L-R: Fred Whitfield, Rod Hay, Jerry Bremner and Dale Gray After Being Named To The Calgary Stampede’s Pioneers Of Rodeo Class of 2024..
Photo By Tom Valentine
The Calgary Stampede handed out it’s prestigious Pioneer’s of Rodeo Awards July 8, 2024. The class of 2024 included Chuckwagon Driver/Outrider Jerry Bremner, Outrider Dale Gray, Saddle Bronc Rider Rod Hay and Tie Down Roper Fred Whitfield.
Jerry Bremner first came to the Calgary Stampede as an outrider in 1979, and eventually started competing as a chuckwagon driver in 1985. Nearly 40 years later, Jerry Bremner remained one of the toughest and most successful competitors the Rangeland Derby has ever seen.
As an outrider, Jerry’s first taste of success at the Calgary Stampede in 1980 when he rode 9 out of ten nights on Herman Flad’s championship outfit. In 1982 Jerry was part of chuckwagon driver Dave Lewis’ dominating performance that won both the Aggregate title and the Rangeland Derby Championship. Jerry would win the Calgary Stampede Rangeland Derby championship twice more in 1984 and again in 1991 outriding for Dallas Dorchester.
After picking up the lines as a chuckwagon driver in 1984, Jerry was the World Professional Chuckwagon Association’s Top Rookie Driver that year, which qualified him to compete in his first Rangeland Derby as a chuckwagon driver in 1985 where he finished a very respectable 16th overall in aggregate time and money won. After a two-year absence as a driver, Jerry returned to the Calgary Stampede as a chuckwagon driver in 1988 and made his first trip to the Rangeland Derby’s Championship Final Heat.
Jerry would have to wait four years for his next trip to the Rangeland Derby’s Championship Final Heat in 1992 where he placed third, and returned to the Championship final the following year for the third time. Hooked against aggregate winner Richard Cosgrave, defending champion Tom Glass and perennial favorite Kelly Sutherland, it was Jerry Bremner who was the class of the field and captured the 1993 Calgary Stampede Rangeland Derby Championship.
Jerry Bremner would qualify to the Rangeland Derby’s Championship Final Heat an additional five times between 2001 and 2013, and in 2015 this 3-time World Champion Chuckwagon Driver decided to call it a career and ran his final race at the Calgary Stampede.
A native of Turtleford, Saskatchewan, Dale Gray competed at the Calgary Stampede for the first time as an outrider for chuckwagon driver Brian Laboucane in 1979. In 1981 he rode in the Rangeland Derby’s Championship Final Heat for the first time for driver Alan Smith, and over the next 34 years the accomplishments of Dale Gray at the Calgary Stampede were staggering to say the least.
The 1980’s saw Dale established himself as one of the most in demand outriders on the track. Despite outriding in the Rangeland Derby’s Championship Final Heat nearly every year since 1981, his first Calgary Stampede Championship would come behind Buddy Bensmiller in 1989.
The 1990s was to be the decade of Dale Gray. He won the Calgary Stampede Aggregate title seven times with the likes of Kelly Sutherland, Richard Cosgrave, Buddy Bensmiller and Dallas Dorchester, including a record 5 consecutive between 1993 and 1997. Dale also captured three consecutive Rangeland Derby Championships with Kelly Sutherland between 1997 and 1999.
As he crossed over into the new Millennium and was approaching this 40’s, Dale Gray showed no signs of slowing down, as he would win the Rangeland Derby Championship another 4 times in 2001 and 2002 with Kelly Sutherland, 2003 with Buddy Bensmiller and for the final time in 2006 with Hugh Sinclair. He won a record eighth Calgary Stampede Aggregate in 2009 with Kelly Sutherland and rode in his final Calgary Stampede at the Stampede’s 100th anniversary in 2012.
For 35 years in parts of five decades this five-time World Champion Outrider has cemented his legacy as one of the greatest outriders of all time. Sixteen time times Dale Gray has stood on the stage at the Calgary Stampede to receive awards for Rangeland Derby – a record among outriders in the 100 year history of the chuckwagon races.
