As unassuming off the field as he was dramatic on it, Sammy White is finally finding recognition for a too-often overlooked football career.
A three-time SWAC champion, twice both All-SWAC first team and NCAA Division II All-America, a three-time NFL All-Pro, then a five-time league champion over an 11-year stint as assistant coach at Grambling State University, White was apt to let his actions do the talking.
“I guess you play these games, and you really play for the love of it,” he said. “Then, if you do pretty good and something special-like happens, it’s an honor and blessing.”
That’s Sammy White.
Even so, slowly but surely, the honors are piling up.
First, White claimed a well-deserved spot on the 25th anniversary team of the Minnesota Vikings, the NFL team that drafted him in the second round out of Grambling before the 1976 season. The Richwood native was then belatedly inducted into the Southwestern Athletic Conference Hall of Fame — home league to the GSU program where White played as a standout wingback in the 1970s. His latest honor arrives this summer, when White is welcomed into the Grambling Legends Sports Hall of Fame.
The second annual Legends induction ceremony will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday, July 17 at the Monroe Civic Center in Monroe. Admission is $60 per person, and $500 for a table of eight, with all proceeds going to the non-profit Legends group for distribution in support athletics at Grambling. Tickets can be purchased at the Monroe Civic Center box office. Call 318-329-2837.
A special reception is also scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday, July 16, 2010, at the just-opened Eddie G. Robinson Museum on the Grambling campus. Robinson, the winningest coach in Division I college football history, was inducted into the Legends Hall during last summer’s inaugural event.
READ THE REST: Grambling’s unassuming White now called a ‘Legend’
A really cool and down to earth guy. Just a good ol North La Country Boy from the City of Monroe. Glad to see he's getting his just due recognition…Dude was one helluva football player and later a really intregal part of our Coaching Staff. Seems like every season one of his players was breaking a previous players record…Sammie had those receivers on point!
Nick, have we started 2 a days as yet?
Is the offense practicing 7 on 7? Did we get any transfers? Who is the offensive line coach?
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