Thursday, Dec. 5, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
SPECIAL TO THE SUN
Fred Whitfield's mid-season turnaround in 1995 was perhaps equivalent to a 28-point, fourth-quarter comeback in football.
Then, just when he appeared unbeatable, Whitfield almost let the title slip away at the National Finals Rodeo.
"I kind of felt out of control for awhile," Whitfield said. "I came in with the lead and never lost it, but I let those guys get close to me."
"Those guys" included Joe Beaver, Shawn McMullan, Ricky Canton and Cody Ohl -- four of the most talented ropers the sport has seen. Despite Whitfield's best efforts early on -- he won the first round with a scorching 7.6-second run, then placed third in the second round in 9.2 seconds -- the challengers hung tight.
In the eighth round, Whitfield whistled out of the box and wrapped his calf in 7.7 seconds -- a full five-tenths of a second faster that round-leader and five-time world calf roping champion Joe Beaver. But Whitfield had broken the barrier, and his official time was dismal 17.7.
Beaver claimed the round's $12,670 first-place check, and trailed Whitfield by only $6,000 with two rounds to go.
"I'm not going to sit here and tell you that that didn't put a little added pressure on me," Whitfield said.
"I broke the barrier and I started to second-guess myself. I was saying 'I should've held back more, I should've done this, I should've done that'
"But once you get here (the NFR), I think a guy just has to roll with the punches."
Whitfield responded the very next round with a 9.4-second run. He finished the round tied with Canadian Marty Becker for first place, and the title was his again.
Permanently.
He left Las Vegas with $146,760 in season earnings -- $24,162 more than second-place finisher Beaver.
Whitfield's NFR performance was the culmination of one of rodeo's greatest comebacks.
Whitfield, after qualifying for five consecutive NFRs and winning a world title, was the missing man early in 1995. The big-money winter and early spring rodeos had come and gone, and Whitfield had yet to crack into the top 50. Some began to write him out of the '95 race.
Whitfield finally made his first appearance in the 1995 world standings in mid-March, albeit with a season total of less than $5,000. He was a distant 46th -- more than $22,000 behind Beaver in the world standings.
But from then on, Whitfield rarely faltered.
He too the lead from Beaver on Oct. 17 after a furious $80,000 seven-month charge, and held the No. 1 spot when the NFR opened Dec. 1. He never relinquished his advantage. Now, he's aiming for another world title in 1996.
"I'll start up in Odessa and Denver, back to the same old grind again," he said. "I'd love to win the world a couple more times."
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