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“ The students saw him leading the parade,” Wise said.“ … They went to him and asked him if they could have somebody come in and do a drawing of him and make a caricature – if they could use him to represent( OSU). Now, they didn’ t have at the time the permission from the school to do that. …
“ And he said,‘ Well, turn your dogs loose.’ That was a term they used for coon hunting,” Wise added, laughing.
That began to change in 1923, when Eaton rode his horse 11 miles north from Perkins to Stillwater to preside as grand marshal for an Armistice Day Parade, now known as Veterans Day. Eaton was in his 60s at the time and frequently attended parades and events all across the state with his buddies.
“ The students saw him leading the parade,” Wise said.“ … They went to him and asked him if they could have somebody come in and do a drawing of him and make a caricature – if they could use him to represent( OSU). Now, they didn’ t have at the time the permission from the school to do that. …
“ And he said,‘ Well, turn your dogs loose.’ That was a term they used for coon hunting,” Wise added, laughing.
Informally, local family-owned shops – such as the Swim family and the Peck brothers – began selling college merchandise with Eaton’ s likeness on their products. The student newspaper, local businesses and alumni groups seemed to take the lead in discussions for a new mascot.
Although the college hadn’ t officially claimed Pistol Pete as their mascot, they did concede to one thing.
“ They let him come into the football games, walk up and down the sidelines, and when they’ d make a touchdown, he’ d fire his gun into the air. I will guarantee you, those were not blanks he was firing,” Wise said.“ That was live ammunition. You know those things have to come down somewhere. I never heard of anybody getting hit by one, but it was a possibility.”
During the last homecoming game in 1957, before Eaton died, Oklahoma A & M allowed the 97-year-old man to stand on top of a stagecoach with a shotgun in his hand firing away – although the gun probably held only blanks, Wise said.
Wise said his grandpa was a Boy Scouts leader up into his 90s, teachings boys how to camp, hunt and shoot a gun, even fashioning bows and arrows for them.
He passed away on April 8, 1958. Eaton was awarded the Director’ s Award from the Cowboy Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum for promoting the values of the Old West, and was inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Great Westerners at the museum in 2022.
Creating a new mascot persona
By the time the 1950s rolled around, Oklahoma A & M was seeking a new identity, and Eaton’ s persona matched how OSU wanted to be perceived, according to OSU’ s website. The school changed its name to Oklahoma State University in 1957, and one year later, adopted Pistol Pete as its official mascot.
Wise said the mascot heads weren’ t created until after Eaton had passed away. The first mascot head was created from papier-mâché and worn by student Charles Lester at one of the Cowboys’ football games in 1959 at Lewis Field.
“ A tradition was born,” wrote Mack Burke in a 2023 story paying tribute to the mascot’ s inspiration.“ From that game on, the students embraced the Pete mascot and the university quickly adopted it as the official mascot.”
In 1970, a Disney Imagineer created a 45-pound Pete’ s head out of fiberglass. Then in 1977, Lillie Solomon – a milliner, costumer and puppeteer – began repairing and sometimes redesigning the heads. In 2019, the fiberglass Pistol Pete mascot heads were discontinued and replaced with heads made of carbon fiber.
Since 1959, 96 students have been selected as a Pistol Pete to wear the outfit – including a 36-pound head – and embody OSU’ s mascot. They endure rigorous tryouts testing their“ physical endurance,
( PHOTO PROVIDED)
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