Frank ‘Pistol Pete’ Eaton to be honored at Western Heritage Awards
Wednesday, February 16, 2022
Media Contact: Mack Burke | Editorial Coordinator | 405-744-5540 | news@okstate.edu
The National Cowboy Museum’s Hall of Great Westerners will soon induct famed lawman Frank Eaton — the inspiration for Oklahoma State University’s Pistol Pete mascot. Eaton is among honorees who will be recognized at the 61st Western Heritage Awards, April 8-9 at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.
“The story of the American West is alive, with people from all walks of life still contributing to the culture of the West we know and love,” said Natalie Shirley, museum president and CEO. “This year’s inductees and award winners include extraordinary men and women who influenced their communities and the world through their work and through the way they lived their lives.”
The Western Heritage Awards honors individuals who have made significant contributions to Western heritage through creative works in literature, music, television and film, and serves as the induction ceremony for the National Cowboy Museum’s Hall of Great Westerners and Hall of Great Western Performers. Also presented annually is the Chester A. Reynolds Award, named in honor of the founder of the Museum and presented to a living honoree or group that has notably perpetuated the legacy of the American West.
Each inductee and honoree receive a Wrangler, an impressive bronze sculpture of a cowboy on horseback created by Oklahoma artist and 2017 Hall of Great Westerners inductee Harold T. Holden.
During his life Frank “Pistol Pete” Eaton was a lawman, an Indian scout, and a settler. He worked on ranches and herded cattle over the Chisholm and Santa Fe Trails. He was later a deputy United States Marshall. Eaton earned the nickname “Pistol Pete” at the age of 15 when he went to Fort Gibson to perfect his shooting skills. He learned how to track, and to survive Indian Territory when he was adopted by a half Delaware Indian at the age of 18. After settling in Perkins, Oklahoma, where he died on April 8, 1958, at the age of 97, he became the inspiration for Oklahoma State University’s mascot.
Being inducted alongside Eaton this year are entrepreneur Gerald Timmerman; actors Burt Reynolds, Bing Russell and Kurt Russell; folklorist James Hoy, museum board member Linda Mitchell Davis; and philanthropist Foster Friess.
The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City is America’s premier institution of Western history, art and culture. Founded in 1955, the Museum collects, preserves and exhibits an internationally renowned collection of Western art and artifacts while sponsoring dynamic educational programs to stimulate interest in the enduring legacy of the American West. The Museum is located only six miles northeast of downtown Oklahoma City at 1700 Northeast 63rd Street.