Let me introduce myself my name is Stuart Barber, I am more commonly known by the sobriquet “Tame Bill” in Cowboy Action Shooting circles. Vermonter by birth and Kansan by choice I have ancestors who immigrated to Kansas in 1857 during the pre-Civil War “Bleeding Kansas” era, one of which ended up Governor of Kansas, 1895-97.

Tame Bill was the nickname given to James B. "Wild Bill" Hickok’s older brother Lorenzo. I was told by an elderly Aunt that our family is distantly related to the Hickok family by marriage. After doing some research I discovered that my Aunt was correct. My mother's great, great, aunt married Elmeron Butler, nephew of Polly Butler Hickok in 1868 and some years later they ended up in Kane County, Illinois. All that being said, I thought it quite a good moniker.

I began Cowboy Action Shooting shortly after joining the Single Action Shooting Society in 2001. This is not to say that I only began competitive shooting at that time, by heavens no, I have been competing in various handgun shooting sports since the age of fourteen. Cowboy Action Shooting appealed to me for its use of frontier era firearms, emphasis on history, costuming and fun factor. Another unique aspect of Cowboy Action Shooting is every SASS member is required to select a shooting alias representative of a character or profession from the Old West or the western film genre.