Post by TheShadow on Apr 17, 2009 23:39:47 GMT -5
www.theintelligencer.net
By DOUG HUFF
JOHN MADDEN.
One of the most recognizable figures in football has exited the professional, public life at age 73.
After a 30-year career as a National Football League broadcaster on four major networks, which followed a two-decade tenure as a successful coach, Madden announced his retirement Thursday.
But his career started with the help of an Ohio Valley native.
The gravel-voiced Madden played football at California Polytechnic College near his hometown of Daly City. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1958 but his pro playing career ended before it started when he was sidelined by a knee injury.
So, Madden went looking for a coaching job.
He found one in 1960 when JOE WHITE, the athletics director and basketball coach at Allen Hancock Junior College in Santa Maria, Calif., hired him to coach the Bulldogs' football team.
After a few years, Madden moved on to become defensive coach at San Diego State. That set up his NFL beginnings in 1967 with the Oakland Raiders. He won a Super Bowl in 1977 with the Raiders and left the coaching sidelines in 1979 for the television broadcast booth. The rest is history.
But what about the Ohio Valley native who gave Madden his professional start?
Well, Joe White is a native of New Martinsville and earned all-state basketball honors in 1943 for Magnolia High School.
He left the area for the West Coast, and the armed services, and when he was discharged, he remained in the area to attend the University of Southern California, where he played basketball.
After USC, he worked his way to Allan Hancock College, where he served from 1957-82. He had a five-year coaching record of 138-29, taught biology and was the athletics director for 25 years. His son, BOBBY WHITE, later served a long tenure as basketball coach.
The man who gave John Madden his start left such an imprint on the school that it named its basketball facility the Joe White Memorial Gymnasium.
White returned to his high school alma mater in 1987 to be honored by the Athletic Boosters and receive a Lifetime Achievement Award. A year earlier, in the charter class of honorees, his older brother BOB WHITE, an all-state football player who competed at West Virginia University, was feted.
I can recall talking with both of them and how much it meant to them to be remembered, and honored, by their hometown after many years of being absent from the Ohio Valley.
Joe White passed away, at age 76, in 2001.
??
SMORGASPORTS:
(1) West Virginia doesn't have a national reputation for producing female basketball standouts. But that perception could be changing. Consider these facts: six of the last NCAA national championship teams have included a Mountain State prep product - unbeaten Connecticut this season with Honda Award national player of the year RENE MONTGOMERY. Her South Charleston High teammate, ALEXIS HORNBUCKLE starred on two Tennessee title teams. Linsly graduate ASHLEY BATTLE was a member of three straight championship clubs at UConn before turning pro. Both Montgomery and Hornbuckle were the fourth picks in the WNBA Drafts.
(2) How desperate is the University of Michigan football program when it is seeking the quarterback services of Duke basketball point guard GREG PAULUS to use his one year of remaining eligibility with the Wolverines? Even the Duke football coaching staff turned its back on such an idea. Paulus hasn't played football since high school when he was an All-America honoree in both sports.
(3) The Gold-Blue spring football game for West Virginia is slated this afternoon in Morgantown. Most of the observers probably will have eyes on the vital quarterback position since the school's winningest signal-caller, PAT WHITE, will be testing the NFL waters after a stellar four-year career. And, of course, the new faces will receive a lot of scrutiny, as well.
(4) Enjoy the weekend.
By DOUG HUFF
JOHN MADDEN.
One of the most recognizable figures in football has exited the professional, public life at age 73.
After a 30-year career as a National Football League broadcaster on four major networks, which followed a two-decade tenure as a successful coach, Madden announced his retirement Thursday.
But his career started with the help of an Ohio Valley native.
The gravel-voiced Madden played football at California Polytechnic College near his hometown of Daly City. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1958 but his pro playing career ended before it started when he was sidelined by a knee injury.
So, Madden went looking for a coaching job.
He found one in 1960 when JOE WHITE, the athletics director and basketball coach at Allen Hancock Junior College in Santa Maria, Calif., hired him to coach the Bulldogs' football team.
After a few years, Madden moved on to become defensive coach at San Diego State. That set up his NFL beginnings in 1967 with the Oakland Raiders. He won a Super Bowl in 1977 with the Raiders and left the coaching sidelines in 1979 for the television broadcast booth. The rest is history.
But what about the Ohio Valley native who gave Madden his professional start?
Well, Joe White is a native of New Martinsville and earned all-state basketball honors in 1943 for Magnolia High School.
He left the area for the West Coast, and the armed services, and when he was discharged, he remained in the area to attend the University of Southern California, where he played basketball.
After USC, he worked his way to Allan Hancock College, where he served from 1957-82. He had a five-year coaching record of 138-29, taught biology and was the athletics director for 25 years. His son, BOBBY WHITE, later served a long tenure as basketball coach.
The man who gave John Madden his start left such an imprint on the school that it named its basketball facility the Joe White Memorial Gymnasium.
White returned to his high school alma mater in 1987 to be honored by the Athletic Boosters and receive a Lifetime Achievement Award. A year earlier, in the charter class of honorees, his older brother BOB WHITE, an all-state football player who competed at West Virginia University, was feted.
I can recall talking with both of them and how much it meant to them to be remembered, and honored, by their hometown after many years of being absent from the Ohio Valley.
Joe White passed away, at age 76, in 2001.
??
SMORGASPORTS:
(1) West Virginia doesn't have a national reputation for producing female basketball standouts. But that perception could be changing. Consider these facts: six of the last NCAA national championship teams have included a Mountain State prep product - unbeaten Connecticut this season with Honda Award national player of the year RENE MONTGOMERY. Her South Charleston High teammate, ALEXIS HORNBUCKLE starred on two Tennessee title teams. Linsly graduate ASHLEY BATTLE was a member of three straight championship clubs at UConn before turning pro. Both Montgomery and Hornbuckle were the fourth picks in the WNBA Drafts.
(2) How desperate is the University of Michigan football program when it is seeking the quarterback services of Duke basketball point guard GREG PAULUS to use his one year of remaining eligibility with the Wolverines? Even the Duke football coaching staff turned its back on such an idea. Paulus hasn't played football since high school when he was an All-America honoree in both sports.
(3) The Gold-Blue spring football game for West Virginia is slated this afternoon in Morgantown. Most of the observers probably will have eyes on the vital quarterback position since the school's winningest signal-caller, PAT WHITE, will be testing the NFL waters after a stellar four-year career. And, of course, the new faces will receive a lot of scrutiny, as well.
(4) Enjoy the weekend.