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KYLE WHITTAKER, UNL junior agriculture economics major and winner of 10 all-around professional rodeo compe
titions in 1997 alone, competes in the calf-roping competition during the UNL College Rodeo. The 40th annual
rodeo finals were held in Wahoo April 4.
Lowboy carries on rodeo tradition
RODEO from page 1
Whittaker said the death of his
grandfather always stayed in the back of
his mind but didn’t phase him during
competition.
He remembers his youth fondly,
describing, with a smile, growing up in
the rural community of Chambers.
“I've been swinging a rope ever
since I could walk - or ride,” he said
explaining how episodes of "The Lone
Ranger” inspired him to teach his first
pony, Casper, to rear up like the hero’s
horse. Silver.
That inspiration persisted even
when he suffered his own accident on
New Year's Day 1996 while riding in
South Dakota.
Practicing for the same e\ent that
his grandfather died doing, Whittaker's
horse was tripped by a steer and rolled
over, knocking him unconscious. They
were 40 miles from the nearest town.
The accident happened around 6
p.m . his father said but he didn't regain
consciousness until nearly 18 hours
later in a Rapid City. South Dakota hos
pital.
He suffered a bad concussion that
left him “like a zombie for days,” Chip
said.
Whittaker doesn't remember the
accident, and is thankful for it.
I le doesn't recall watching a video
tape of the 1996 Fiesta Bowl four days
in a row just after the incident either,
each time wundering who would w in.
Whittaker jokes that the incident
may have knocked some sense into him.
"It was the only semester I got a
4.0,'' he said w ith a grin.
Healthy competition
Whittaker has managed to hold his
grade point average at a 3.6, despite the
all-night drivesrodeo requires.
Competing in steer-wrestling, sad
dle-bronc-riding and calf-roping events,
his rodeo achievements include qualify
ing to compete in the National High
School Rodeo Finals, countless all
around championships in some of the
nation’s biggest rodeos and winning the
UNL College Rodeo two years in a row.
Whittaker is modest about all the
recognition, however, even after win
ning the internationally coveted
Linderman Award, named for the 1950
Saddle Bronc Champion Bill
Linderman, who was killed in a plane
crash in 1965.
Whittaker’s father won the award
for versatility in rodeo four times, mak
ing the two the only father-son duo ever
to win the honor.
But Whittaker said rodeo hasn’t
always been a success, describing his
junior year of high school as a low' point.
Going into the state finals in second
place with a clear shot at national com
petition. Whittaker didn't qualify.
The first two years of college com
petition would prove to be disappoint
ing, too, as Whittaker came up short of
qualify ing for nationals both years.
“It’s frustrating that you can’t be at
the top (all of the time),” he said, adding
that he’d considered giving up bronc rid
ing at one point. "But it was also very
motivational ... I knew I could do bet
ter.”
He said the constant challenge and
love of rodeo keeps him going now.
Training his six horses gives him a
lot of satisfaction too, as they account
for half of a cowboy’s success in a rodeo,
he said.
To prepare for competition,
Whittaker uses mental imagery and
tries to imitate other champion riders’
techniques.
But animals are rarely predictable,
so he imagines every possible scenario
before competing.
"You have to have a backup plan, so
you can react instead of having to
think,” he said.
At the 40lh annual UNL College
Rodeo finals April 4. Whittaker’s tense
composure filtered through the nerves
of final competition in the steer
wrestling and saddle-bronc-riding
events.
With a wipe of his upper lip and one
quick tug on his hat,. Whittaker nodded
to open the shoot and flew out into the
arena on a bucking bronc. His teeth grit
ted and he hung on for the eight seconds
and a score of 68.
Though it placed him fourth overall,
his slow saunter made it clear he wasn’t
pleased.
“For the first four seconds I was just
trying to survive” he said later that
evening. “If I had taken my time and
gotten my saddle pulled it would have
helped a lot.”
His average win in the steer
wrestling event balanced his disap
pointment.
“I’m pretty happy - it will help me
in the college standings,” he said.
He said steer wrestling, in w hich the
rider must slide off his horse onto a run
ning steer at a speed of about 30 mph
then wrestle the beast to the ground, is
the event most likely to bring injury.
“With high velocities and large
masses, you're asking for a wreck ” he
said.
After earning a time of 4.5 seconds
in the steer-wrestling finals Saturday
evening, however, he showed no sign of
feeling the bumps and bruises of rodeo.
With his familiar gnn, he dusted off his
pants and walked out of the arena.
True colors
Whittaker said despite family tradi
tion, he w as never forced to be a cowboy
and held high hopes of playing football
for Nebraska until his senior year of
high school.
But rodeo was just too appealing.
“Of all the guys I’ve ever looked up
to, cowboys were the coolest people in
the world,” he said. “You could tell they
were a cut above everyone else. They
had a no-fear attitude - real indepen
dent.”
Whittaker said if he couldn't be a
cowboy he would choose to write, per
haps help restore the image of the
American farms and ranches, as well as
rodeos, which he feels have become
prone to misconceptions.
“Some people think we’re just a
bunch of dumb cow boys,” he said. “But
1 don’t see how you can’t like rodeo if
you get to know' the people who try to
make a living doing it.”
Making a living off rodeo competi
tion is not easy, he said listing expenses
that pile up traveling to competitions.
It’s not as glamorous as some may think
either, he said describing the sacrifices
that come with competing.
But for Whittaker, rodeo w ill never
be a chore.
“I don't think anybody would view'
rodeo as a job.” he said. “If you’re loving
what you’re doing I don’t see how any
one can call it work.”
Like his strong lov e for the cowboy
way of life, Whittaker keeps a strong
love for his religion on hand at all times.
“It keeps me going." he said. “I
know there’s no sense in getting real
upset, because it’s not the end of the
world I Ve got someth ing more impor
tant ”
He hopes to compete full tune after
college, he said, citing the National
Finals Rodeo as his ultimate goal.
“It’s the Super Bowl of rodeo,” he
said, describing the highest level of
competition in the PRCA between the
top 15 competitors in each event.
Whittaker wants to compete in the NFR
in 1999, the year he will graduate.
Deep down
Back home in rural Chambers, Chip
and Marilyn Whittaker throw' on old
coats and head to the bam to help a cow
having a backwards calf. Marilyn
returns a few' minutes later with a smile
-all is well.
She goes over to a bookshelf and
pulls out a few photo albums. After a
few minutes of leafing through them,
she displays a picture of Kyle taken
w hen he was not yet 1 year old.
Kyle is in red pajamas on the floor,
grinning coyly up at the camera. In his
tiny hands he grips just one thing, no
doubt as tightly as he could: a lasso.
She said Kyle's success in rodeo is
admirable but riot the most important
thing in life.
“It's more important to me that he’s
a good person.” she said. “His honesty
means more than any award he could
win”
