Billy McGinty

Who was Billy McGinty?

William M. "Billy" McGinty was an Oklahoma bronco buster.

As a cowboy in Kansas and the Indian Territory, he became acquainted with fellow cowboy Bill Doolin and others who would later turn outlaw.

A Rough Rider with Theodore Roosevelt and hero at San Juan Hill, he also toured with Buffalo Bill's Congress of Rough Riders. He was the first bronc buster in a movie, filmed during an act for the 1889 Paris World's Fair.

In the 1920s, he became the leader of the McGinty's Oklahoma Cowboy Band, which later became Otto Gray and his Oklahoma Cowboys, the first nationally famous cowboy band.

He served terms as president of the Cherokee Strip Cowpunchers Association and in 1954 he was elected life-time president of the Rough Riders Association.