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DB William White (R.I.P.)

Buckskin86

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William White (football player)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William White (football player)
Date of birth February 19, 1966 (1966-02-19) (age 41)
Place of birth Lima, Ohio
Position(s) Safety
College Ohio State
NFL Draft 1988 / Round 4 / Pick 85
Statistics DatabaseFootball

Teams
1988-1993 Detroit Lions
1994-1996 Kansas City Chiefs
1997-1998 Atlanta Falcons

William White (born February 19, 1966) is a former NFL |safety who played eleven seasons in the NFL from 1988-1998. He started in Super Bowl XXXIII for the Atlanta Falcons.

William White (football player) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

October 4, 2007 2:30 PM

Football: The football office has announced that Larry Grant will serve as a defensive captain for the Purdue game. The honorary captain for the game will be former OSU DB William White.
The-Ozone, Ohio State Football, Basketball, Hockey, Baseball and More
 
Former Buckeye, NFL player addresses
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
BY JEREMY BURKHART
Inquirer Correspondent

Success is doing what God tells you to do.

That was the overall theme of the message former Ohio State Buckeye and 11-year NFL veteran William White gave during his time talking to a prayer breakfast for men and boys Saturday morning at Free Methodist Church.

?You have to have the right spirit in Christ,? White said. ?Then you can be successful. Money comes and goes. But Christ lasts forever,? he added emphatically.

That is something White learned first-hand while playing for Ohio State University, in the NFL and even in Supert Bowl XXXIII as the starting safety for the Atlanta Falcons.

White?s career in the NFL was filled with times of excitement, confusion and frustration. But, the one constant during it all was his faith in God.

After a season where White, who had 20 career NFL interceptions, was the second leading tackler on the Detroit Lion ? five tackles behind fellow former Buckeye Chris Spielman ? he signed a contract extension which he thought would keep him in the Motor City for quite some time.

However, as often is the case in professional sports, things quickly changed and shortly after White found himself traded to the Kansas City Chiefs.

The experience left him confused and seeking guidance from God.

?I kept hearing him telling me to build his Kingdom,? White said.

Like many people, when they are told to help build God?s kingdom, he thought that meant being a pastor.

?I like sharing my testimony, but I have never seen myself as a pastor,? he mentioned with a smile. ?My dad is an elder and a pastor. That?s just not how I saw myself.?

In time, he learned all God was asking of him was to continue seeking His will and keep sharing the mighty work God had done in his life.

Part of God?s will for White after spending four seasons in Kansas City was another trade; this time to the Atlanta Falcons. At the time, the Falcons were one of the worst teams in the NFL.

Welcome to the Galion Inquirer!
 
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White talks about success, opportunity
July 20, 2009
Jeremy Schneider

William White was playing golf with Archie Griffin recently when the topic of Griffin?s visit to Lima Senior in the early 1980s came up.

During the speech, Griffin said he jumped rope every day. And that was all the young sophomore White needed to hear. He asked his coaches to open the gym at school early for him, giving him a place to jump rope.

?If he can do it and win the Heisman twice, it?s got to do me good,? White said. ?I might not win the Heisman, but I got to be a better person and football player.?

Certainly the jump roping didn?t hurt. White went on to play at Ohio State and 11 seasons in the NFL, starting a Super Bowl for the Atlanta Falcons.

Perhaps what was more important than the physical message was the mental message White received. He saw someone successful and used the lesson to make himself into something better.

?It?s good for people to see success,? White said. ?You mimic in your own way. You know that there?s a chance and a hope. All we need is opportunity rather than all the negative that?s going on.?

It?s important for people like White to never forget Lima.

White is now in that position Griffin was when he spoke to the kids at Lima Senior. White gives the kids of Lima something to look up to, an example of a Lima kid prospering. Give them someone successful to look up to, and the results can?t be all bad.

And White certainly hasn?t forgotten his hometown.

?To me failure is when you don?t try,? White said. ?People here get caught up in the vicious cycle of there?s nothing happening here. ? Instead of saying, ?I want to step out and be what I can.??

White talks about success, opportunity | griffin, white, william - Sports - LimaOhio.com
 
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White sees new mindset in OSU football
April 16, 2012
Jim Naveau

SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP ? William White thought back to one of his first conversations with Urban Meyer after he was hired as Ohio State?s football coach and offered a snapshot of just how competitive the man in charge of the Buckeyes? program is.

"He said, ?William, you know my philosophy. If I can beat them by 45, I want to beat them by 50,? " White said.

"That?s what Buckeyes want. If we can beat into the ground, beat them into the ground," the former NFL, Ohio State and Lima Senior standout said. "It?s something the fans were looking for."

White spoke Monday night at OSU-Lima?s "Spring for Scholarships" dinner at the Shawnee Country Club.

He currently is a vice-president for development, working with OSU?s engineering department, which will establish a first-year program at OSU-Lima next school year.

