How Pistol Pete, the University of Wyoming’s cowboy mascot, came to be

For decades, no one quite knew how Pistol Pete, the University of Wyoming’s beloved mascot, came to be. UW historian John Waggener went on a mission to find out. The story begins not in Laramie, but with a San Jose State cheerleader who was chased off the field in 1969 and came back the next year to create a Wyoming legend.

Waggener discovered the origin story in the January 14, 1971, edition of the Branding Iron, UW’s student newspaper, where a column revealed that Donald Bogdan, a former San Jose State cheerleader, had become the first Pistol Pete. Two years earlier, before a Wyoming–San Jose State game in Laramie, Bogdan had run onto the field dressed as a Spartan, the San Jose State mascot, and thrown a spear into the middle of the field.

“When Don ran out onto the field and threw his spear into the middle of the football field, it ticked off the Wyoming student section,” Waggener said. “They actually came down out of the stands and started chasing him.” Bogdan ran up into the San Jose State section and hid out for the rest of the game. But rather than deterring him, the loud, unbridled reaction from Wyoming fans caught his imagination.

“He actually left Laramie with good vibes,” Waggener said. Bogdan decided to get a master’s degree in vocational education and learned that Wyoming had a program. In the fall of 1970, he became a graduate student at UW. At his first football game as a Wyoming student, he noticed the cheer squad had no mascot. So he put together a cowboy outfit—spurs, boots, chaps, vest and a giant hat donated by Longhorn Saddlery—and added a fake pistol that shot out a flag reading “Bang!”

The cheer squad spotted him running around the student section and invited him to join. “I come from a place where you’re lucky to see 1000 people for a basketball game,” Bogdan told the Branding Iron. “There are about 4000 fans here over semester break for the basketball games.” He said people were startled by “Pistol Pete” at first but were getting accustomed to him, adding that enthusiasm was the main requirement for the role.

Waggener estimates there have been about 30 Pistol Petes over the past 55 years. The logo of the bowlegged cowboy with his six-shooter pointing up originated around 1951 with a Southern California company that specialized in collegiate mascot art. The earliest use of the logo at UW dates to 1952. Today, the mascot brought to life by a former Spartan continues to excite crowds, just as Bogdan hoped. “I’ve met some of the greatest people here,” he said in 1971. “The potential for crowd participation is tremendous.”