Jerome Osterhout
Jerome “Jerry” Osterhout, 86, of Culbertson died Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, at the Roosevelt Medical Center in Culbertson.
He was born to Ernest and Violet (Waldahl) Osterhout in Beach, N.D. He and his sister, Joan, were raised by his aunt and uncle, Bill and Muriel Waldahl, in Sentinel Butte, N.D. He graduated from Sentinel Butte High School with the Class of 1956.
His passion for the rodeo began early in his life by riding cows and started competing in amateur rodeos in 1954. He qualified for the 1956 National High School Rodeo in Reno, Nev., competing in bareback riding and bull riding. He won the second goround in the bareback riding event. One of his proudest moments was winning the state high school bull riding championship on a spinning bull. Today, his grandson wears that buckle.
While continuing to compete in amateur rodeos, he took over his father’s ranch. He rode Jim Barnhart’s Whiz Bang in Medora, N.D., and recalled it was pretty tough but, nonetheless, he won first place in 1959. Along with a high school buckle from the state rodeo, he won bull riding buckles at Killdeer’s RA rodeo and at an amateur rodeo in Richey. In 1961, he won bull ridings at New Salem, N.D., Sidney and Helena. He retired from rodeo competition that year.
