In 2003, Dave Whitmoyer was a top high school quarterback prospect in the State of Montana with plans to continue his football career at the University of Montana. Unfortunately, a losing senior season at Helena High, along with U of M coaching staff changes, his plan fell apart. What he felt was a bleak situation turned around quickly after Coach Mike Beagle of NDSCS contacted him. By the summer of 2004, Whitmoyer was committed to NDSCS and began training for the fall football season. It was here that he stated he met some of the most “amazing, intriguing, smart, and athletic guys.”
Whitmoyer was the back-up quarterback for another Montana stand-out, Matt Shahan, his freshman year. Due to an injury in the first game of the season, Whitmoyer was launched into the scheme and had to quickly adjust to his new starting position. He commented that he wasn’t fully prepared and took the first loss under his leadership personally. However, over the course of the season, the team had some record-setting performances, including an 89-yard punt and an all-time reception record.
Whitmoyer earned his Associates in Business Administration at NDSCS and continued his education and football career through a scholarship at Carroll College in Helena, MT. He helped his team to three Frontier Conference titles and two NAIA National Championships while obtaining a bachelor’s degree in business management. While Whitmoyer has two business degrees, he prefers jeans and boots to a business suit and would opt for a more hands-on career.
With a sense of adventure and the love for adrenaline, Whitmoyer decided to explore the country, landing a job as a professional bullfighter and rodeo clown. After many bumps, bruises, dislocations, and fractures, he decided to focus on the entertainment side, becoming a rodeo clown. His athleticism, impromptu dance moves, and fun-loving, big personality have aided in his wildly successful career. He has worked events in 40 states and most of Canada. Whitmoyer’s accolades include finishing in the top 5 Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association’s Comedy Act of the Year in 2017, along with a two-time Circuit Finals Clown in the PRCA. He currently works for the Professional Bull Riders as one of their main entertainers, and can be seen on television during those events.
In 2020, when the world was in the heart of the pandemic, Dave started a business with his best friend, Buck Lunak, whom he met on the Professional Rodeo Circuit ten years ago. Together, they noticed the need for egg producers in the state of Montana, particularly the Bitterroot Valley. They wanted to produce pasture-raised eggs, that come from chickens grown with a feed that does not include any genetically modified organisms and spend most of the daylight hours outside. Thanks to a farmer, Jeff Lewis, who had a farm available for rent, Dave and Buck started construction and transformed the property into a growing agriculture business. This operation, Buck N’ Dave’s Eggs, is able to produce thousands of eggs to feed the Bitterroot Valley and Missoula area.
Of this transition from Business student and football player to rodeo clown, and now to owning his own egg production company, Dave says, “I dreamed of playing in the NFL after NDSCS, I dreamed about fancy things and big houses, a beautiful wife (which I got), but never in all my time there did I think that I would be an egg producer on a commercial level.” Agriculture was in the back of his mind when Dave attended NDSCS, and with the Business degree foundation he received, he was able to put his dreams together. “It’s amazing where a person can go if they just listen to their heart and follow their passions to the fullest extent — I finally did when I started Buck N' Dave's Eggs, and it has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life so far.”
Whitmoyer says “I cannot express enough love towards NDSCS, the staff, the students, and the community of Wahpeton and Breckenridge; this place and the community helped lead me down a path of academic and athletic greatness!” He believes that without the support he received here, it would have been hard to adjust to college life. His NDSCS family was key in helping him to mature and gain independence. Now whenever he mentions NDSCS, he’s met with comments of "I know that place" or "I went there!” Whitmoyer himself is a proud Wildcat! As we say here, “Once a Wildcat, Always a Wildcat!”