Greg Sanders was a country singer, son of a murdered Wyoming sheriff who took on the costumed identity to avenge his father.
He debuted in Action Comics back in 1941, for heaven's sakes, which is a pretty fine pedigree, acting as a back-up to Superman stories. His strip ran there for 13 years!!
He was also a founding member of The Seven Soldiers Of Victory, a.k.a. The Law's Legionnaires, essentially DC's second banana JSA.
And come the Silver and Bronze Age...
Now, it turns out that there were Earth-2 AND Earth-1 versions of Vigilante, a la Green Arrow, so yeah, there can be confusion. Perhaps that's why DC changed his name from Greg Sanders to Greg Saunders in the 1990s?
Anyway, it can hardly be more confusing than dealing with the history of the modern Vigilante.
Now, maybe the modern guy has made the name too freighted with negative connotations to be a viable identity for our ersatz Western hero. After all, the term "vigilante" often has negative implications, and is usually used to call into question the very raison d'etre of costumed heroes. So, if you're really gun shy about that, DC, just give him a new name.
But if ou think a two-fisted cowboy on a motorcycle can't cut it in a modern super-hero world, allow me to point out the time that HE SAVED SUPERMAN FROM A WEREWOLF:
And, if you need someone to jump start your faltering DCEU movie-verse, well, someone has already been there:
And did I mention--he has a motorcycle?!?
Sorry, got distracted there. Anyway, if DC is all about legacy, well, here's a legacy character that hasn't been used since 2008. Are you listening, DC?