LEGACY: Bill Pickett, the Texas Cowboy Who Invented a Rodeo Staple

FORT WORTH, Texas (TXAN 24) — Long before modern rodeos packed stadiums nationwide, one Black cowboy from Texas changed the game forever.

Born in 1870 near Taylor, Texas, Bill Pickett was a ranch hand with a wild idea: wrestle steers by biting their lips and flipping them to the ground. The move—called “bulldogging”—became the blueprint for today’s steer wrestling.

Denied entry into many rodeos because he was Black, Pickett often passed as Native American just to compete. That didn’t stop him from becoming a star. He joined the famous 101 Ranch Wild West Show and toured across the U.S., Mexico, and England. Fans knew him as “The Dusky Demon.”

Pickett even crossed into Hollywood, starring in two silent Westerns—The Bull-Dogger and Crimson Skull—making him one of the first Black cowboy film stars.

After his death in 1932, his legacy only grew. Pickett became the first Black man inducted into the National Rodeo Hall of Fame. In 1984, Lu Vason launched the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, now the longest-running Black rodeo tour in the country.

With stops in cities like Fort Worth, Oakland, and Atlanta, the rodeo honors Pickett’s legacy while celebrating Black cowboy culture through competition, scholarships, and youth engagement.

From Texas ranches to national stages—Bill Pickett didn’t just ride in rodeos. He rewrote them.