Bill Pickett
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Willie M. Pickett (December 5, 1870 – April 2, 1932) was an African American cowboy, rodeo performer, and actor. In 1972, he was the first African American man inducted into the National Rodeo Hall of Fame.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1989, Pickett was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.
Personal life
Pickett was born in the Jenks Branch community of Williamson County, Texas, in 1870.<ref>Library of Congress name authority file</ref><ref name="lecompte">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (Jenks Branch, also known as the Miller Community, is in western Williamson County, five miles southeast of Liberty Hill, and near the Travis County line.<ref name="smyrl">Template:Cite web</ref>) He was the second of 13 children born to Thomas Jefferson Pickett, a former enslaved man, and Mary "Janie" Gilbert. Pickett had four brothers and eight sisters. The family's ancestry was African-American and Cherokee.<ref name="cbb">Template:Cite journal</ref> By 1888, the family had moved to Taylor, Texas.<ref name=lecompte />
In 1890, Pickett married Maggie Turner, the formerly enslaved daughter of a white southern plantation owner. The couple had nine children.<ref name="nbam">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Career
Pickett left school in the fifth grade to become a ranch hand; he soon began to ride horses and watch the Texas Longhorn steers of his native Texas.
He invented the technique of bulldogging, the skill of grabbing cattle by the horns and wrestling them to the ground.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It was known among cattlemen that, with the help of a trained bulldog, a stray steer could be caught. Bill Pickett had seen this happen on many occasions. He also thought that if a bulldog could do this feat, so could he. Pickett practiced his stunt by riding hard, springing from his horse, and wrestling the steer to the ground. Pickett's method for bulldogging was biting a cow on the lip and then falling backward. He also helped cowboys with bulldogging.<ref name="nbam"/> This method eventually lost popularity as the sport morphed into the steer wrestling that is practiced in rodeos.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Pickett soon became known for his tricks and stunts at local country fairs. With his four brothers, he established The Pickett Brothers Bronco Busters and Rough Riders Association. The name Bill Pickett soon became synonymous with successful rodeos. He did his bulldogging act, traveling about in Texas, Arizona, Wyoming, and Oklahoma.<ref name="cbb"/><ref name="wchc">Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1905, Pickett joined the 101 Ranch Wild West Show that featured the likes of Buffalo Bill, Will Rogers, Tom Mix, Bee Ho Gray, and Zach and Lucille Mulhall; he performed under the name "The Dusky Demon."<ref name="nbam" /> Pickett was soon a popular performer who toured around the world and appeared in early motion pictures, such as a movie created by Richard E. Norman.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Pickett's ethnicity resulted in his not being able to appear at many rodeos, so he often was forced to claim that he was of Comanche heritage in order to perform.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref> In 1921, he appeared in the films The Bull-Dogger and The Crimson Skull.
Death
In 1932, after having retired from Wild West shows, Bill Pickett was kicked in the head by a bronco.<ref name="famoustexans">Template:Cite web</ref> After a multi-day coma he died on April 2, 1932; he was buried on the 101 Ranch.<ref name="cbb" /><ref name="nbam" /><ref name="wchc" /><ref name=":0" /> He is buried near a 15-foot stone monument to the friendship of Ponca Tribal Chief White Eagle and the Miller Brothers on Monument Hill, also known as the White Eagle Monument to the locals, less than a quarter of a mile to the northeast of Marland, Oklahoma.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Legacy
In 1972, Pickett was inducted into the National Rodeo Hall of Fame of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1989, Pickett was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.<ref name="HoF">Template:Cite web</ref>
Concert promoter Lu Vason founded the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo in 1984. The touring rodeo celebrates Black cowboys.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1987, a statue of Pickett performing his signature "bulldogging" maneuver, made by artist Lisa Perry, was presented to the city of Fort Worth, Texas by the North Fort Worth Historical Society. The statue is installed in the Fort Worth Stockyards Historic District.<ref name="texas-history">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="van-der-Krogt">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="loc">Template:Cite web</ref>
The United States Postal Service chose to include Bill Pickett in the Legends of the West commemorative sheet unveiled in December 1993.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> One month later, the Pickett family informed the Postal Service that the likeness was incorrect. Its source material was a misidentified photograph of Bill Pickett's brother and fellow cowboy star, Ben Pickett. In October 1994, the USPS released corrected stamps based on the poster for The Bull-Dogger.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In March 2015, the Taylor City Council announced that a street that leads to the rodeo arena will be renamed to honor Bill Pickett.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
On June 2, 2017 a new statue of Bill Pickett was unveiled in his hometown of Taylor, Texas. It is prominently displayed at the intersection of 2nd and Main Streets in the downtown.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="waymarking-taylor">Template:Cite web</ref>
On August 6, 2018, Bill Pickett was inducted into the Jim Thorpe Association's Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame.
A hill in Burnet County, Texas was named for Pickett in 2021.<ref name="victor">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite Q</ref> A trail with an interpretive sign in Georgetown, Texas honors Pickett.<ref name="old-man">Template:Cite web</ref>
In popular culture
In the 2021 film The Harder They Fall directed by Jeymes Samuel, a fictional character, a gunman named Bill Pickett, is played by actor Edi Gathegi.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the related film They Die by Dawn (2013), a character named Bill Picket is portrayed by Bokeem Woodbine.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Pickett is referenced in season 4 episode 5 of Baywatch when the African-American cop character played by Gregory Alan Williams wants to ride a horse to capture criminals, bringing up that Pickett was the "first cowboy." Pickett is referenced in the 1996 film Get on the Bus as the man who created steer wrestling. In the 1994 feature film The Cowboy Way, Bill Pickett is referenced by Ernie Hudson when discussing famous black cowboys. He is later referred to as "William Pickett" by Woody Harrelson.
Honors
- 1972 Rodeo Hall of Fame of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- 1989 ProRodeo Hall of Fame<ref name="HoF" />
- 1997 Texas Trail of Fame<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- 2003 National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum and Hall of Fame<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
See also
References
- Powell, Lee (Dec. 3–9, 2004). Bill Pickett: a rodeo pioneer. The Sports Page, p. 3.
- Carnes, Mark C., Betz, Paul R., ed. "American National Biography". Oxford University Press.
Further reading
External links
- Pages with broken file links
- 1870 births
- 1932 deaths
- African Americans in the American Old West
- Steer wrestlers
- Wild West show performers
- American cattlemen
- Cowboys
- American male silent film actors
- 20th-century African-American male actors
- 20th-century American male actors
- Deaths due to animal attacks in the United States
- People from Taylor, Texas
- Actors from Williamson County, Texas
- ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductees
- Black Native American people
- American people who self-identify as being of Cherokee descent
- African-American equestrians