PAMPA, Texas — A Texas western legend was featured in the return of "Yellowstone," the hit drama in its final season on Paramount.
And his appearance came just two months after his death.
Billy Klapper, a spur and bit maker from Pampa in the Texas Panhandle, filmed a scene at his shop with Cole Hauser's character, Rip.
Klapper died on Sept. 10 at the age of 87, before Sunday night's episode made air.
In the scene, Hauser's character was picking up an order from Klapper in Pampa. When he stepped into Klapper's shop, he was awestruck by the old-school method in which Klapper made spurs, which cowboys wear on their ankles when riding horses. Klapper fashioned his from a single piece of steel.
"I didn't know people made them like that anymore," Rip told Klapper, who was playing himself in the role.
"I think there might be a few, but very few," Klapper told him.
Klapper let Rip's character take a pair for free, and Rip went back to the Four Sixes ranch, where another cowboy noticed his "pair of Klappers" he picked up.
"When he's gone," the cowboy told Rip, "we're all out of legends ... with nobody trying to be the next one."
We'll try to stay spoiler-free here, but in one of the bigger episodes in Yellowstone's five-season run, Klapper's scene and Rip's reaction to a fading way of Western life was one of the most powerful moments.
Here's a section from Klapper's obituary on the Carmichael-Whatley funeral home website:
After high school, Billy started working as a ranch hand at the Buckle L Ranch in Childress and later at the Y Ranch in Paducah. Billy spent a great deal of time with the famous bit and spur maker, Adolph Bayers, and in 1966 he made his first pair of spurs. The demand for Billy’s spurs grew, and he started making gear full-time in 1968. He was well known in the ranching and cowboying industry and was one of the few bit and spur makers that still made one-piece spurs. Billy’s bits and spurs are now collected worldwide. He made 682 different spur patterns and 816 different bit patterns. His patterns have been used by bit and spur makers but have never been duplicated. Billy created his legacy and changed the cutting horse industry by listening to what the cowboys wanted and making functional bits for their horses.
Sunday night's Yellowstone episode honored Klapper at the end: "In loving memory of Billy Klapper."
