My conversation with Dan Whitney was originally scheduled for a Wednesday. That morning, I got a phone call from him asking to reschedule later in the week because he had to go visit children in a hospital.
How could anyone refuse a guy like that?
This selfless gesture of kindness is exactly the sort of thing that has come to be expected of Whitney by anyone who meets him.
More commonly known as “Larry the Cable Guy,” Whitney has been in the local Nebraska spotlight for years—as well as the national one. Famous for his stand-up comedy routines, including being a part of the “Blue Collar Comedy Tour,” and voicing the character Mater in Pixar’s 2006 animated film “Cars” (which later expanded into sequels, shorts, and video games), Whitney has established himself as a regular fixture in the entertainment industry. His catch phrase, “git ‘r done,” serves as the moniker for his charity foundation.
Established in 2009, the Git-R-Done Foundation has raised over $8 million to aid children and veterans through various external organizations. The inspiration for the foundation came from Whitney’s son, Wyatt, who was born with hip dysplasia. Not satisfied that surgery was the only answer, Whitney and his wife, Cara, found Dr. Chad Price at Arnold Palmer Children’s Hospital in Orlando, Florida, who was researching how to deal with hip dysplasia in infants in Mexico. Dr. Price showed the Whitneys a new way to swaddle their son, which gradually guided his hip back into place.
“In the process, my wife and I started talking with [Price] about how nobody really has one way to train people how to swaddle their kids, and there’s no information on the internet about hip dysplasia in infants,” Whitney recalled. “So he said, ‘Look, we need to just train pediatricians on how to swaddle kids and how to hold them, how to put them in bed at night so their hips grow into place.’”
So that’s exactly what the Whitneys set out to do.
“My wife got a bunch of our friends together and they wrote 6,000 handwritten letters to pediatricians all across the country…to get them on the same page and start some kind of main hub station for this problem. A bunch of them responded, and when all was said and done, they started the International Hip Dysplasia Institute in Orlando, Florida, at Arnold Palmer.”
Founding an institute, however, does not come cheap. It was then that Whitney began his fundraising endeavors. One of these ventures was inspired by a memorable encounter with a particular celebrity. “When I was doing ‘Cars,’ I was trying to be the Redneck Paul Newman,” Whitney laughed. “Believe it or not, at the premier of ‘Cars,’ in 2006, we went out to dinner, and I sat right across from Paul Newman.” A shared elevator ride revealed that Newman was, in fact, a fan of Whitney’s comedy sketches, and the conversation concluded with a suggestion from the legendary actor: sell food.
“When I started my foundation, that’s when I said, ‘Oh man, I should use that advice Paul Newman gave me,’” Whitney recalled. This sparked a new brand of an irresistible salty snack: Larry the Cable Guy Tater Chips.
“The potato chips are big sellers; people love my potato chips,” Whitney boasted. “Even people who didn’t like my act…there was some internet food thing which got millions of views. They said, ‘Today we’re going to do Larry the Cable Guy’s potato chips.’ Then they went on to bash me for about five minutes because they didn’t like my act. But they ate my chips, and the guy said, ‘I’ll be honest with you. I’m not a big fan of his, but these are the greatest potato chips I’ve had in my life.’”
The “Biscuits & Gravy” flavor has been the most popular with consumers, but there are others like “Pass the Darn Ketchup,” “Hollar-Peño Popper,” “Cheese Burger,” and “Tater Salad” that, Whitney said, “sell like hotcakes,” adding, “I just thought this is a way to help me raise money for the charity.”
The main fundraising success, however, came with the birth of the annual golf tournament to raise money to fund this wing of the hospital. “We had such a great time at our first tournament, and it turned into a really cool thing,” Whitney said.
That “cool thing” became the Git-R-Done Golf Classic, which donates the tournament’s proceeds to various charities and philanthropic organizations. From supporting NICU infants to providing service dogs to veterans, Whitney’s foundation aims to help vulnerable members of the community. “Places like the American Cancer Society are all great organizations, but they get millions and millions of dollars. There are lots of local charities that do really good work that don’t ask for millions—they just need $5,000 or $20,000, so we find places like that and kind of spread it out a little bit,” he explained. “That’s who we like giving it to—all these organizations across the country. Some of them aren’t that big, but every little bit helps, and they help kids and vets, so that’s pretty cool.”
