Veteran stuntman Yakima Canutt, who doubled Patton in many westerns, once said of him, "There's only three things Bill Patton's afraid of: horses, guns and the outdoors".
Although it is rumored that he was actually afraid of horses, a 1931 newspaper article about him said that he won the world Bronco Busting Championship three times: once in 1911 and twice in 1916.