Arena Tracks: Whitaker Cowboys and Cowgirls

From the small village of Chambers, NE, through the Wild West Shows of the early 1900s to the 14 gold buckle presentations of the Linderman Award, the Whitaker Family has made a name for itself and a mark on the national rodeo landscape.  

The first of the Whitaker hands is Vern, who was a cowboy when cowboying wasn’t easy.  Vern was a self-made hand, coming from a small ranch family.  His path led him to work for a Wild West Show ala Wild Bill Hickok and become a member of the Cowboy Turtles Association (precursor to RCA and PRCA) before being drafted into WWII.  Landing in Northern Africa, the fortitude and grit he learned as a cowboy kept him alive, even after being shot in the chest during a battle in Italy.  Vern had no discernible blood pressure when the medics got to him, but the little bit of “ornery” every cowboy carries coaxed him back to consciousness and took him home to his family in Chambers, NE.  Vern and wife Wilma had 6 children, Danelia, Sandra, Chip, Linda, Amy and Robert; all grew up on horseback and were very successful in youth rodeos, with Sandra being crowned the NHSRA Reserve Champion Pole bender in 1959.  Wilma even rode a few of Vern’s young horses to her teaching job in Gleed, Cavanaugh and Chambers.  The life of a cowboy’s wife could not have been boring.

Around the time the Whitaker family was growing and becoming competitive, another young cowboy, Bill Linderman, was taking the rodeo world by storm.  Outgoing and popular, Bill worked both ends of the arena winning 6 RCA Championships in Barebacks, Saddle Broncs and Steer Wrestling as well as the All Around.  He was the first cowboy to win $500,000 and he stepped up to the Presidency of the RCA.  Bill Linderman died following a plane crash in 1965.  Rumor is that he survived the crash, but was killed running back to save others still in the wreckage.  Bill Linderman was a cowboy and a hero, much like Vern Whitaker.  The RCA established the Linderman Award the following year to be given to a cowboy with the highest earnings in 3 events – one of which had to be a rough stock event and the other a timed event.  To qualify, a cowboy must win $1,000 in each of the three events.  To give you some perspective, that would be nearly $10,000 in 2025 money, though the amount has stayed the same.

When Chip Whitaker was old enough to rodeo professionally, he didn’t set out to win the Linderman award.  Chip states, “That’s just the way I was rodeoing.”  As a professional cowboy trying to put food on the table and feed in the bunks of his growing cattle herd, he pursued as many opportunities to win money as he could.  As a result, he worked 3 events at every rodeo: saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling and calf roping.  As you can imagine, working 3 events can make a rodeo a little harried.  At times, Chip might drive all night to get to a rodeo only to compete in all three events in a matter of 10-15 minutes.  Chip had good help behind the wheel and with his timed event horses as his wife Marilyn, former University of Nebraska classmate, was handy with both.  With the help of Marilyn and his folks, Chip won the Linderman award 4 times, in 1975, 1977-1979.  In doing so, he set a record for the most Linderman Awards and set a precedent for his children, Kyle and Hope.

Much has been written about Kyle Whitaker and rightly so.  The cowboy that started as a Chambers Coyote went on to rodeo for the University of Nebraska like his parents.  Kyle said he always thought it would be cool to win the award as his father had, but lacked the confidence as a younger cowboy.  However, with a year of college under his belt, he felt like he could at least qualify for it as that was in and of itself an accomplishment and the mark of a true cowboy.  Kyle achieved that first goal, qualifying for the Linderman award every year from 1997 – 2021 with the exception of 2012 when he tore his pectoral muscle steer wrestling.  Kyle also upped the ante of his father’s accomplishments winning the Linderman Award 10 times (1997, 1998, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018), a record that will likely not be broken.  He also holds the record for winning the award the most years in a row at four (2015-2018).  Looking back, and understanding how rodeo has evolved, Kyle figures he would have been money ahead if he had focused on one event – most likely saddle bronc riding.  However, the credentials he built by working both chutes and multiple events brought Kyle the job he has today – the Montana State Bobcats Rodeo Coach.  Kyle acknowledges the transformation of college rodeo programs since he competed, noting that at Montana State, Rodeo is recognized as a sport with academic counselors and strength and fitness coaches.  It’s a long way from the 1990s when contestants got themselves to the rodeos and produced their own events. Kyle ended by saying, “You may have good plans, but God has great plans and they may be something you never saw coming.” I couldn’t agree more.

Marilyn Whitaker, a school teacher like her mother-in-law, has been the anchor of the Whitaker family. When I asked Chip if she had participated in rodeo at the University of Nebraska, he said she hadn’t, but probably should have as Marilyn has a knack for picking barrel horses.  As Hope said, “Dad was the cowboy, but Mom liked to pick out and buy good horses.”  One of those horses was purchased at one of the last of Butch Webb’s sales and carries the moniker IceIce Babi.  The 2017 gelding is by Vanilla Viper and out of a daughter of Feature Mr Jess.  Whitaker daughter, Hope Blackmore, took the lead rope and never looked back, winning money at his very first futurity and placing dang near everywhere else they entered.  Hope also jockeys SH Shez A Streaker, a wicked fast daughter of A Streak Of Fling, when not chasing around the country after the 4th generation of Whitaker cowboys and cowgirls, Trey, Chase and Landri. It is not at all surprising that Hope is tough as her best event in high school and college was goat tying, the girls-event equivalent to steer wrestling or rough stock.  Hope is a 6 time National Qualifier in that event, winning both a Nebraska State High School Championship and a Great Plains Regional Reserve Championship.  Currently, her son Trey is carrying on the rodeo legacy.  He is fresh off his final year of qualification for the National Junior High Rodeo and getting ready to take it to the High School Rodeo contestants.  With a little coaching in the dogging from Grandpa and Uncle Kyle, I can imagine he’ll be steely eyed and competitive come spring – just like those that rode before him.