Steven Edward VanBebber

     Steven Edward VanBebber was born in 1950 at Oxnard, Ventura County, California. He was the son of Paul Edward VanBebber and Bettye Mitchell. Steven Edward VanBebber married Linda Gerhardt, daughter of John Paul Gerhardt and Lorene Taylor Eads, circa 1979. Steven Edward VanBebber married Janet Newcomb circa 1995. Steven Edward VanBebber died on 12 December 2000 at age 50 years.
     His obituary was published on 14 December 2000 in the Dallas Morning News, printed in Dallas, Dallas County, Texas. His obituary stated:

     The Dallas Morning News, December 14, 2000, Thursday, Page 10B

Top quarter horse trainer found dead

Van Bebber committed suicide, official says

By Gary West
Staff Writer of the Dallas Morning-News Dec. 14, 2000

Steve Van Bebber, the nation s leading quarter horse trainer and the all-time leader of Lone Star Park, was found dead in a hotel room Tuesday afternoon in Brenham, Texas. Van Bebber was 50.

On Sunday, about 10 miles from his training center in Ledbetter, Texas, Van Bebber checked into a hotel, according to Michael Davis, a detective with the Brenham Police Department. tStaff at the hotel became concerned Tuesday because they had not seen him,A Davis said, tand they called police.

After getting no response from inside and finding the door chained, police officers forced their way into the room. Van Bebber apparently died from a self-inflected gunshot wound to the head, Davis said. Police found no indication of foul play, nor did they find a suicide note.

The death has been classified as a suicide, according to Washington County Justice of the Peace Douglas Cone.

Van Bebber is survived by his wife, Janet, and daughters Taylor Anne 3, and Stefanie, 19.

Van Bebber had been hospitalized during the Lone Star season. And he was, according to some who knew him, in bad health.

For several years, Van Bebber dominated the trainers standings at Texas racetracks. He had sat immovable atop the Lone Star standings since the racetrack opened in 1997, winning the trainer s title at each tFall Meeting of Champions.

In four years at Lone Star, he saddled 101 winners from 501 starters that earned $1,734,616. A winner of more than 22 titles in his career, he also had won every quarter horse trainer s title at Sam Houston Race Park since the racetrack opened in 1994 and had topped the standings at Retama Park and Delta Downs.

The Lone Star season that concluded Dec. 2 was by most measures among his best. In 33 days of racing, his horses won 36 races, including six stakes races, both records. He also set a record for most stakes victories in a single day.

On Oct. 28, during the MBNA Challenge Champions, Van Bebber sent out a powerful armada of horses and won three stakes, with War Color, Mr. Franchise and Kool Kue Baby, whose victory the Centaur was the 26th stakes victory of her career, a record in quarter horse racing. She was retired after the Centaur. Van Bebber s other stakes winners during the Lone Star season were Metered Express, Bushfire and Drip Dry Dash.

Last year, when he sent out Tailor Fit to win the Champion of Champions Stakes and earn World Champion, or horse of the year, honors, Van Bebber became the first Texan to be voted the sports outstanding trainer by the American Quarter Horse Association. On the final day of the 1999 Lone Star season, he set a record with five victories, including two stakes wins.

And his stable s productivity and momentum had continued into this season. Through Friday, Van Bebber led the nation s quarter horse trainers with 143 victories and with $2,202,472 in earnings. In addition to numerous stakes victories in Texas and Louisiana, he sent out Fashionisanattitude to finish second in the $2.1 million All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs.

In his 27-year career, Van Bebber saddled 1,847 winners, which ranks third in the all-time standings, and his stable earned $9,750,961, which ranks sixth. Also among the major stakes winners he trained were BK Runner, Gone Kool Man, Develop A Plan, Dash For A Win, Lawyer La Jolla and Red River Rebel.

Steve Fuller, who rode Tailor Fit for Van Bebber before this year becoming a trainer himself, said he was shocked to hear about the suicide. tIt just floors me,A Fuller said. He described Van Bebber as a person who often tstayed to himselfA and seemed to have few close friends.

Gilbert Ortiz, who tied Jack Martin to top the jockeys standings during the recent Lone Star season, regularly rode for Van Bebber. Ortiz said he was tshockedA by the news and described Van Bebber as a generally positive person.

Sam Houston Race Park has scheduled a memorial service for 1 p.m. Friday in the grandstand.

Houston Chronicle.com -- http://www.chron.com/
Obituary Death Notices for December 15, 2000

MEMORIAL SERVICES

A memorial service will be held for American Quarter Horse trainer Steve Van Bebber on Friday, December 15 at 1:00 p.m. in the main grandstand at Sam Houston Race Park. Van Bebber, 50, who was born in Oxnard, California, has won every American Quarter Horse training title at Sam Houston Race Park since the track opened in 1994. Always a dominant force in Texas racing, Van Bebber has reached national prominence in the last two years, and was honored as the American Quarter Horse Trainer of the Year in 1999. Van Bebber has trained many stakes winners, including Tailor Fit, War Colors, Drip Dry Dash and Kool Kue Baby. In 2000, he led all American Quarter Horse trainers in wins (143) and earnings of $2,202,472. One of his most illustrious racing highlights was the second place finish of his 2-year-old filly Fashionisanattitude in the richest American Quarter Horse race in the country, the $2,165,411, All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs. Van Bebber is survived by his loving wife, Janet; daughters Stefanie and Taylor Anne; parents, Bettye of Tomball, Texas and father, Paul of Lindsay, Oklahoma. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made to the Race Track Chaplaincy of Texas, in care of Sam Houston Race Park, 7575 N. Sam Houston Parkway West, Houston, TX 77064.