Oklahoma State Cowboys

PISTOL PETE

Almost since Oklahoma State first sported the Cowboy nickname, a menacing figure with a large hat and equally imposing mustache began stalking the sidelines in Stillwater. However intimidating the mascot may appear to be, the man it was modeled after dwarfs him.
Pistol Pete, a.k.a. Frank Eaton was first spotted in 1923 by a group of students leading an Armistice Day Parade. He was approached by the group about being a model for their new mascot and he agreed. Soon his likeness was appearing on T-shirts, stickers and other A&M merchandise.

As it turned out, the students were right on target when they picked Eaton. The man was a notorious wrangler and was legendary in old west circles.

Born in 1860 in Hartford, Connecticut, Frank Eaton moved with his family to Kansas City shortly before the end of the Civil War. When Frank was eight years old, his father, a former Union soldier was murdered by a lawless group of former Confederates. From that day forward, Frank vowed to avenge his father’s shooting.

When Frank turned 15, he visited Fort Gibson to learn how to handle guns. It wasn’t long before he was able to outshoot the cavalry’s best marksmen. The fort’s commanding officer gave the youngster a marksmanship badge and a new name. From that day on, Frank Eaton would be known as Pistol Pete.

Frank then departed the Fort in search of his father’s killers and subsequently killed them one by one. Ultimately, though, Frank met his own doom from the bullet of the last of his father’s executors, though his assailant died as well in the gunfire.