Bill Pickett
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Willie M. "Bill" Pickett (December 5, 1870 or 1871 - April 2, 1932) was a cowboy and rodeo performer.
Pickett was born in Travis County, Texas, the second of thirteen children. While predominantly black, Pickett also had white and Cherokee ancestry. He grew up working on ranches, where he invented the technique of bulldogging, the skill of grabbing cattle by the horns and wrestling them to the ground.
Pickett married Maggie Turner in 1890 and the couple had nine children. Pickett and his brothers started their own company, the Pickett Brothers Broncho Busters and Rough Riders Association, to offer their services as cowboys. Pickett also made a living demonstrating his bulldogging skills and other stunts at county fairs. In 1905, Pickett joined the 101 Ranch Wild West Show that featured the likes of Buffalo Bill, Will Rogers, Tom Mix and Zach and Lucille Mulhall. Pickett was a popular performer who toured around the world and appeared in early motion pictures. However, Pickett's ethnicity resulted in him not being able to appear at many rodeos. He often was forced to claim that he was of Comanche heritage in order to perform.
Pickett continued to work his entire life. In 1932, he was kicked by a horse and died of his injuries a few days later.
Pickett was named to the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1971 and was the first black honoree to that organization. He was enshrined in the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1989.
In 1994, the United States Postal Service honored Pickett as one of twenty "Legends of the West" pictured in a series of stamps. Unfortunately, the stamps used a picture which many reference works identified as Bill Pickett but was in fact his brother Ben. The Postal Service recalled the series to correct the error.
Reference
- Powell, Lee (Dec. 3-9, 2004). Bill Pickett: an unlikely rodeo pioneer. The Sports Page, p. 3.