Person, Place, and Thing: Payne County

I like to think I have a diverse set of interests, but there is one thing all my favorite people, places, and things have in common: They’re all nouns. Literally anything you can think of that has an English word or name associated with it is a noun. Everything we love, everything we hate, the entire world around us—all of it can be boiled down to a simple part of speech. That’s powerful.

One of my favorite nouns is Oklahoma, because without it, I guess I’d need to find another home. The cool thing about this state is that as simple as its eight-letter, song-worthy name is that there are so many diverse people, places, and things that piece together to make up our home.

This is an idea worth exploring in finer detail. That is why I am launching the new Person, Place, and Thing series, starting today. The concept is pretty easy to explain. There are seventy-seven counties that make up our great state: from Adair all the way down the list to Woodward. Each one has its own set of people, places, and things that makes it unique. One by one, I will select a county with a random draw and then detail one prominent person, place, and thing in that county that makes it unique. The series will continue until I run out of counties, which should take a while.

So without further adieu, here is the winner of our very first draw: Payne County in central Oklahoma! Most famous for its county seat Stillwater and as home to Oklahoma State University, Payne is a great place to start our collection of nouns.

OSU’s Pistol Pete is up there with some of the all-time iconic sports mascots, but what sets him apart is that Pete is actually based on a real person, unlike, say, Gritty or Phillie Phanatic (at least I really hope they’re not based on real people). Frank “Pistol Pete” Eaton was originally born in Connecticut but made his home in Payne County. He was a legendary U.S. marshal and skilled marksman known for his showmanship and ability to tell a good tale. After Eaton participated in a 1923 Armistice Day parade in Stillwater (just five years removed from the actual armistice signed in 1918), the students were so impressed with his visage that they lobbied to have him named as the official school mascot. Today Pistol Pete serves not only as the mascot for OSU, but for the universities of Wyoming and New Mexico State as well.

Eaton’s historic home is still around to visit in Perkins, though it has been moved to a new site on Oklahoma Territorial Plaza in 2008. A visual tour of the home can be completed here.

Your Friend, Frank Eaton (Pistol Pete). Dean Burch, circa 1940, photographic print. Ann Dawson Collection, Dickinson Research Center, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. 1971.5.20.

Speaking of Pistol Pete and OSU athletics, there haven’t been too many sports in which the orange-clad cowpoke has had the chance to flex his might than in college wrestling. The Cowboys have been a historic power in the sport of wrestling, claiming thirty-four team national championships and well over a hundred individual titles. It should be no wonder then that the National Wrestling Hall of Fame makes its home in Stillwater. The hall not only honors legends of the sport like the Cowboys’ legendary brother duo Pat and John Smith, but also slightly less intimidating figures like actor Mario Lopez, who made his home on the mat well before he made it to television.

The National Wrestling Hall of Fame opened in Stillwater in 1972. Photo courtesy Visit Stillwater

While Pistol Pete’s iconic visage has presided over Stillwater for more than a century now, there are some other powerful being making a good case for a secondary city mascot. Found at Stillwater’s two locations of G & M Body Shop are twenty-two-foot replicas of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee from the Transformers series. These statues were originally built in Thailand but later refurbished by the auto shop. Optimus Prime can be found at G & M’s eastside location on 6th Avenue while his goldenrod counterpart makes its home outside the west side of the same street. Together they have keep this college town Instagram-friendly and Decepticon-free.

The statue is not only big, it's heavy. Optimus Prime weighs in at just under 6,000 pounds. Photo courtesy Visit Stillwater

Keep your eyes peeled for the next edition of Person, Place, and Thing. There's no telling where in Oklahoma we're going next.

Written By

Ben Luschen

Luschen joined the *Oklahoma Today*’ staff as Research Editor in 2021 and currently works as the magazine's Web Editor, managing the website and social media fronts. His past *Oklahoma Today* stories have ranged in content from the state's bee and quail industries to its vibrant art and music scenes. Not adverse to a road trip, Luschen is always on the lookout for the next big adventure. He is never out of opinions about the current state of Oklahoma City Thunder basketball.