#9

 

REGGIE WHITE

His outsized personality preceded him wherever he went. There is no doubt that Reggie White was a beloved figure in a game that demands violence. His teammates loved him, his coaches loved him and even some of the quarterbacks he devastated loved him.

That love and his off-the-field life as a minister almost obscure how great a player Reggie White was for the Philadelphia Eagles and the Green Bay Packers. He lifted both of those franchises on his considerable shoulders and helped them regain the credibility that had been missing for so many years.

White’s greatest fame as a player probably came in a Green Bay uniform as he helped the Packers win Super Bowl XXXI by registering three sacks in the Packers’ 35–21 win over the New England Patriots. However, he was probably a better player when he played for the Eagles from 1985 through 1992. White was such a dynamic combination of muscle and strength that he simply could not be stopped. His first year in the NFL came on the heels of a spring season in the ill-fated United States Football League with the Memphis Showboats. White had 11.5 sacks while playing in Memphis that year and then took a deep breath and put on his Eagles uniform. He had another 13 sacks while playing for the Eagles and quickly established himself as the best defensive end in the league.

White credited much of his NFL success to what he learned in the USFL under defensive-line coach Chuck Dickerson. White was a speed-and-power player as an All-American at the University of Tennessee, with dominant talent. Dickerson refined that talent and taught White many of the moves he used for years. “Chuck showed me how to add finesse to my power and speed,” White wrote in his book, In the Trenches. “In many ways, my USFL years were the most enjoyable of my career.”

The moves White was talking about, such as the spin move, the rip, and the club became staples of White’s game and were nearly impossible for opposing offensive linemen to contend with. Despite his background as a minister and his love for his fellow man, he had no problem reconciling the violent game he dominated throughout his career. He led the NFL in sacks with 21 in 1987 and followed that with a league-leading 18 in 1988.

While picking up an offseason award in Chicago after the Packers’ win over the Patriots, I was able to sit down with Reggie and talk to him about his ability to overwhelm opponents with his speed and strength. “I love the game and I love that God gave me the ability to do what I do and dominate my opponents,” White said. “This game is not in conflict with what I believe. It is just part of the testing process. I am trying to overpower the man on the other side of the line. I know he is trying to do the same to me. At no point when I’m playing do I ever not love my opponent. That’s the test I face. Can I still love someone who I am trying to punish? Yes I can.”

While White was dominating for the Eagles and Packers, Bruce Smith was doing the same thing for the Buffalo Bills. They were the two best defensive ends of their era but White was viewed as the more complete player because of his dominance against the run and his superior strength. Smith may have been as quick or maybe even a tad quicker than White and had more moves, but he was not the physical player that White was.

ESPN analyst Mark Schlereth was an excellent offensive lineman who won three Super Bowls with the Washington Redskins and Denver Broncos and he knew that facing White was an all-but-impossible task to handle. “Reggie White was one of the greatest football players I’ve ever seen or lined up against,” Schlereth said. “He was amazingly dominant and someone that a team spent a week preparing for. When an offensive line stepped onto the field, it was imperative to locate where White was lined up to have some semblance of a chance at figuring out how he was going to disrupt your offense.

“I’ll never forget one of the first times I ever had to face White on the field,” Schlereth continued. “I was playing for the Washington Redskins at the time, and I didn’t really expect to have to face him. At the time, the Eagles would switch him all over the line so that he’d occasionally face a guard. I’ll never forget how I felt when I came out of the huddle and realized he was lining up to face me. I immediately started wondering what I’d done to deserve this butt whupping.”

White would go on to become one of the most pivotal figures in Green Bay Packers history. The Packers had become an ordinary team in the quarter-century that had passed since Vince Lombardi had coached them. They had only six winning seasons during that time frame and had been to the playoffs just twice. More than that, Green Bay had developed a reputation as a city that had little to offer to African-American players, and there were a number of complaints about the limited opportunities to make outside money, socialize, and enjoy their existence.

But when free agency came to the NFL after the 1992 season, White signed a four-year, $17 million deal with the Packers and shocked the league with his choice. White’s status as one of the leaders of the game helped the Packers bring in other African-American stars such as Sean Jones, Andre Rison, and Keith Jackson and turn the franchise around . . . with the help of quarterback Brett Favre.

White finished his career with 198 sacks, second only to Smith’s 200. His untimely death in 2004 at age 43 from sarcoidosis was as shocking as it was untimely. The joyous White had dominated his game and was arguably the best defensive end of his, or any, era.