STILLWATER OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE / 15
FROM FRONTIER GUNMAN TO ICONIC MASCOT:
How Frank Eaton became the face of OSU’ s‘ Pistol Pete’
Pistol Pete. He’ s considered the image of the Old West at Oklahoma State University, the living legend of those supposed glory days when the West was still a lawless, open territory and the only justice found was likely at the end of a pistol.
Frank“ Pistol Pete” B. Eaton embodied the cowboy spirit. With his hair in braids down to his pockets and sporting a cowboy hat, boots, chaps and pistols, he carried himself with ease, confidence and grit.
He’ s known today as the famous OSU mascot, where a student – wearing a giant carbon fiber head – plays the role of Pistol Pete at OSU Athletics events, parades, birthday parties, weddings and more.
In 2023, OSU’ s“ America’ s Greatest Homecoming” featured“ 100 Years of The Cowboy,” honoring Eaton’ s life and legacy. This celebration marked the century since the Perkins native marched in Stillwater’ s 1923 Armistice Day parade, where he inspired a group of students – and later faculty – to become the iconic mascot.
But how did the story of one cowboy change the face of OSU’ s branding?
Pistol Pete shakes hands with fans at an OSU Cowboys game against OU in 2023. PHOTO PROVIDED
A solemn duty
Eaton was born in 1860 in Hartford, Connecticut. His father fought in the Union during the Civil War, and after the war, traveled to Kansas to purchase land where he could raise his family.
“ He got a farm going, and then he sent for his family, and they all came to Kansas,” said Dow Wise, Eaton’ s grandson, whose mother was Eaton’ s youngest child.
In 1868, one year after moving West and when Eaton was 8 years old, something happened that dramatically shaped the course of his life’ s path: he watched cold-blooded killers shoot his daddy.
The Civil War may have been over, but not the contention over the war.
“ There was still a lot of bad feelings between the north and the south( and) in Kansas there was no law of any kind. It was not a state, it was not a territory,” Wise said.“ So, the farmers just hunted down the( cattle thieves) themselves. I guess you’ d call it‘ frontier
STILLWATER OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE / 15