Pro Football: White: Back in the Game

Dan Cantrell

Although he was braced for his second year of retirement after

helping to lead the St. Louis Rams to the 34th Super Bowl title, Mike

White, 65, accepted an attractive coaching bid from the Kansas City

Chief’s new grid coach, Dick Vermeil.

The offer comes at a time when White and his wife, Marilyn, are

planning to level an old home on Balboa Island and build a new residence.

Friends assumed both Vermeil and White would be firm about their

retirement plans a year ago, but Kansas City decided it was a grand

opportunity to reach out and hire the two old friends from Stanford

University.

White served as “The Assistant” to Vermeil at St. Louis, but he will

have a different title at Kansas City. He will be called Director of

Football Administration. He will still serve on the sidelines helping to

coordinate many team aspects for Vermeil.

One major plus for White’s signing with Kansas City is that the two

years ahead will allow him to complete his qualifications for a full

retirement from the National Football League.

White, a two-time national collegiate Coach of the Year, once served

as a walk-on assistant coach to Jeff Brinkley, Harbor High football

coach, when he was between jobs in 1989.

After a coaching stint at his alma mater, the University of California

at Berkeley, and eight years as head coach at Illinois, White moved his

family to the harbor area. He is an old friend of Mike Giddings, who once

coached the Harbor High football team in the early eighties.

White, who was born and raised in Lafayette, California, once served

an old friend, Bill Walsh, when he was head of the San Francisco 49ers.

Prior to the Rams, White served two years as the head coach of the

Oakland Raiders. Fans and friends were astonished when he was fired on

Christmas Eve by Raider general partner Al Davis. No one knows why.

Ironically, he and Davis will be facing each other at least twice a

year since the Chiefs and Raiders are both in the AFC West Division.

Although White is up in his years at 65, his old friend, Ed Mayer of

Designs Alive in Orange, says, “Mike is still a vibrant guy and always

takes real good care of himself.”

His administrative experience was once noted when he and Tex Schramm

were seen as the two men most responsible for coordinating the beginning

of the World League for the NFL in 1989, now called NFL Europe.

He and his wife have a daughter, Carrie, and two sons, Chris and Matt.

Chris played for his dad at Illinois, while Matt played for him at Harbor

High in 1989.

ISLAND NOTES

Athletic history runs deep on Balboa Island. Mike White brings the

flavor of national college and pro football championship color into the

picture.

One of the early day giants of pro basketball is George Yardley, who

broke the all-time single season scoring record at 2,001, in 1958, while

starring for the Fort Wayne Pistons, now in Detroit. He was named to the

pro Hall of Fame a few years back.

His younger brother, Bob, starred at Harbor High, then Orange Coast

and finally with Colorado and helped guide the Buffaloes to the Final

Four.

One of George’s cage teammates was powerful fullback, Ralph Freitag,

who later shined at San Diego State before he found the Chicago Bears

displaying an interest. However, he subsequently turned them down.

Another White who came off the island to record great marks in the

high school track and field scene was Tod White. While a senior at Harbor

High, he broke the national prep mile record at 4:20 and held the record

for four years.

Jerry Keithley, a superb football end under Coach Ralph Reed in the

early thirties, went on to exhibit his talent at the College of the

Pacific under famed coach Amos Alonzo Stagg. Keithley advanced in big

ways and came to serve as a city manager in several California cities.