Pistol Pete

If you follow college football, Pistol Pete is a familiar name. But, do you know the whole story?

Pistol Pete is the mascot for Oklahoma State University.  Pistol Pete is more than a legend, he was a living breathing man and served as the inspiration for the mascot for Oklahoma State University. And, he is a relative of mine. 

Pistol Pete was born Frank Eaton, Jr in 1860, and at the age of 8, he watched six men gun his father down. He vowed to avenge his father's death, and hunt down the six men that killed him.

With the help of his father's friend and neighbor, and daily practice, Frank learned to shoot fast and straight. Colonel Copinger at Fort Gibson gave him the nickname Pistol Pete. At the age of fifteen he outshot everyone at the fort.

 In his last years, Pistol Pete could draw his forty-five Colt as fast as he did in the days of his youth when he earned the eleven notches on his gun - five for the murderers of his father and six in the line of duty as U. S. Marshal for Judge Parker, the "hanging judge." At the time of his death, he still carried his gun loaded because, as he said, "I'd rather have a pocket full of rocks than an empty gun."

Pistol Pete was adopted by a man named Jasper Exendine when he was about seventeen. Jasper is a cousin to my Great-grandfather on my father's side. Ok, we are not blood kin, but legally we are. Pistol Pete wrote a book of his adventures, and it is so interesting to see how he lived in the Old West.

Pistol Pete at about age 26.

Pistol Pete, 1948 on his horse, Black Dog.

Frank (Pistol Pete) Eaton, died at the age of 98. At the time of his death, he earned his living as a blacksmith and deputy sheriff.