Although the season finale of Yellowstone provided many long-awaited answers — including what would happen to the titular ranch around

which the drama unfolds — many viewers walked away with a whole new question: Who was Bob Avila?

The question arose just before the episode began unspooling, when a title card flashed on screen reading “This episode is dedicated to Bob

Avila. See you down the dusty trail, Amigo.”

So who was the man to whom the show was paying tribute? Avila was a well-respected, legendary horseman who passed away on November 9 at the age of 72. Rodeo reports that in addition to being to the National Reining Horse Association’s Hall of Fame, he was a two-time winner of the World’s Greatest Horseman title.

The son of a rodeo cowboy whose mother taught yougsters to ride, Avila would go on to raise and train horses before passing everything he’d learned to those coming up behind him.

And what was Avila’s connection to Yellowstone? Over its five season run, the horse opera routinely incorporated real-life cowboys into scenes. In the case of Avila, he appeared in a Season Three episode titled “I Killed a Man Today.” Several other well-known horsemen appeared in the episode, which featured scenes in which Kevin Costner’s John Dutton went shopping for — what else? — new horses!