descendants of Geronimo —one of the most fearless Apache leaders and a medicine man — will be in Fort Worth this week for the award ceremony.

“It shows respect and we wanted to be part of it,” Robert Geronimo said Wednesday as he drove to Fort Worth for the event to honor his great-grandfather.

More than 10 descendants of Geronimo are scheduled to be at the events on Thursday and Saturday in the Fort Worth Stockyards.

Robert Geronimo, who works at the Inn of the Mountain Gods, the tribe’s resort and casino in Mescalero, said he has visited Fort Worth several times.

“This group picked Geronimo for an honor and he always worked for his people,” Robert Geronimo said. “He wasn’t a dictator.”

Hope Geronimo Gonzales, a descendant of Geronimo and Robert Geronimo’s niece, explained that the Fort Worth visit also is a chance to educate residents on Native Americans in the United States.

The 28-year-old Mescalero, New Mexico, native is making her first trip to Fort Worth.

“I’ve been to New York City and Washington, D.C., and I’ve had people walk up to me and ask if I was a real ‘Native American,’” Hope Geronimo said on Tuesday in a telephone interview with the Star-Telegram.

Hope Geronimo is one the youngest medicine woman among all the Mescalero Apache women.

“To me, a majority of history books on Geronimo are not true,” she said. “We get a chase at events like these to talk about what happened.”

Geronimo resisted Mexican and American efforts to remove the Apache from their tribal lands, according to a history.com biography.

“He repeatedly evaded capture and life on a reservation, and during his final escape, a full quarter of the U.S. standing army pursued him and his followers,” the website says. “When Geronimo was captured on September 4, 1886, he was the last Native American leader to formally surrender to the U.S. military. He spent the last 23 years of his life as a prisoner of war.”

He died in 1909.

Along with Geronimo, there are eight other new inductees to the Texas Trail of Fame, including actors Robert Duvall and Sam Elliott along with Fay Owen “Buster” Welch, the renowned cutting horse trainer who died in June.

A Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame member, among other accolades, Welch made a guest appearance last year in season four of the drama series “Yellowstone.” In the episode, one 6666 Ranch cowboy said, “There’s three gods in Texas: the almighty Himself, Buster Welch and George Strait.”

Elliott came to Granbury and the Fort Worth Stockyards last year while filming for the “Yellowstone” prequel show “1883” along with Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.

The Texas Trail of Fame consists of 24-inch bronze stars located on the sidewalks in the Fort Worth Stockyards.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Texas Trail of Fame induction ceremony and dinner. The dinner will take place Thursday in the 81 Club at Billy Bob’s Texas, 2525 Rodeo Plaza in Fort Worth.

The event is open to the public, but seating is limited. Tickets are $150 each and may be purchased online at TexasTrailofFame.org. Raffle tickets for a Henry Texas Tribute Edition rifle are also available to purchase online.

The 2022 inductees or their representatives will be at the event.

The Unveiling Ceremony for the nine new bronze markers and the raffle drawing will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday in front of the Livestock Exchange Building, at 131 E. Exchange Ave. in Fort Worth.

Here are all nine inductees for 2022:

▪ Robert Duvall, actor

▪ Sam Elliott, actor

▪ Geronimo, Apache medicine man

▪ Rebecca Tyler Lockhart, American Paint Horse Association founder

▪ Texas Rangers, Department of Public Safety, established 1823

▪ Jimmy Riscky, Texas Bar-B-Q legend

▪ Mollie Taylor Stevenson Sr. and Jr., ranchers and preservationists

▪ Buster Welch, rancher and cutting horse trainer

▪ William “Bill” D. Wittliff, storyteller and writer

“He always wanted peace,” Robert Geronimo said, referring to his great-grandfather. “It was the Mexicans and the U.S. government which gave him no choice but to fight. There was nowhere else to go.”

This report contains information from the Star-Telegram’s archives.