| One morning while roping horses, Pickett was kicked by a stallion, and
died elevendays later of a fractured skull on April 2, 1932. He was buried
at the White EagleMonument, in Marland, Oklahoma,and a marker was erected
by the Cherokee StripCowboy Association. In 1971 Pickett became the first
black voted into OklahomaCity's Cowboy Hall of Fame; in 1987 a bronze statue
showing him bull-dogging was unveiled at the Fort Worth Cowtown Coliseum. |
| Until he became famous, he had to dress as a Mexican toreodor since many rodeos did not admit black contestants. Pickett's brand of bull-dogging became one of seven major rodeo events, the only one invented by an individual. |
| Bill Pickett invented the Rodeo Sport of "Bull Dogging". Owners of the 101 Ranch in Oklahoma, were he worked as both ranch hand and rodeo performer, say, "he's the greatest sweat and dirt cowhand that ever lived - bar none". The sport of bulldogging requires that the rider leap from the horses saddle and grab the horns of the steer and wrestling him to the ground - nose up. Bill Pickett not only did this with ease, he completed the act by biting the steer in the lip with his pearly white teeth; never damaging the steer, of course. |
| Bill Pickett |