When he goes out to speak, he finds himself taking more about football than engineering, though. Especially since Meyer came on board.

"Unbelievably, there are more football questions than engineering questions," White joked. "For some reason, something has happened and there is an excitement going on about this upcoming football season."

White, a four-year starter at defensive back for Ohio State from 1984-87, goes back to the beginning of Meyer?s college coaching career, when he was a graduate assistant coach for Earle Bruce.

Asked what the differences between Meyer and the highly successful 10-year run of Jim Tressel at OSU are, he said, "It?s change but it?s not. It?s still football. But the thing they have now is there is a lot more competition going on. Nobody?s job is secure since there is a new coach. The mindset is just a little different.

"Coach Tressel, I call him a CEO coach. He is not a motivator that is going to get in your face. But he?s going to talk to you logically and you?re going to be like, ?We can win this game.? But it?s not done with a lot of flash and fanfare and people wanting to jump off the roof.

"With Urban, things make sense but there?s going to be a lot of intensity," he said. "After the year we just had, I think it (hiring Meyer) probably was the best move we could have made."

cont...

http://varsity.limaohio.com/articles/osu-8644-sees-shawnee.html
 
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Low-income kids get free spots in Ohio State football camp
By Tim May
The Columbus Dispatch Wednesday June 20, 2012

osu-camp-6-20-art0-giuhrl4r-1osu-camp-6-20-kr-01-jpg.jpg

Kyle Robertson | Dispatch
William White talks with the scholarship youths, who must have at least a B average in school and be involved in community work through programs at city recreation centers.

Terrell West is only 11 years old, but he?s old enough to know that getting to take part in the Ohio State football youth camp is a golden opportunity for a youngster.

?The coolest thing about it is, I?ve never actually been to a college stadium,? West said after yesterday?s session in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. ?This is a new experience for me in life, and I love it.?

Such comments were music to the ears of William White, a standout defensive back at Ohio State in the mid-1980s who went on to spend 11 seasons in the NFL.

White, 46, serves as a celebrity spokesman for a Columbus Recreation and Parks Department program for youths from low-income families.

Rather than be a spokesman yesterday, however, White?s role was fill-in chauffeur as he transported a dozen youngsters to and from the camp, which ends today with a session in Ohio Stadium.

Among his passengers was Terrell, one of 49 youngsters on scholarship for this session of Urban Meyer?s first camp as Ohio State?s coach.

?I made them all understand when we started (Monday), all these other 600 kids in this session, they paid $500 or so to be here, and you guys are getting to come here for free, so appreciate it,? White said. ?They all got really big eyes, and I told them, ?That?s why you need to work extremely hard.?

?But these are good kids. There was a criteria set forth, and they all met it.?

cont...

http://www.buckeyextra.com/content/...kids-get-free-spots-in-osu-football-camp.html
 
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FORMER OHIO STATE CORNERBACK WILLIAM WHITE KEEPING A POSITIVE MINDSET, TAKING PRIDE IN SON'S PLAY AS HE CONTINUES FIGHT AGAINST ALS
Dan Hope on November 8, 2018 at 2:30 pm @dan_hope
98630_h.jpg



Courtesy of William White

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Saturday was a special day at Ohio Stadium for William White, for more reasons than one.

Regardless of what happened on the field during the Buckeyes’ game against Nebraska, Saturday was going to be a meaningful day for White because of a video that played inside the Horseshoe during the game.

Featuring White, fellow former Ohio State players Chris Spielman and Archie Griffin, current Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, former coach Jim Tressel and his doctor at the Wexner Medical Center, Stephen Kolb, the video encouraged fans to donate to the William White Family Fund for ALS, which funds research for the disease White was diagnosed with in 2016.

Saturday became even more special for William White, however, when his son Brendon White was called upon to take Jordan Fuller’s place in the lineup after Fuller was ejected during the second quarter of the game.

In his first significant playing time for Ohio State’s defense, Brendon White excelled, recording 13 total tackles with two tackles for loss and putting himself in position to potentially make his first start at safety when the Buckeyes play Michigan State this weekend.

To have that happen on the same day his video was shown at Ohio Stadium – which William White said was originally scheduled to be shown at the Buckeyes’ previous home game against Minnesota – was a concurrence that he could only attribute to an act of God.

“They showed my video, then he goes out on the field and he makes two or three tackles or something like that, and the performance that he had … I was very proud of him that that opportunity finally came,” William White told Eleven Warriors in an interview this week. “You just be very thankful, just very thankful for how all of that was able to happen.”

Brendon White, a true sophomore, acknowledged while meeting with the media this week that before his opportunity came Saturday, he had gotten down on himself last season and earlier this season when he wasn’t getting on the field.

