Since its early days as a rugged, wild west, frontier outpost, the great state of Wyoming has been home to many colorful characters; including a few who earned unique nicknames.

Here's our completely unofficial list of the best nicknames in the history of the Cowboy State.

1. John 'Liver Eating' Johnson - Nicknames don't get much better than this tribute to Wyoming's legendary mountain man. According to legend, after killing and scalping hundreds of Crow Indians, Johnson would also cut out their livers and eat them as an insult to his vanquished rivals.

A statue honoring Johnson still patrols his gravesite at the Old Town Trail in Cody.

2. Mother Featherlegs - Immortalized with the only public monument to a prostitute in America, this madam ran a house of ill repute in Lusk, Wyoming, and was named in honor of her trademark ruffled lace stockings.

Sadly, Mother Featherlegs was murdered during a robbery in 1879 by a man with another dubious nickname, "Dangerous" Dick Davis.

3. George "Flat Nose" Curry - Also known as "Big Nose" George, Curry was a member of the infamous "Wild Bunch" that hid out at a remote pass in the Bighorn Mountains known as Hole in the Wall, Wyoming.

After taking part in several train robberies, including a raid near Wilcox, Wyoming, Curry fled to Utah, where he was eventually killed in 1900.

4. The Sundance Kid - Another member of the "Wild Bunch", Harry Alonzo Longabaugh earned his nickname after serving 18 months in a Sundance, Wyoming, jail. He later joined forces with Robert Leroy Parker, aka "Butch Cassidy".

Along with their group of "Wild Bunch" bandits, Cassidy and the Sundance Kid robbed trains and banks across the west before disbanding and fleeing to South America. Although he was believed to be killed in the country of Bolivia in 1908, his death is still shrouded in mystery.

5. Charles "Tub" Bradley - One of the greatest basketball players in University of Wyoming history, Bradley earned his nickname as a child, when his mother observed that he was wider than he was taller and "built like a bathtub".

The moniker followed "Tub" to Laramie, where he still ranks seventh on the all-time career scoring list. Following a successful professional career in the NBA, Bradley returned to UW as an Assistant Coach in 1986 and was inducted into the Wyoming Athletics Hall of Fame a decade later.

 

 

More From 101.9 KING-FM