"Bill" Willie M. Pickett
| Bill Pickett: The stamp, part of the Legends of the West, created a great amount of debate and controversy because it bore the portrait of Ben Pickett instead of the real bulldogger, Bill. Ben is actually Bill Pickett's younger brother, who was primarily the administrator of the Pickett Brothers Bronco Busters and Rough Riders Association ("Catching and Taming wild cattle a specialty").The mistake occurred even though great diligence was observed by all parties concerned.
Because the descendants of Bill Pickett wanted the mistake corrected so that credit could historically be given where due. The Post Office issued a revised version with proper Bill Pickett honored.
The controversies and court battles, caused by others than the Pickett's relatives. finally halted and the U.S.P.S. distributed 150,000 panes (20 varied stamps per pane) by lottery, at face value.
However, there is a slight difference in the revised version of the stamps which consists of the red boarder being twice the width of the red boarder of the recalled stamps. These boarders are placed around each of the 16 individuals that being honored. Also the back printing of the revised Bill Picket corrects his birth as being 1870, whereas the original (recalled) stamp showed the year of birth as being 1871. |
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This is Ben Pickett, the brother of Bill Pickett, and was incorrectly placed on the original stamp, and then recalled. No official issue date, distribution began December 1994. The text to the right is descriptive back printing.
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This is the correct Bill Pickett, the real rodeo starÉinventor of bulldoggingÉas he appears on the revised version that corrected the original error. Right hand text is back printing with the correct birth date.
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| Bill Pickett was born in Texas, circa 1871, the son of an African-American father and a Choctaw Indian mother. After working as a ranch hand, he became a showman, and in 1907 he signed with the Miller brothers' 101 Ranch Wild West Show of Oklahoma, whose owner called him "the greatest sweat and dirt cowhand that ever lived --bar none." Billed as the "Dusky Demon," Pickett became a star performer, working with future show-business immortals Will Rogers and Tom Mix. He perfected the bulldogging technique of jumping from his horse, grabbing the steer around the neck or horns, sinking his teeth into the animal's lip -- a tactic borrowed from cattle dogs -- and pulling it to the ground. His most difficult performance came in 1908 in a bullring in Mexico City, when for several minutes, before a hostile audience, he wrestled and rode a Mexican fighting bull. Pickett performed until about 1916 and worked afterward as a cowhand and rancher. He died April 2, 1932, after being kicked in the head by a horse. In 1971 he was inducted into the National Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame, a part of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center in Oklahoma City. |
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