Wilford Parley "Whizzer" White (September 26, 1928 – August 1, 2013) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

halfback in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

. He also was a member of the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

in the Canadian Football League. He was drafted by the

in the third round of the

1951 NFL Draft The 1951 National Football League Draft was held January 18–19, 1951, at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago. The Baltimore Colts folded after the 1950 season, and the NFL placed their players in the 1951 NFL draft. This was the fifth year that th ...

. He played college football at

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the U ...

and became the school's first

College Football All-American The College Football All-America Team is an honor given annually to the best college football players in the United States at their respective positions. The original use of the term ''All-America'' seems to have been to the 1889 College Football ...

Early life

White was born in

Mesa, Arizona Mesa ( ) is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa County, in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is the most populous city in the East Valley (Phoenix metropolitan area), East Valley section of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. It is bordered by ...

. He attended Mesa High School, where he was a multi-sport athlete and a stand-out in

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping even ...

. In football, he received first-team All-State honors as a junior and senior. He led his school to the state title in his final season, while rushing for 181 yards per game, which was a state record that lasted 46 years. He was known as "The Mesa Meteor" and "The Wizard of the Harmonica", until receiving the nickname "Whizzer" by the media.

College career

White accepted a football scholarship from

, leading the team in rushing from 1947 to 1950, with a total of 3,173 yards. In 1950, he had a season for the ages, his 1,502 yards rushing total (150.2 yards per game) led the nation and still ranks second in school history for a season. He also scored 22

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

s and 136 points, which ranked third in the nation and still are school single-season records. White was the second player in college football history to run for so many yards in a season, becoming the first football player from Arizona State University to be named All-American. In 1951 White participated in the

College All-Star Game The Chicago Charities College All-Star Game was a preseason American football game played from 1934 to 1976 between the National Football League (NFL) champions and a team of star college seniors from the previous year. It was also known as the C ...

and the

East–West Shrine Game East West (or East and West) may refer to: *East–West dichotomy, the contrast between Eastern and Western society or culture Arts and entertainment Books, journals and magazines *'' East, West'', an anthology of short stories written by Salm ...

. He is considered one of the greatest

running backs A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

in school history, with many of his records still standing. He also practiced

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and the

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄ� ...

, where he finished fifth and sixth nationally as a junior and senior behind Olympian

Bob Mathias Robert Bruce Mathias (November 17, 1930 – September 2, 2006) was an American decathlete, two-time Olympic gold medalist in the event, a United States Marine Corps officer, actor and United States Congressman representing the state of Califor ...

. He was inducted into the Arizona State University Athletics Hall of Fame, the Sun Devil Ring of Honor and had his jersey number retired (33).

Professional career

White was selected by the

in the third round (36th overall) of the

and played two seasons in the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

, until suffering a knee injury. Perhaps White's most famous play was when, as

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ameri ...

, White ran backwards over 48 yards when being pursued by

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams pla ...

defenders. White ended up fumbling the ball at the one yard line, and a Rams defender recovered it and ran it in for a touchdown. In the

NFL Films NFL Productions, LLC, doing business as NFL Films, is the film and television production company of the National Football League. It produces commercials, television programs, feature films, and documentaries for and about the NFL, as well as o ...

video, ''100 Greatest Follies'', White's play was named the #3 greatest folly of all time. His son,

Danny White Wilford Daniel White (born February 9, 1952) is a former quarterback and punter for the Dallas Cowboys and an American football coach in the Arena Football League. He has been the color commentator for Cowboys games on Compass Media Networks' ...

, said that he saw film of the play once when he was younger, then didn't see it again for years until NFL Films showed it to him. Danny joked that White was probably so embarrassed about the play that he obtained every possible copy of the play's film so that nobody would see it.

Personal life

White's son Danny White was a

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

and later head coach of the Arena Football Arizona Rattlers. His grandson Max Hall also played quarterback in the

. On August 1, 2013, he died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

en route to a Phoenix-area hospital.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Wilford 1928 births 2013 deaths Sportspeople from Mesa, Arizona Players of American football from Arizona American football running backs Arizona State Sun Devils football players Arizona State Sun Devils men's track and field athletes Arizona State Sun Devils men's basketball players Chicago Bears players Toronto Argonauts players Mesa High School alumni

Early life

College career

Professional career

Personal life

See also

References