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. 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 Williamson County (sometimes abbreviated as "Wilco") is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 609,017. The 2024 population estimate was 727,480. Its c ...

, in 1870. (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.) 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 African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

and

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

. By 1888, the family had moved to

Taylor, Texas Taylor is a city in Williamson County, Texas, United States. The population at the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census was 16,267, up from 15,191 as of 2010. History In 1876, the Texas Land Company auctioned lots in anticipation of the ar ...

. In 1890, Pickett married Maggie Turner, the formerly enslaved daughter of a white southern plantation owner. The couple had nine children.

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. 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. This method eventually lost popularity as the sport morphed into the

steer wrestling Steer wrestling, also known as bulldogging, is a rodeo event in which a horse-mounted rider chases a steer, drops from the horse to the steer, then wrestles the steer to the ground by grabbing its horns and pulling it off-balance so that it fall ...

that is practiced in rodeos. 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. In 1905, Pickett joined the 101 Ranch Wild West Show that featured the likes of

Buffalo Bill William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), better known as Buffalo Bill, was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. One of the most famous figures of the American Old West, Cody started his legend at the young age ...

Will Rogers William Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American vaudeville performer, actor, and humorous social commentator. He was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, in the Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma ...

Tom Mix Thomas Edwin Mix (born Thomas Hezikiah Mix; January 6, 1880 – October 12, 1940) was an American film actor and the star of many early Western (genre), Western films between 1909 and 1935. He appeared in 291 films, all but nine of which were s ...

Bee Ho Gray Bee Ho Gray (born Emberry Cannon Gray; April 7, 1885, in Leon, Oklahoma, Leon, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory – August 3, 1951, in Pueblo, Colorado) was a Western performer who spent 50 years displaying his skills in Wild West shows, vaudevi ...

, and Zach and Lucille Mulhall; he performed under the name "The Dusky Demon." 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. 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 The Comanche (), or Nʉmʉnʉʉ (, 'the people'), are a Tribe (Native American), Native American tribe from the Great Plains, Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the List of federally recognized tri ...

heritage in order to perform. 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. After a multi-day coma he died on April 2, 1932; he was buried on the 101 Ranch. 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.

Legacy

In 1972, Pickett was inducted into the National Rodeo Hall of Fame of the

National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is a museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, with more than 28,000 American West, Western and Native American art works and Artifact (archaeology), artifacts. The facility also has the worl ...

. In 1989, Pickett was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. Concert promoter Lu Vason founded the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo in 1984. The touring rodeo celebrates

Black cowboys Black cowboys in the American West accounted for up to an estimated 25% of Cowboy, cowboys "who went up the trail" to participate in Cattle drives in the United States, cattle drives from the 1860s to 1880s, estimated to be at least 5,000 indivi ...

. 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 Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

by the North Fort Worth Historical Society. The statue is installed in the Fort Worth Stockyards Historic District. The

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

chose to include Bill Pickett in the Legends of the West commemorative sheet unveiled in December 1993. 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''. In March 2015, the Taylor City Council announced that a street that leads to the rodeo arena will be renamed to honor Bill Pickett. 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. 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. A trail with an interpretive sign in

Georgetown, Texas Georgetown is a city in Texas and the county seat of Williamson County, Texas, United States. The population was 67,176 at the 2020 census, and according to 2024 census estimates, the city is estimated to have a population of 101,344. It is no ...

honors Pickett.

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. In the related film ''They Die by Dawn'' (2013), a character named Bill Picket is portrayed by

Bokeem Woodbine Bokeem Woodbine (born April 13, 1973) is an American actor. In 1994, he portrayed Joshua, the main character's troubled brother, in ''Jason's Lyric''. He won a Black Reel Award and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Critics' Choice T ...

. Pickett is referenced in season 4 episode 5 of ''

Baywatch ''Baywatch'' is an American Drama (film and television), drama television series about lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, and Hawaii, starring David Hasselhoff. It was created by Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz ...

'' 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 ''Get on the Bus'' is a 1996 American drama film about a group of African-American men who are taking a cross-country bus trip in order to participate in the Million Man March. The film was directed by Spike Lee and premiered on the first annive ...

'' as the man who created steer wrestling. In the 1994 feature film '' The Cowboy Way'', Bill Pickett is referenced by

Ernie Hudson Earnest Lee Hudson (born December 17, 1945) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Winston Zeddemore in the ''Ghostbusters'' franchise. Hudson has also acted in the films ''Leviathan'' (1989), '' The Hand That Rocks the Cradle'' (19 ...

when discussing famous black cowboys. He is later referred to as "William Pickett" by

Woody Harrelson Woodrow Tracy Harrelson (born July 23, 1961) is an American actor. He first became known for his role as bartender Woody Boyd on the NBC sitcom ''Cheers'' (1985–1993), for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in ...

Honors

* 1972 Rodeo Hall of Fame of the

* 1989 ProRodeo Hall of Fame * 1997 Texas Trail of Fame * 2003 National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum and Hall of Fame

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 Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

''.

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pickett, Bill 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 People 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