“I’m really hard on myself,” Brendon White said. “And so when I wouldn’t understand plays, or not get the defense down right away, I’d get down on myself. And so that triggered with me not making the right plays I needed to make in practice just so I could be on the field.”

Through all of that, William White encouraged his son to keep his head up and stay positive.

“As I’ve been telling him, ‘Your chance is going to come, just be patient.’ You just got to keep working, keep growing,” White said. “I told him this a whole bunch … ‘You’re at Ohio State, you’re not in high school or middle school.’ Everybody here was the best player in their state or on their team, in their conference, things of that nature. So you got to stay consistent and do the hard work and your time will come.”

RELATED Keandre Jones Staying Positive, Bringing Energy to Ohio State Despite Lack of Playing Time at Linebacker

That hard work paid off for Brendon White on Saturday, and he couldn't help but get emotional about it.

“After the game, I started tearing up, because I just couldn’t believe, growing up in Ohio, went to Olentangy Liberty 15 minutes from here and always going to the games as a high school kid, and then being able to play at your dream school, that’s pretty cool,” Brendon White said.

45652344452_593e3af25d_o.jpg

Brendon White (25) made a big impact on Ohio State's defense on Saturday, recording 13 total tackles in a breakout performance.
William White has taken his own positive mindset to his battle with ALS. While there is no known cure for ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), a progressive neurodegenerative disease that causes gradual loss of muscle function, White says he is focusing on living every day to the fullest instead of worrying about what he cannot control.

“One of the things I always told my kids is things you can’t control, don’t worry about it. Things you can control, you go out there, you fight, you do all the hard work you can, to make that change, to make it right,” White said. “There’s nothing I can do to help cure this by tomorrow. There’s no need to be worried about it or get mad or anything like that. You live your life. No one’s guaranteed next year. So you live each day that you have and it will happen when it happens, but you do the work to help fight the cause.

“One phrase I’m trying to get all the doctors to stop saying is that when you’re diagnosed with ALS, 100 percent of the people die,” White continued. “Because everybody that’s born, there’s a 100 percent chance they’re going to die. So I don’t worry about that because that’s going to happen to everybody. Everybody on Earth is going to die. They should never say that. And that’s a lot of the things that causes people when they’re diagnosed with this or cancer or something like that, they always start telling them how long they’re going to live. Well, I could be going home today and get in a car accident and be dead. You never know, so you just live each day. Each day I have is a true blessing for me.”

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William White was a starting cornerback for Ohio State from 1984-87. (Photo Courtesy of Ohio State Athletics)
While there have been studies that have linked playing football to a higher risk of contracting ALS, White – who was a team captain and All-Big Ten cornerback for the Buckeyes before going on to play for 11 seasons in the NFL – said he has no regrets about playing the sport he loves, nor did he ever try to deter his son from playing the sport. There is no known cause for non-inherited cases of ALS, and White said he is currently the only former football player in a research group of 85 people who have ALS at Ohio State.

“It may have something to do with it, but hey, it don’t matter,” White said. “If I knew I would have got this, I would have still played the game, because I loved it, and smacking people in the mouth was fun to me.

“I’m not allowed to say that now,” White said with a laugh, “but hey, that’s why God made sure I was born in ‘66 instead of ‘86.”

Instead of feeling down about his own situation, White is trying to use his situation to help everyone who has been diagnosed with ALS or could have to battle the disease in the future.

“I have a lot of people like that, they even cry and all that other stuff, and I say, ‘Man, that’s the last thing to do.’ If you’re really concerned about William White, text 41444 and donate $20 to $50,” White said. “Because again, I look at this, this is not about William. There’s 30,000 people with ALS in America. So it’s about what can we do to come together.”

“THERE’S NO NEED TO BE WORRIED ABOUT IT OR GET MAD OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT. YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE. NO ONE’S GUARANTEED NEXT YEAR. SO YOU LIVE EACH DAY THAT YOU HAVE AND IT WILL HAPPEN WHEN IT HAPPENS, BUT YOU DO THE WORK TO HELP FIGHT THE CAUSE.”– WILLIAM WHITE ON BATTLING ALS

White, who is now the director of community and corporate engagement for the Ohio State College of Engineering and Alumni Association, said everyone he asked to be a part of his outreach effort said yes, which he attributes to the familial bonds that Ohio State builds between members of its community.

“(Former Ohio State coach Earle) Bruce always told us, ‘We’re Buckeye family.’ And family sticks together when something goes wrong,” White said. “That brotherhood and that true support of we truly are a family ... It’s not like other universities. There’s something strong about being able to play at Ohio State, and I think that’s one of the things my son understood, part of why he picked this place.”

To donate to White’s campaign against ALS, you can text ‘KickALS’ to 41444 or visitgive.osu.edu/kickals. Donations are tax-deductible and can be applied to Ohio State’s donor recognition programs.


https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio...n-sons-play-as-he-continues-fight-against-als
 
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