Dennis Highby, former Cabela’s CEO, passes away at 76

Dennis N. Highby, who in 1976 joined the fledgling Cabela’s company and helped lead it to become the $4 billion World’s Foremost Outfitter of Fishing, Hunting and Outdoor Gear, passed away Thursday, February 26. He was 76 years old.

Highby was born March 21, 1949, in Revere, Minn., and grew up on a farm where he began his passion for hunting whitetails with a recurve bow. He would go on to hunt on all seven continents. Highby started his outdoor career as a decoy painter at Herter’s, then a powerhouse mail-order and retail outdoor business. He worked his way up the ladder, learning copywriting from George Herter’s unique sometimes over-the-top style, working in customer service1 and later becoming a merchandise manager.

By 1976, Dick and Jim Cabela were looking for management help to build their Sidney, Neb.,-based catalog company, then small in comparison to Herter’s. But Herter’s had begun to falter and Highby saw the writing on the wall. His resume landed at Cabela’s at the right time. The biggest hurdle he faced was convincing Dick and Jim that Herter’s was having financial difficulties and that he had not been sent to Sidney to spy on them.

Highby became Cabela’s 40^th employee and their first salaried employee; and eventually took over the president and CEO role from Dick Cabela. He retired in 2009 and became vice chairman of Cabela’s Board of Directors, a role he held until March 2014. He remained on the board until the company was sold to Bass Pro Shops in 2017. He was instrumental in Cabela’s initial public offering in 2004 when the company went public on the New York Stock Exchange. He said it was an exciting and sometimes wild ride to watch Cabela’s grow from a small family business to a hugely popular publicly traded company, indeed the World’s Foremost Outfitter.

Highby was highly respected throughout the outdoor industry. Many outdoor companies credit him for giving them their first order and launching their success. Cabela’s – The First Half Century, a book published in 2011 to commemorate the company’s 50^th anniversary, contains an account from Gary Loomis about Highby fronting money for equipment, materials and staff for Loomis to produce fishing rods for Cabela’s, launching G. Loomis to success. Similarly, Tim Leatherman said Highby was the first to recognize the potential of Leatherman tools and placed the company’s first order, which allowed them to go into production. Always innovative, Highby holds three fishing rod patents.

Highby believed in the value of early mornings, firm handshakes and stories told around the breakfast table. Many of his happiest memories were made in a deer stand, catching walleye or teaching his children and grandchildren how to cast a line, hunt deer and appreciate the beauty of God’s creation. Always willing to give back, he loved Take a Veteran and Take a Kid Fishing events.

Of all the places he hunted, Highby said Russia was his favorite. After retirement, he spent summers fishing for walleye on Minnesota’s Lake Vermillion where he made many friends. During fall, he spent a lot of time in deer or duck blinds, always with friends and family. He loved collecting Parker shotguns because his father, Norris, loved them and Winchester pre-1964 rifles  because, as he said, they are classics; built better and always going up in value. He could always be found at his grandchildren’s sporting events and he often wore his lucky Minnesota Vikings hat, a gift from his good friend and former Vikings coach Bud Grant.

Highby is survived by his wife, Linda; four children, Beth (Carter) Kokjer; Matt (Molly); Amy (Trent) Santero; and Sarah (Kurt) Kaiser; and 13 grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 3, at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Sidney. Visitation will be Monday, March 2, from 1 to 6 p.m. with the family present from 4 to 6 at Gehrig-Stitt Chapel in Sidney.

In lieu of flowers, the Highby family suggests contributions to support causes close to Dennis’ heart, through: 

Dennis Highby Outdoors Fund
Security First Bank
1205 Jackson St,
Sidney NE 69162

This fund will be used to stock local park fishing ponds, support youth mentor hunts, and help Take a Veteran/Take a Kid Fishing and youth shooting programs.