Rod Hay first came to prominence at the Calgary Stampede back in 1983 when he captured the Boys Steer Riding Championship. By 1986 he had graduated to competing in the Novice Saddle Bronc competition, and by 1989 Rod Hay joined the professional ranks to compete in the Open Saddle Bronc Riding Championship. Over the next 20 years Rod Hay would become one of the most successful rodeo athletes at the Calgary Stampede.
In 1994 Rod made his first trip to the Calgary Stampede’s $50,000.00 showdown round in Saddle Bronc Riding. He drew Franklin’s Kingsway, tied a Stampede record with an 86 point ride, and won his first North American Saddle Bronc Riding Championship and the $50,000.00 bonus.
Rod would make the Calgary Stampede’s $50,000.00 showdown round in 1995 and again in 1998, and again in 1999, where Rod closed out the 1990’s by scoring another 86 point ride aboard the Calgary Stampede’s Zorro Bandit to win his second North American Saddle Bronc Riding Championship by a mere half point over World Champion Saddle Bronc Rider Billy Etbauer. In ironic fashion, Zorro Bandit carried Rod’s brother Denny to the $50,000 pay window at the Calgary Stampede just the year before.
The 2000’s were another successful decade for Rod Hay. Between 2000 and 2007, Rod made the $50,000.00 showdown round at the Calgary Stampede five times in eight years. He captured his third North American Saddle Bronc Riding Championship on Kesler’s Shady Cat in 2002, and his fourth and final North American Saddle Bronc Riding Championship in 2005 after marking a whopping 91 points abord Kesler’s Cool Alley, where the $50,000 bonus cheque made Rod Hay Canada’s first Two-million dollar cowboy.
In 2006, Rod was honoured by the Calgary Stampede with it’s prestigious Guy Weadick Award, presented annually to the chuckwagon or rodeo competitor who “best embodies what the cowboy stands for and who best typifies the spirit of the Calgary Stampede.” He continued to compete at the Calgary Stampede until 2009, and suffered a career ending injury just three weeks before the 2010 Calgary Stampede.
But Rod Hay’s accomplishments at the Calgary Stampede are extraordinary. Nine times he would qualify for the Calgary Stampede’s $50,000.00 showdown round in Saddle Bronc Riding, and since the Stampede adopted the $50,000.00 bonus round in 1982, his four North American Saddle Bronc Riding Championships are a record unequalled to this very day.
In 1990 a 22 year old rookie tie down roper came to the Calgary Stampede for the first time, and almost instantaneously became a fan favorite to the Calgary Rodeo Fans. Unknown at that that time, it would be the start of an incredible legacy that Fred Whitfield would create at the Calgary Stampede over the next 3 decades.
In 1992 Fred made his first trip to the Calgary Stampede’s $50,000.00 showdown round in Tie Down Roping, and came within just 6 tenths of a second from claiming the championship. He came back in 1993 and for the first time Fred Whitfield claimed the North American Tie Down Roping Championship and the $50,000 bonus that accompanied the victory.
Fred would be absent from the showdown round for five years, but in 1999 he would qualify for the first of four consecutive appearances in the Calgary Stampede’s $50,000.00 showdown round from 1999 to 2002, and winning his second career North American Tie Down Roping Championship in 2001.
After the National Final Rodeo in Las Vegas in December of 2006, Fred Whitfield underwent back and rotor cuff surgery which kept him out of action for nearly 6 months. He couldn’t return to competing until just one week before the start of the 2007 Calgary Stampede. Although nobody gave him a realistic chance of contending, overcoming adversity is a common trait among champions. And by the time the 2007 Calgary Stampede was over, Fred Whitfield had claimed his third and final North American Tie Down Roping Championship.
Fred would make the Calgary Stampede’s showdown round in Tie Down Roping three more times in 2010, 2012 and 2016, and competed in his final Calgary Stampede in 2017.
For three decades Fred Whitfield was a staple at the Calgary Stampede and produced one of the most incredible records of any cowboy in history of the Calgary Stampede Rodeo. Ten Times he would qualify for the final four in the Calgary Stampede’s Sunday Showdown in three different decades. An eight time World Champion Cowboy, Fred’s three North American Tie Down Roping Championships in the Calgary Stampede’s bonus round was a record that stood for 14 years until his protégé Cory Solomon tied him in 2021.
Congratulations to all four recipients for this well earned honor.
Billy Melville
