‘Dancing Cowboy’ dead at 47; family thanks community for honking its love back at street corner smile-maker

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) – His family called him Marques but his community knew him as the Little Caesar’s Dancing Cowboy. Now, just 47 years old, Marques Morrison is gone.

The corner of Stockdale Highway and California Avenue is officially one of the busiest intersections in Bakersfield, but unofficially, for the past 15-years plus, it has served as the concrete pulpit of a remarkable man. Now that sidewalk pulpit has gone silent — in a metaphoric sense, at least. It still sees 68,000 vehicles per day, but it’s a little less cheery.

Marques Morrison, known to many as “Priest,” and to many, many more as the “Dancing Cowboy,” has passed at the age of 47, after spending fully a third of his life advertising pizza and, more consequently, bringing smiles to the faces of passing drivers.

His older brother, marketing consultant and podcast host Danny Morrison, said his brother overcame a traumatic brain injury suffered in a car wreck as a 6-year-old, and, in his adult years, a period of homelessness, to do what he really wanted to do for somewhere between 15 and 20 years. He did it right there in that same southwest corner of Bakersfield, about 100 yards from the Little Caesar’s Pizza takeout restaurant that employed him — smiling, waving, dancing, almost nonstop, come heat, cold, wind or rain, sometimes pausing only to help someone get across the street.

“My brother really believed in doing what he wanted to do to make people happy,” Danny Morrison said, “even if he suffered financially for it, even if he suffered physically for it, my brother did what he wanted to do, which is, through the works of God, making people smile on a daily basis on those Bakersfield streets, on that corner of Stockdale and California.”

And people noticed. The word iconic is overused, but no one could have been that surprised when he turned up in a promotional board game, Bakersfieldopoly, as a game piece.

“He brought smiles to the community,” said a driver who was stopped at the traffic signal at southbound California. “I thought he was really fun. When you walked by him he was really nice. He was a really good guy.”

“He was always out there dancing, flipping his sign, saying hi, people honking at him,” said Carlos Sanchez, who had just purchased a pizza at Little Caesar’s.

Marques Morrison’s family had no information on his cause, time or place of death. They’re still awaiting some of that information from the county coroner’s office, but foul play is not suspected.

Information on possible services is pending.

Marques Morrison, who was not married, leaves behind an adult daughter.

“So thank you so much everyone for believing in my brother, honking at my brother, smiling at my brother, waving at my brother,” Danny Morrison said. “And some of you have even taken gifts to my brother, taking him a 32-ounce Big Gulp now and again because you see him sweating profusely out there.

“I just want to tell Bakersfield, thank you so much for loving my brother.”

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