Wayne Cooper (lower right) looks up Friday at the bronze statue of Frank “Pistol Pete” Eaton that he sculpted. Pistol Pete’s home
• Perkins unveils statue honoring famous son
Susan Brinker - NewsPressPERKINS — The Oklahoma Territorial Plaza, which began as a dream, became the official home of a bronze statue of Frank Eaton — known to most people as Pistol Pete.
In honor of Oklahoma’s centennial birthday and the dedication of the Oklahoma Territorial Plaza, the statue was unveiled Friday.
After wishing Oklahoma a happy birthday, Mayor Mel Miller began the official dedication of the Oklahoma Territorial Plaza and the welcoming home of Pistol Pete.
“This is not only a beginning but a once in a lifetime experience for those of us gathered here today,” said Miller. “This plaza will endure and grow in size, scope and complexity. When Oklahoma celebrates its second centennial birthday, this plaza will be celebrating its first centennial birthday.”
Frank “Pistol Pete” Eaton saw his father gunned down when he was 8 years old by a lawless gang of southerners who called themselves the Regulators. According to legend, from that moment on, he swore to avenge his father’s death, thus beginning the western clothing and cowboy image.
In 1923, students at A&M College, now Oklahoma State University, asked Eaton to pose as the school’s mascot after seeing him in an Armistice Day parade. He agreed and became the “original cowboy” and living symbol of OSU until his death April 8, 1958, at age 97.
Artist Wayne Cooper met Eaton when he was a child at a parade. “He was such a short man in life but in my memory he was larger than a mountain,” recalls Cooper. “There I was standing in front of a guy whom I believed to only exist in stories; it was almost like meeting Superman. It’s that change meeting that inspired this piece.”
Cooper was asked to bring the legend back to life by making a bronze statue.
“The challenge in creating this piece was being able to match the man with the legend,” Cooper said. “In art, we often have the advantage of being abstract with our pieces but Eaton did all the creating with the amazing life he led. It was my job to relay this life, this story, this legend into bronze.”
Several Eaton family members were present, including his only living son and his first grandchild.
The fourth and fifth grade classes from Perkins-Tryon school did a tribute to Oklahoma and its birthday by performing “Oklahoma!”
