Chairman of 2001 Rotary Convention - Sonny Brown (El Paso)
Sonny Brown - former VP of Rotary International - shows off his cowboy boots emblazoned with the Rotary Wheel at the opening ceremony attended by >20, 000 Rotarians from 135 countries. All were then seated for a two-hour show in the AlamoDome which started off with gun slingers in wild west garb showing off their "draw and shoot speed." There followed an exhibition by the very famous Charro Jerry Diaz and wife (both stars on ABC's GMA and the NBC Today Show) who showed their expert horsemanship and lassoing exhibition while standing atop his white stallion which wowed the crowd - see YouTube. These initial segments led to Rotary's annual parade of Flags of the 190 member countries. They were paraded by 3 local professional equine organizations: San Antonio Palomino Patrol, Bexar County Mounted Posse and San Antonio (men & women) Charros led by Diaz again whose bowing horse allowed Diaz to present the official Flag of Rotary International to its President - Frank Devlyn.