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OBITUARY
White stayed humble:
Memphians recall legendary lineman as leader, joker and Christian
By Ron Higgins,
Published: Monday, Dec. 27, 2004 - The Commercial Appeal - Memphis Online
Memphis sports agent Kyle Rote Jr. remembered what a Philadelphia
Inquirer reporter once asked Eagles' defensive end Reggie White.
"The reporter asked, 'Reggie, when you die, do you want us to tell
your son Jeremy that you're the best Philadelphia Eagle of all-time,
or the greatest defensive lineman in NFL history, or the greatest
quarterback sack artist of all time?' " Rote said. "Reggie thought
about a millisecond and said, 'I just want someone to tell my son
that his Dad was a child of God.'
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"That's Reggie. He never forgot his core."
Rote, one of White's former agents, was stunned on Sunday when White,
a former University of Tennessee all-American and Memphis Showboat
who went on to become the NFL's all-time sack leader, died at age 43
from respiratory failure due to sleep apnea.
From his hometown of Chattanooga, to Knoxville, to Memphis, to his
NFL stops in Philadelphia, Green Bay and Carolina in a 15-year NFL
career from 1985-2000 that produced 198 sacks (now second to Bruce
Smith) and 1,112 tackles in 232 games, White, an ordained minister,
was beloved and never forgotten as a player and a person.
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For instance, through Steve Ehrhart's various job moves in the last
20 years since he was general manager of the United States Football
League's Showboats, one picture has always hung on Ehrhart's office
wall. White in a No. 92 Showboats uniform, circa 1984-85.
"It's on my wall right now," said Ehrhart, executive director of the
Liberty Bowl. "And I have a Showboats watch that Reggie wore and left
for me. Just last week, a manufacturer of throwback jerseys sent me
one with Reggie's Showboats retro jerseys for me to examine."
There's no doubt that White was the cornerstone of a Showboats team
that became one of the league's steadiest franchises. He was a reason
why the Showboats sold 25,000 season tickets in their second season,
and averaged 37,000 paid attendance that year before the league went
out of business. He signed with the Showboats straight out of
college, stunning NFL suitors, "Reggie was the best player we stole from the NFL," said Rudi
Schiffer, the former vice-president of marketing and public relations
for the Showboats. "He brought star power to our team and the
league."
Schiffer remembered a moment at White's press conference when the
Showboats announced his signing. "When we signed him, I had the privilege of slipping him a signing
bonus check of $500,000," Schiffer said. "That was a windfall for a
young man who came from a poor background."
As spectacular a player as White became -- he had 193 tackles and
231/2 sacks in 34 starts with the Showboats -- he was an even better
person and team leader. He was part standup comedian and part
preacher. He could inspire you and make you laugh at the same time,
busting out in imitations of everything from Elvis to various types
of dogs.
"Reggie was always a larger-than-life figure in everything who always
spoke his mind," Ehrhart said. "Here was this hulking 300-pound guy,
yet he was so charasmatic and fluent. He was the team leader, with a
rare combination of being the best athlete on the team and the best
person on the team. He was absolutely THE MAN in every locker room he
ever stood."
One of White's endearing characteristics was his ability to laugh at
himself. A prime example of that was when he signed his first pro
contract with the Showboats, he went on a clothes shopping spree at
Lansky's and bought $5,000 worth of socks.
When word got back to the media that the naive White had been taken
advantage of by some sharp salesmen, Schiffer hatched an idea (that
White and Showboats' coach Pepper Rodgers approved) to have a white
sock giveaway at the next home game.
"I got Rock 103 to sponsor it, Lansky came up with the socks and
Reggie came out of the tunnel waving a clutch of socks high and hard
as he trotted on to the field during the starting lineup
introductions," Schiffer said. "In a moment that could have been
embarrassing for the big guy, the crowd stood and cheered, and all
was right in everyone's world."
When the Eagles began making inquiries into signing White, then-team
owner Norman Braman flew to Memphis to quiz Ehrhart.
"Norman says to me that his personnel director told him that 'Reggie
might be able to make our team,' " Ehrhart recalled. "I told
him, 'Reggie's not just better than anyone you've got on the Eagles,
he might be better than anyone in the NFL.' It didn't take Reggie too
long to prove that."
White's finest individual year, maybe the greatest season ever
enjoyed by any defensive lineman, was in 1987 when he had 21 sacks in
the strike-shortened season of 12 games. He signed with the Packers
in 1993, where he finally won a NFL title in 1996.
But as Rote noted, White never forgot his upbringing.
"Reggie would get NFL players to come to Chattanooga where they would
put on free clinics at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga
stadium," Rote said. "The clinic normally drew 500 to 700 kids.
"One year when 1,000 kids showed up, Reggie started crying because he
was so happy. He wanted these children to know they were loved, that
their future was important, that God loved them, that you could go
for your dreams and goals."
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