Wilfred Belmont "Tex" White (June 26, 1900 – December 2, 1948) was a Canadian professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

who played seven seasons in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

for the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

New York Americans The New York Americans, colloquially known as the Amerks, were a professional ice hockey team based in New York City from 1925 to 1942. They were the third expansion team in the history of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the second to play ...

and Philadelphia Quakers between 1925 and 1931.

Playing career

While White was addressed in numerous newspaper articles as "Tex", no explanation was ever given as to how he got that nickname. From 1917 to 1923, White played with the Barrie Canoe Club,

Toronto Canoe Club Paddlers The Argonaut Rowing Club is an amateur rowing club in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The club was founded in 1872. The current junior head coach is Connor Elsdon. In the past, the club fielded teams in ice hockey and football, and the football team c ...

(winning the

1920 Memorial Cup The 1920 Memorial Cup final was the second junior ice hockey championship of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association. The George Richardson Memorial Trophy champions Toronto Canoe Club Paddlers of the Ontario Hockey Association competed against the ...

as national

junior ice hockey Junior hockey is a level of competitive ice hockey generally for players between 16 and 21 years of age. Junior hockey leagues in the United States and Canada are considered amateur (with some exceptions) and operate within regions of each cou ...

champions), and

Dunnville Dunnville is an unincorporated community located near the mouth of the Grand River in Haldimand County, Ontario, Canada near the historic Talbot Trail. It was formerly an incorporated town encompassing the surrounding area with a total populat ...

Dunnies of the

Ontario Hockey Association The Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) is the governing body for the majority of junior and senior level ice hockey teams in the Province of Ontario. The OHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation along with the Northern Ontario Hockey As ...

. In 1923, after seeing how well the fans in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

took to

Lionel Conacher Lionel Pretoria Conacher, MP (; May 24, 1900 – May 26, 1954), nicknamed "The Big Train", was a Canadian athlete and politician. Voted the country's top athlete of the first half of the 20th century, he won championships in numerous sports. ...

, the owner of the

Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets was the name of three separate ice hockey teams based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The original team was part of the United States Amateur Hockey Association (USAHA) from 1920 to 1925 and developed from predecessors dating ...

Roy Schooley Roy Dunlap Schooley (April 13, 1880 – November 13, 1933) was a former hockey referee who later became the manager of both Duquesne Gardens, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets of the United States Amateu ...

asked Conachar to invite a number of his friends in Canada to play for his team. These players included Harold Cotton,

Hib Milks Hibbert Henry "Hib" Milks (April 1, 1899 – January 21, 1949) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played eight seasons in the National Hockey League with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Quakers, New York Rangers and Ottawa Se ...

Harold Darragh Harold Edward "Howl" Darragh (September 13, 1902 – April 28, 1993) was a Canadian ice hockey right winger who played eight seasons in the National Hockey League for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Quakers, Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple ...

Rodger Smith Denis Rodger Smith (July 26, 1896 – January 31, 1935) was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played six seasons in the National Hockey League for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia Quakers between 1925 and 1931. He was bor ...

Duke McCurry Francis Joseph "Frank, Duke" McCurry (June 13, 1900 – November 8, 1965) was a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger who played 145 games in the National Hockey League, with the Pittsburgh Pirates between 1925 and 1929. Playing career Bo ...

Roy Worters Roy Thomas "Shrimp" Worters (October 19, 1900 November 7, 1957) was a Canadian professional Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender who played twelve seasons in the National Hockey League for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Montreal Canadiens and New York American ...

and White. White played for the Yellow Jackets for the next two seasons, helping the team win the

United States Amateur Hockey Association The United States Amateur Hockey Association (USAHA) was an ice hockey governing body in the United States from 1920 to 1925, which operated at an amateur level. The league was filled with predominantly Canadian-born players, but struggled to ach ...

title in each of those years. In 1925, the Yellow Jackets morphed into the NHL's Pittsburgh's Pirates. White made the transition to the NHL with several other key members of the team. White was one of only five Pittsburgh players to play all five seasons for the Pirates. However he played for the New York Americans for 13 games at the end of the

1928-29 NHL season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

, and sent to the

New Haven Eagles The New Haven Eagles were a professional ice hockey team that played in New Haven, Connecticut. The Eagles were one of five inaugural franchises in the Canadian American Hockey League, and a founding member of the American Hockey League. History ...

, of the

Canadian-American Hockey League Canadian Americans is a term that can be applied to American citizens whose ancestry is wholly or partly Canadian, or citizens of either country that hold dual citizenship. The term ''Canadian'' can mean a nationality or an ethnicity. Canadians ...

, for 12 games in 1929-30.When financial issues associated with the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

sent the Pirates across the state to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, White stayed with the team, now renamed the Philadelphia Quakers. He scored three goals in his one month playing for the Quakers, with one of those goals being the game winner in the Quakers' first victory, over the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

on November 25, 1930. However White was traded, along with Rodger Smith, to the revived Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets for cash on December 16, 1930, following the Quakers' acquisition of

Eddie McCalmon Edward Allison "Cally" McCalmon (May 30, 1902 – April 23, 1987) was a Canadian professional ice hockey right winger who played two seasons in the National Hockey League for the Chicago Black Hawks and Philadelphia Quakers. He played 23 games i ...

and D'Arcy Coulson. On March 17, 1931, White scored the lone goal for the Yellow Jackets against the

London Tecumsehs The historic London Tecumsehs were a professional men's baseball team in London, Ontario, Canada, that were first formed in 1868 — a merger of the Forest City Base Ball Club and the London Base Ball Club — which, according to George Railton's ...

. The win allowed Pittsburgh to clinch a playoff berth in the International Hockey League. He played in Pittsburgh before retiring from hockey in 1932. White was found dead in his Canadian Corps Club room, located in

Port Colborne Port Colborne is a city in Ontario, Canada that is located on Lake Erie, at the southern end of the Welland Canal, in the Niagara Region of Southern Ontario. The original settlement, known as Gravelly Bay, dates from 1832 and was renamed after S ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, on December 2, 1948. He had been working as a steward at the club, for the previous three years.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:White, Wilfred 1900 births 1948 deaths Canadian ice hockey right wingers Ice hockey people from Ontario New Haven Eagles players New York Americans players People from Wellington County, Ontario Philadelphia Quakers (NHL) players Pittsburgh Pirates (NHL) players Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets (IHL) players Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets (USAHA) players