The no-hands wonder of the rodeo ring

The National Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City admitted its first black member on Dec. 10, 1971, but the honor came 39 years too late for legendary Bill Pickett.

Pickett’s father was born into bondage in 1854 on the trail from South Carolina to Texas.  After the Civil War and their emancipation, the family stayed in the hill country along the San Gabriel River.

Willie M. Pickett came along in 1870 and after five years of schooling started earning his keep as a miniature ranch hand.  Little Bill was barely 11, when he mastered the trick that would change his life.

The observant youngster happened to notice that a bulldog could control the orneriest steer simply by chomping down on the creature’s upper lip.  A few days and several secret practice sessions later, Bill stupefied a corral of cowpunchers by pacifying a number of unruly calves in exactly the same way.

As a range-riding teenager, he gradually perfected the amazing technique and unwittingly invented a new rodeo event.  Leaping from his horse “Spradley” onto a speeding steer, Bill would grab the animal by the horns, twist the head and sink his teeth into the critter’s upper lip.  With the beast completely in his power, he would bring it down while holding both hands high in the air.

Moving to the Central Texas town of Taylor in 1888, Bill’s first public performance was at the local fair, where the spectacular stunt predictably proved to be a real crowd pleaser.  A Milam County rancher convinced the “bulldogger” to turn professional and booked him at every crossroads from the Rio Grande Valley to the Panhandle.

Bill enjoyed limited success over the next 15 years, but his career did not really take off until he signed with a big-time promoter.  Benefitting from the extensive contacts and advertising genius of Doug “Mister Cowboy” McClure, the Texan quickly became a star attraction on the western rodeo circuit.

“The great event of the celebration this year,” the Harper’s Weekly correspondent reported from the wilds of Wyoming, “was the remarkable feat of Will Pickett, a Negro hailing from Taylor, Texas, who gave his exhibition while 20,000 people watched with wonder and admiration a mere man, unarmed and without a device or appliance of any kind, attack a fiery, wild-eyed and powerful steer and throw it by his teeth.”

Bill was a headliner for the 1905 edition of the Miller Brothers Big Round-Up at their sprawling 101 Ranch in the Oklahoma Territory.  Sixty-five thousand spectators watched Geronimo kill his last buffalo and the tricking-riding magic of Tom Mix before his long reign as the sagebrush hero of the silent screen.

Bill later signed an exclusive contract with the Millers and eventually took up residence on their ranch.  For the rest of his career, he never worked for anybody else.

Advertised as “The Dusky Demon,” Bill’s appearance reflected his mixed black, white and Indian ancestry.  Rodeo fans, who naturally expected to see a mountain of beef-tossing muscle, were always surprised by his small stature – five-foot-seven and 150 pounds on a full stomach.

Once in Mexico City, the Millers nearly bit off more than Bill could chew by pitting him against a bull.  Local bookmakers quoted long odds against his lasting four minutes with El Toro, but he survived a terrible, 40-minute pounding.

Accustomed to contests that ended in death for at least one participant, the disappointed patrons rioted in the stands and peppered Pickett with debris.  A beer bottle broke three ribs, and soldiers had to be summoned to save the battered entertainer from serious injury.

At the peak of his popularity in the United States, Bill earned international renown with extended tours of South America and Great Britain.  Critics in England demanded his arrest on charges of animal cruelty, but the publicity guaranteed a full house for every performance.

Bill drew record crowds wherever he went to the absolute delight of the Miller brothers, who made money hand over fist.  His own modest compensation was a dozen dollars a week plus room and board.

The bumps, bruises and broken bones finally caught up with Bill in the late 1920’s.  Though pushing 60, he became a workaday cowboy on the 101 Ranch.

A wild horse kicked the retired bulldogger in the head on Mar. 22, 1932.  Rushed to the hospital, he never regained consciousness and died 11 days later.

In his daily radio broadcast, Will Rogers mourned the death of an old friend.  “Bill Pickett never had an enemy,” drawled the humorist, who himself had only three years left to live.  “Even the steers wouldn’t hurt old Bill.”

Sadly the same could not be said for bucking broncos.

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