All donations go through a vetting process before the money is doled out. “You can’t give [money] to everybody,” Whitney lamented. “Everything is vetted, and we make sure that it’s going to where it says it’s going.” Whitney said it’s mostly his wife who decides where the money is donated. “I kind of stay out of it,” he said, “because as she says, I can’t say ‘no’ to anybody.”
One goal of Whitney’s since the inception of the Git-R-Done Foundation has been to give as much of the funds raised to benefactors as possible. “You read about these charities and they raise all this money, and then 60% of it goes to pay everybody who worked,” Whitney said. “We have one employee, and he takes care of everything and even participates in the events himself. A lot of this comes out of our own pockets.”
That one employee is Adrian Stumpf, executive director of the Git-R-Done Foundation.
“I had the chance to be part of [the foundation] from the very beginning,” Stumpf said. “I worked in media and took the opportunity to get involved as the charity was being organized.” Stumpf has the responsibility of coordinating the main fundraiser for the foundation, for which, according to Whitney, “he does such a good job.”
The foundation acquires the vast majority of proceeds from Whitney’s annual golf tournament, hosted in Lincoln, Nebraska. Gathering celebrities and friends from across the country, Whitney hosts this event once a year. “We raise money in the golf tournament that in turn takes care of everything,” he said. “We have unbelievable donors that love what we do, and everything is taken care of in deuces just through my golf tournament…If people want to write a check and give it to the foundation, they can and that’s appreciated, but we don’t actively pursue that—it mostly comes from the golf.”
Whitney estimates this event brought in around $1,300,000 in 2023. “That’s pretty good with only 21 foursomes in the golf tournament,” he reflected. “We’ve got a lot of donors that come in from Georgia and Florida, got a couple from Omaha. They just got really good hearts, and they like what we do. It’s really awesome, and I’m very appreciative.”
The golf tournament brings in a range of participants. Local athletes, such as Nebraska football and baseball players, often participate in charity events, but Whitney likes to put a twist on his. “I love, obviously, all of our local athletes, and I try to get as many participating as possible,” he said, “but I like to make it a little different, a little unique. So I bring in other famous athletes from out of town and actors…I’ve met a lot of really cool people throughout my career, and I go do a lot of their tournaments, so they’ll come help me out too.”
The tournament’s list of participating athletes includes Ken Griffey Jr. (center fielder for the Seattle Mariners), John Daly (PGA champion), David Wells (pitcher for the New York Yankees), Jim McMahon (quarterback for the Chicago Bears), Joe Theismann (Super Bowl champion), and Chuck Liddell (UFC champion).
Even more impressive are the entertainment celebrities who have joined in the fun: Kim Alexis (supermodel), Willie Robertson (Duck Dynasty), Joey Fatone (NSYNC), Sean Astin (actor), Shawn Drover (drummer for Megadeth), and Jason Scheff (bassist for the band Chicago), to name a few.
“The celebrities love it; my parties are just laid-back and fun,” said Whitney. “They don’t have to dress up. It’s not formal. I have it in a barn in Hickman [Nebraska], we got food trucks, and we have an auction and entertainment—and most of the entertainment just does it because they want to.” This year’s entertainment included Tyler Farr (country singer-songwriter with three number one hits), Jay DeMarcus (Rascal Flatts), and REO Speedwagon (rock band formed in the 1960’s).
“It is a real good time, and people pay,” Whitney said. “Someone paid me 50 grand to play with John Daly.” This tournament, he emphasized, is the perfect example of a good time for a good cause.
“It’s gratifying to connect with organizations from across the country and hear from the passionate people behind them and to understand their challenges,” said Stumpf. “There are so many great charities that support children and veterans and to be a small part of their journeys is humbling.”
“I’m really happy that it’s in Nebraska,” Whitney added. “I love Nebraska, I grew up here. It’s really cool to be able to bring people here and get some good press and donations with the tournament. It’s cool to be able to promote it in Nebraska.”
Even the celebrities who participate in the tournament find a new appreciation for the state, some of whom have never experienced the midwest. “[The tournament] starts on Sunday, but now I have a lot of groups come in on Friday so they can spend the weekend. They love it here.”
To learn more, visit gitrdonefoundation.org and hipdysplasia.org.
This article originally appeared in the September 2024 issue of Omaha Magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
