Mattingly: The shock that followed a White Christmas

Photo by News Sentinel file

Reggie White celebrates a Tennessee victory and expected trip to the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla., victory by wearing a Mickey Mouse hat.

The solitude of the Sunday after Christmas in 2004, Dec. 26 that year, was shattered by the midday phone call from John Painter, in Dallas as the Vols prepared for the Cotton Bowl game against Texas A&M.

The message was this: Former Vol defensive tackle Reggie White had died, suddenly, in his hometown of Cornelius, N. C., exactly one week past his 43rd birthday.

The challenge was to assemble a release. John e-mailed a comment from Phillip Fulmer about Reggie, and I was left to find John Majors, get his thoughts, and put it all in a coherent whole within two or three hours.

“Reggie was one of those guys who represented all that was good about football and athletics,” Fulmer said. “He was a man of great principle who obviously carried his faith out front. I don’t know if there’s any one person, in my time as a football coach, for whom I’ve had more admiration and respect. Even though he was sometimes outspoken, even to the point of being controversial, he always said and did what he believed was the right thing.”

It took a while to locate Majors. He was hunting near Petersburg, and the news was obviously shocking. He needed a few moments to gather his thoughts.

Once he did that, he shared some fond memories of his time with the young man from Howard High School in Chattanooga. Majors made an extra effort to phrase the comments exactly the way he wanted them. The whole process took about an hour.

“Reggie White could turn a football game around like no one else. He could dominate not only the man in front of him, but also the side of the line of scrimmage he was on,” he said. “People changed their game plan to run to the other side, and he could still make plays. He was a lovable and likable guy with a great sense of humor, who was also serious about football and serious about his religious beliefs.”

In their assessment of his life, national media types paid much more attention to White’s performance in the pro ranks, impressive to be sure, but Tennessee fans remembered his impact on Tennessee’s orange and white.

His collegiate career was something special. The stats were significant: 32 career sacks, with 15 sacks in 1983 and four against the Citadel that season, all school records still standing.

Known as the “Minister of Defense,” a tribute paid to his dual role as an ordained minister and virtually unstoppable defensive tackle, White earned All-SEC and consensus All-America honors his senior season. He was captain of the 9-3 1983 team.

The SEC named him Player of the Year, the first Vol so honored since Majors earned the award in 1956. He was also named to the 1980s All-SEC Team.

After his senior season, White was named the Atlanta Touchdown Club’s Player of the Year, the Birmingham Touchdown Club’s Most Outstanding Lineman, and the Birmingham Monday Morning Quarterback Club’s Most Outstanding Senior. He played in the 1984 Hula Bowl.

When Reggie was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in December 2002 and enshrined in August 2003, he was obviously moved by his selection, and praised those who had paved the way for him.

“I pay tribute to Marion Motley, Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, Curt Flood, Bill Russell, John Mackey, and Reggie McKenzie,” White said, “who sacrificed themselves, who went through the things I couldn’t. They helped give men like me a chance.”

Quarterback Brad Calip of East Central Oklahoma State University, also honored as a scholar-athlete in 2002, made a cogent statement about Reggie’s impact: “The College Football Hall of Fame is emblematic of people like Reggie White and Dan Marino.”

Then there were those who played against him.

“I hit him once and he didn’t move,” remembered fellow honoree Kellen Winslow Sr., thinking about trying to block Reggie in a long-ago Pro Bowl. “I don’t think he knew I was there. Anthony Munoz and I were trying to double-team him, and after Anthony made his block and went after the linebacker, Reggie waited on the ball carrier, threw me down, and made the tackle. If you want to be kind about it, he was a load.”

In February 2005, he joined Doug Atkins in the Professional Football Hall of Fame, the second Vol player to be selected to both. Reggie’s Tennessee jersey No. 92 was retired in a pre-game ceremony at the 2005 Mississippi game.

This year, Sports Illustrated named him to its 75-year All-SEC team.

Majors paid Reggie the ultimate compliment.

“I once referred to him as the Tony Dorsett of defensive linemen,” he said. “There’s never been a better one.”

That’s the way things seemed on a Sunday afternoon in late December 2004.

Tom Mattingly is the author of “The Tennessee Football Vault: The Story of the Tennessee Volunteers, 1891-2006” (2006), to be published in second edition in 2008, and “Tennessee Football: The Peyton Manning Years” (1998). He may be reached at tjmshm@comcast.net. His News Sentinel blog is called “The Vol Historian.”