Willie M. “Bill” Pickett (1870-1932), from Taylor, was a cowboy, rodeo, Wild West show performer and actor. He was known by nicknames The Dusky Demon and The Bull-Dogger.
He invented the technique of bulldogging, the skill of grabbing cattle by the horns and wrestling them to the ground. Pickett practiced his stunt by riding hard, springing from his horse, and wrestling the steer to the ground. Pickett’s method for bulldogging was biting a cow on the lip and then falling backwards. This method eventually lost popularity as the sport morphed into the steer wrestling that is practiced in rodeos like you will see today.
In 1888, Pickett performed in the town’s first fair. He and his brothers started a horse-breaking business in Taylor, and Pickett was a member of the national guard and a deacon of The First BaptistChurch. In December 1890, he married Maggie Turner.
In 1989, years after being honored by the National Rodeo Hall of Fame, Pickett was inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame and Museum of the American Cowboy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
A statue of him stands at the corner of Second and Main Streets in downtown Taylor. It was commissioned by the McCrory-Timmerman Restoration Project and created by local artist Adam Davenport in 2017.
