Former Linebacker Chad Whitener Foils Armed Robbery, Shot in Stomach and Arm
STILLWATER -- Pressure can come in all kinds of situations and all variations of importance. It is one thing to be the linebacker in position to make a tackle in a Bedlam shootout when OU running back Rodney Anderson is running up the middle on third down and three looking to moves the chains and have Oklahoma keep the ball. Former Oklahoma State linebacker Chad Whitener has been there and done that. The Mansfield, Texas native started his college career at California, but transferred from Berkeley to Stillwater and after a red-shirt season he started 34 games in a row from midway through his sophomore season through his season season in 2017.
Whitener finished as a team captain. He was a multiple All-Academic Big 12 performer and was a first-team All-Big 12 player as a sophomore and a second-team All-Big 12 linebacker as a junior. Whitener had 240 tackles in his career and frequently dealt with pressure, but nothing like the pressure he came across at close to 10 p.m. on Oct. 13 when he walked through the front door of his parent's home.
"I was spending the night at my parent's house because we were going to pick up the meat from an elk that we shot," Whitener started. "I got to my parents house and they were zip tied and being held at gun point and that's when I walked in the house and I ended up having a pistol and an AK-47 pointed at me."
The two masked suspects zip tied Chad on the ground while he was laying on the floor. He was put next to his parents in his dad's office at home. The two suspects kept yelling at Chad, his father Charles, and his mother Reikio wanting to know where they kept money and then Chad said the duo left the room to search the house.
That is when Chad made his decision. He has since talked with Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy and strength and conditioning coach Rob Glass and told both of them that his actions and thought process was due in part to their influence and what he learned in Oklahoma State football.
"The second they said that if they didn't find cash that they were going to shoot somebody, I just said, 'Okay, I'm not going to die laying down.' If they were going to shoot somebody then I was going to go out fighting. That is when I started making a plan and decided to do what I was going to do. We have too much good stuff in life going on and happening to go out without trying to fight for it."
"When they left the room I broke my zip ties and I yelled at my dad to break his and he was able to. I had shut the door and one of the guys (suspects) kicked it in and I hit him over the head with a chair and started chasing him through the house. The other guy and thank God I was able to turn when he got to me. I got shot in the abdomen and the bullet lodged in my right radius. My dad was able to get to a gun and return fire."
The two suspects escaped out the back of the house and Chad thinks they had a car with a driver waiting on them as they got away in a hurry. Local law enforcement is looking for the suspects, who got away with $260 and a watch.
Chad is okay and even laughs about losing a tooth later that week, probably due to stress. He also said much like the scene in the movie Major Payne where the guy is shot and Damon Wayans' character Major Payne tells him to give him his finger so he can break it and he won't feel that he's been shot, holds true.
"That is basically what that bullet did to me," the current financial planner said. "When that bullet shattered my wrist I knew my arm was broken. I was sitting there talking to the EMT afterwards and they're asking me where I was shot. I told them, 'please splint my arm.' I ride all the way to the hospital and then that is when they realized I was sitting in a pool of blood because I got shot in my stomach. I didn't even feel it. If you get shot, break your finger. It will make you forget about it."
Chad told both Mike Gundy and Glass on the phone in the days after being shot factored in.
"Yes, dealing with the pressure situations in football," he said. "The minute I had the gun in my face I remember thinking, 'this is real.' Those words came to my mouth and assessing the situation and breathing through my nose and staying calm. I attribute that to Coach Glass and Coach Gundy."
So fortunate, Whitener's heroic moves and courageous actions could have ended tragically. I believe listening to Whitener that he took that into account, but thankfully he's around to say this.
"I'm very, very blessed to still have my family and be here," Whitener said.
