Ahead of the Mountain Valley Stampede Rodeo on Thursday, Dan Whitsett was preparing to run. But he was not a competitor.
Instead, the proud Texan and rodeo lover is a sheet runner. At the end of each part of the competition, he runs scores and information to the rodeo secretary. She also happens to be his wife, Allison.
As rodeo secretary, Allison is in charge of all rodeo happenings. The rodeo draw is posted within seconds of completion, and event timer sheets are posted for easy reference. Preliminary and final daysheets, as well as ground rules, are posted each day for easy reference.
Allison is a wealth of information and the main point of contact for every rodeo official throughout the event. What she says goes. If there’s a question, Allison has the answer.
In a backroom office at the Wasatch County arena, Allison sat with one laptop, two screens and a mouse in her lap before the event. Two service dogs lay at her feet. Spreadsheets and forms were pulled up on each screen, ready to be filled out and analyzed.
Bareback riding, saddle bronc riding, bull riding, tie-down roping, steer wrestling, team roping — Allison knows the rules of each event and how to score them. She’s in charge of the random draws for which rider gets what bull. She looks forward to the hustle and energy each night of the rodeo brings.
“I get all of the information where it needs to go,” Allison said.
It’s not easy to become a rodeo secretary. Allison started down the path in 2007, when she began working as a timer. After years of timing, Allison started secretary school at her own expense and earned her card in 2012.
Now, she contracts out work to different rodeos across the country. Right now, Allison is on a seven-week run and will hit locations in Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and Washington.
Allison said there’s no good answer as to why she enjoys her job so much.
“Except that it’s kind of a niche thing and not everybody does it,” she said.
For months at a time, Allison — accompanied sometimes by Dan — roams around as a rodeo official. The most challenging part, she said, is the electronics involved. Now and then, there’s a curveball that throws Allison for a loop. She’s well organized enough to navigate every obstacle.
“No information gets in or out unless it goes through the secretary,” she said.
Throughout the minutes leading up to the start of the rodeo, contestants, judges and rodeo officials hounded Allison with questions. Occasionally, a friend would stop in. Kinal Patel is an animal chiropractor who met Allison at a rodeo in Wasatch County last year.
“She does everything,” Patel said.
And Allison is not the only rodeo official whose job requires deep focus and knowledge. Bobby Davis and Greg Bennett are rodeo judges. They prepped with Allison before heading out in black-and-white striped judges’ vests and cowboy hats.
It takes experience and integrity to be a great judge, Bennett said.
Davis agreed, adding that acting as a rodeo judge requires more understanding of the sport than an NFL or NBA referee.
“You’ve got to multitask,” Davis said. “Where, a football referee, it’s just football.”
With the rodeo, there are multiple categories with various rules that Davis and Bennett need to stay on top of.
Allison said arena awareness is a big part of being a rodeo official. Years ago, her ex-husband was judging. A horse blocked his path during an event, and he was charged. It ended in a fall that broke bones in his arm and a rib.
Bennett said knowing when to get out of the way is crucial.
When asked about the most thrilling event Bennett and Davis have seen as judges, the pair agreed on one thing: The craziest thing is always what happens at the next rodeo.
“You think you’ve seen everything in rodeo when you start judging,” Davis said.
It turns out that’s far from true.
The Mountain Valley Stampede Rodeo played host to more than 400 cowboys and cowgirls in Wasatch County. The Whitsetts and judges kept the event moving throughout it all.