“MY DAD WAS A CHARACTER.”

“Crusty” was the most common description Bill Holman heard regarding his father.

Image 124

“But you always knew where you stood with him. He would go about things his own way and didn’t much care for outside help,” Bill says.

“I remember as a kid I would offer up a suggestion and he’d shoot it down. I was stubborn and would push it. He would just grit his cigar and say in disgust, ‘See if you can make it work.’ He would be right most of the time, but I snuck in a couple of victories every once in a while.”

Hubert and Betty, Bill’s parents, were from Sallisaw—the same Oklahoma town Pretty Boy Floyd came from. “He’s either an outlaw or a hero, depending on who you ask.”

“I was six years old when we moved to Oklahoma. Dad left his job in Southern California with Wham-O, you know, the Hula Hoop, Frisbee, Slip ’n’ Slide company. We got all the rejects. One thing that I remember was this wind-up bird. It didn’t work very well. It just knocked over lamps and broke things,” Bill says with a laugh.

Hubert had his fill of California and brought his family back home to Sallisaw in 1965. They bought a house on the outskirts of town.

“We were near the Robert S. Kerr Dam and just started selling sandwiches to the workers. We had a Dairy Dip type place, but things really took off when we started selling barbecue.”

Over the years, their reputation spread.

“Dad never believed in advertising, at least not the kind that you paid for. It’s all word of mouth. One time the TV show CBS Sunday Morning came by and featured us. They flew into the little airport down the road and asked about getting a taxi to take them to the Wild Horse. The guy working at the airport said, ‘It’s just over the hill,’ and threw them the keys to his truck. One of the CBS guys said, ‘Where we come from they call that carjacking.’”

Hubert worked the barbecue until his health wouldn’t allow it. He died in 1999. Betty still helps out some. Bill left his job making air pumps at Borg Warner and joined his brother Dale, who is retired from the Air Force, in taking over the barbecue. Both of the brothers’ children help out as well.

“I guess you can say dad brought us all together.” (Image 125)

Image 125: Wild Horse Mountain Bar-B-Q HC 61 Box 404 • Sallisaw, OK 74955 • (918)775-9960