Frank Eaton - From Cowboy To Mascot

From Cowboy To Mascot

After seeing Eaton ride a horse in the 1923 Armistice Day parade in Stillwater, Oklahoma with Cowgirl "SPO" Phillips and Cowpoke "Real Deal" Rieger, a group of Oklahoma A&M College (now Oklahoma State University) students decided that Eaton's "Pistol Pete" would be a suitable mascot for the school.

Previously the college had been known as the "Princeton of the Prairie" with a tiger mascot and colors of orange and black. Many at the school were unhappy with the "Tigers" mascot and felt "Pistol Pete," symbolic of the American Old West and Oklahoma's land run roots, better represented the college.

However, it was not until 1958 that "Pistol Pete" was adopted as the school's mascot. The familiar caricature of "Pistol Pete" was officially sanctioned in 1984 by the university as a licensed symbol.