Oklahoma State Cowboys and Cowgirls

The Oklahoma State Cowboys and Cowgirls are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Oklahoma State University, located in Stillwater. The program's mascot is a cowboy named Pistol Pete. Oklahoma State participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) as a member of the Big 12 Conference. The university's current athletic director is Chad Weiberg, who replaced the retiring Mike Holder on July 1, 2021. In total, Oklahoma State has 52 NCAA team national titles, which ranks fifth in most NCAA team national championships. These national titles have come in wrestling (34), golf (11), basketball (2), baseball (1), and cross country (4). Athletics history and tradition Prior to 1957, Oklahoma State University was known as Oklahoma A&M. As was common with most land-grant schools, its teams were known for many years as the Aggies, though they were sometimes also called the Tigers. However, in 1923, A&M was looking for a new mascot to replace its pet tiger (the inspiration behind the school colors of orange and black). A group of students saw famed cowboy Frank Eaton leading the Armistice Day parade. He was approached to see if he would be interested in being the model for the new mascot, and he agreed. The caricature adopted his nickname "Pistol Pete". Only a few decades removed from the cattle drive era, the cowboy was still an important figure in the Southwest. The new mascot had become so popular that by 1924, Charles Saulsberry, sports editor of The Oklahoma Times, began calling A&M's teams the "Cowboys". "Aggies" and "Cowboys" were used interchangeably until A&M was elevated to university status in 1957. In 1958, the "Pistol Pete" caricature was formally adopted as Oklahoma State's mascot, though it had been used unofficially for over three decades before then.