Bill
Pickett, the oldest of 13 children, was the son of a former slave. He rose from
obscurity to become the most famous Black rodeo performer.
Bill Pickett is credited with inventing the rodeo event called bulldogging, also known as steer-wrestling, in 1903.
In 1971, he became the first African-American cowboy to be inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame. To date, he remains the best-known rodeo performer of color, even though there have been many, and many famous ones, since his time.
Fort Worth's Cowboy Coliseum displays a statue of him wrestling a bovine.
Tradition has it that in 1903, in Rockdale, Texas, a stubborn Texas Longhorn steer absolutely refused to cooperate and would not enter a corral, no matter what. Not only that, but it raised such a ruckus, pawing and running and acting just generally ornery, that it kept deliberately scattering the herd. At this point, Bill's patience ran out and he got, to say the least, angry about the whole situation. He rode his horse at high speed alongside the cantankerous, rampaging ruminant, jumped off his steed onto the back of the willful critter, and wrestled that beeve down to the ground with tremendous strength as he held onto its formidable horns. The Longhorn kept resisting, whereupon Bill bit it on its lower lip and slammed the steer onto the dirt.
People were so impressed that large numbers of them would pay cash money to see Bill Pickett "bulldog" steers.
One of the most memorable, and still talked-about, events in the history of rodeo involved Bill Pickett, who was appearing in Madison Square Garden in New York City in 1905. Guess who his hazer was? It was a young white guy named Will Rogers. Yes, it was that Will Rogers. Some say that the youthful hazer's eventual rise to fame and super-stardom was at least partially a direct result of what happened during that unforgettable performance.
The steer, not caring about doing what it was supposed to do, came racing out of the "chute" like a runaway freight-train. It headed straight for the arena's fence, and jumped over it! The people there panicked as the vicious beast kept racing at them, apparently trying to trample them. People lost all reason and went into blind, hysterical, screaming fits, trying desperately to escape the rampaging steer.
The enraged animal butted into the grandstands and started running up the steps. Members of the panicked audience, now unwilling participants, tried like crazy to get out of its way and keep out of its way.
Bill Pickett and Will Rogers, however, did not panic. By the time they had pursued the raging steer to the third balcony level, Will was able to turn it, and Bill was then able to grab its horns and wrestle it back down to the arena. By their instant teamwork, Bill Picket and Will Rogers undoubtedly saved the lives of countless innocent people. The audience certainly got more than their money's worth from that unplanned, daring rescue!
Bulldogging, as a modern rodeo event, requires jumping from a speeding quarterhorse onto the back of a steer running at full-speed (20 to 25 miles per hour), grabbing its horns, and wrestling it to the ground. However, bulldoggers these days do not bite the animal's lips or nose. Rodeo officials and cowboys try to make sure that the animals are not injured by bulldogging. Of course, the cowboys are also trying to make sure that they themselves don't get injured either.
You have to be really strong, really athletic, and really brave to attempt bulldogging. You also have to have a "hazer," who rides alongside the steer and forces it into a straight run after it gets a planned head-start. The bulldogger rides on the opposite side of the steer, leans over far enough to grab hold of its head by its horns, leaps off his horse, and attempts to use his feet as if they were brakes to stop the forward momentum of the hefty steer. As soon as he can get the animal to stop, he "wrassles" it to the dirt. "Time" is called as soon as the critter is lying on its side, with all four legs pointing the same way. A really good bulldogger usually has a time of between five seconds and eight seconds. That's enough time for him to get really hurt, though. Think about it.
