“I just think he has had a wonderful and productive career over these years,” Bryant said.
White’s mother had hoped his would have been a career as doctor; his dad thought maybe he’d be a mortician. But White loved sports, and he found himself bonding with his coaches.
“The coaches were probably more my role models than anybody else,” he said.
So he became a coach who stressed academics. His first teaching job was in 1958 at the old Oakland Elementary on the Eastside, since demolished. It was also the year he began coaching with Earl Kitchings, who led the Matthew Gilbert Panthers to Florida’s first black state football championship.
He later coached at Eugene Butler Junior-Senior High, where he clashed with a self-described arrogant football player named Melvin Crosby.
(excerpt from Jacksonville.com – read the full story)
