Bill Picket
| Bill Pickett | |
|---|---|
Pickett in The Bull-Dogger (1922)
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| Born |
Willie M. Pickett December 5, 1870 Jenks-Branch, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | April 2, 1932 (aged 61) Ponca City, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Resting place | White Eagle Monument, Marland, Oklahoma |
| Other names | "The Dusky Demon" |
| Occupation | Rodeo performer |
| Spouse(s) | Maggie Turner |
Willie M. "Bill" Pickett (December 5, 1870 - April 2, 1932) was a cowboy, rodeo, and Wild West show performer.
Bill Pickett was born in the Jenks-Branch community of Williamson County, Texas in 1870, according to family records. (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 slave, and Mary "Janie" Gilbert. Pickett had four brothers and eight sisters. The family's ancestry was African-American and Cherokee. By 1888, the family had moved to Taylor, Texas.
In 1890, Pickett married Maggie Turner, a former slave and daughter of a white southern plantation owner. The couple had nine children.
Pickett left school in the 5th grade to become a ranch hand; he soon began to ride horses and watch the 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 backwards. He also helped cowboys with bulldogging. This method eventually lost popularity as the sport morphed into the steer wrestling 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.
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