Sherman White (basketball) facts for kids

Sherman White (December 16, 1928 – August 4, 2011) was an American basketball player at Long Island University (LIU) who is best remembered for being indicted in a point shaving scandal that resulted in him being stripped of numerous honors and awards, having to serve an 8-month jail sentence, and being prohibited from ever playing in the National Basketball Association (NBA). As a college senior in 1950–51, White was the nation's leading scorer at 27.7 points per game and was only 77 total points shy of becoming the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) all-time single season leading scorer when he was caught, thus forcing him to prematurely quit and never getting to finish his college basketball career.

Early life

White was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but moved to and grew up in Englewood, New Jersey. His father was a certified refrigeration engineer who supported the family while also taking night classes. In the fall of 1943, White entered Lincoln High School in Jersey City as a freshman. After one year, however, he transferred to Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood as a 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) sophomore and immediately became the star basketball player under coach Tom Morgan. He felt close to Morgan, would follow his directions well and always heeded his advice. As a senior in 1946–47, White guided Morrow High to an undefeated season (28–0) and a Northeastern High School championship, scored a then-New Jersey prep record 49 points in a single game, and was a unanimous first team all-state selection.

White was a rather poor student; he graduated 230th in a class of 263 students. However, he had an innate ability to recall the names and statistics of the leading college basketball players in the country. Although athletic scholarships were being offered, some of the schools that showed initial interest, such as Duquesne University, rescinded their offers out of concern about his lackluster grades.

College career

White sought advice from Morgan while deciding on which college to attend. Morgan was an alumnus of Villanova University, and pushed White to enroll there because he felt that the Wildcats were a good fit. Not wanting to displease his coach, a man White both respected and trusted, he agreed.

Villanova

White arrived at Villanova in the fall of 1947. It did not take long for him to rethink his decision to attend. Villanova was a Catholic school, and at the time no other African Americans were in attendance. White did not feel comfortable. Additionally, the physical education major that he had been promised was not even an option. In his six months at the school, White received two Cs, two Ds and one F before dropping out and moving back to Englewood.

Long Island

Shortly after returning home, White was contacted for a second time by Long Island University (LIU) head coach Clair Bee. Bee asked him if he was still interested in playing, and after a conversation Bee "permitted" White to play in a scrimmage with the LIU varsity team. Despite having never competed against such a group of accomplished players, White stood out as the best player among them. He was offered a scholarship, and in February 1948 he joined the LIU freshman team for the remainder of the near-to-end season.

Bee saw to it that White, his future star, was provided the comfort and special assistance he needed. He would tip the local YMCA's janitor to make sure that the courts were open all night, for example. White, who deferred socially to his older, more street-wise teammates, became friendly with a guard, coincidentally named Eddie Gard. White liked him for his personable nature and sense of style. Gard, however, was also thievish, and it was he who ultimately got White involved in the point shaving scandal that followed.

White's varsity career started inauspiciously, and it was not until the ninth game of his sophomore season that he earned a starting role. His playing time increased and so did his productivity. Although he deferred to teammates more than should have, White still managed to average 9.4 points per game (ppg) for the season. The following year as a junior (1949–50), White exploded onto the national scene. He averaged over 22 ppg, was named a Consensus Second Team All-American, was named the New York Metropolitan Area's top player by receiving the coveted Haggerty Award, and led the Blackbirds to a berth in the 1950 National Invitation Tournament. On February 28, 1950, White set still-standing LIU single game records of 63 points and 27 field goals made against John Marshall College.

Midway through his junior season, White began to notice that several of his teammates, especially Gard, had been having consistently "off" games. On January 17, 1950, in a 55–52 loss to NC State, White had noticed Gard was "giving me some bad passes." At the time, White did not know about, nor was participating in, the point shaving scandal. Only three players—Gard, Adolph Bigos and Dick Fuertado—were purposely trying to lose games.

By the time White's senior season rolled around in 1950–51, he knew about and was participating in the scandal. In a March 22, 1998 interview with The New York Times, White said,

"After that NC State game, Eddie Gard befriends me. We sat down and started talking. He brought in Bigos and Fuertado. He gave me the same old story: 'We control the game. We're good enough to beat these guys anyway and we can make some money. They ain't giving you no money here at L.I.U.' The same old story. We can control the game and nobody will get hurt except the gamblers. Now I'm one of the guys. Peer pressure."

Not wanting to be the odd man out and having succumbed to peer pressure, in addition to wanting to provide money for his poor family, White agreed to either mess up point spreads while winning, or lose games outright, during his senior year.

Professional career

Hazleton Hawks, Baltimore Bullets, and Wilkes-Barre Barons (1953–1963)

After White served his sentence at Rikers Island, he played in the Eastern Professional Basketball League on the weekends. He played for the Hazleton Hawks, Baltimore Bullets and Wilkes-Barre Barons for ten seasons while simultaneously selling storm windows, automobiles and liquor. White was the EPBL Most Valuable Player in 1955 and was a five-time All-EPBL First Team selection.

Career statistics

College

Sherman White played during the era before many of the basketball statistics that are kept today were recorded, such as rebounds, assists, blocks, steals and turnovers.

Legacy

Sherman White was viewed as a can't-miss pick in the 1951 NBA Draft. The New York Knicks were ready to select him as their territorial pick. They were ready to pay him approximately $12,000 to $13,000, a very large amount in 1951. However, shortly after he was sent to jail, he and all of the other players involved in the scandal were banned from the NBA for life.

Due to his NBA career having ended before it started, White was mostly remembered as one of the best players in college basketball history whom no one ever saw play professionally. In 2007, TheDraftReview named him as its first "Honorable Draftee," acclaiming him as "the best basketball player you never knew" and "perhaps the best (college) player in New York history." It can only be speculated that if White had been allowed to play in the NBA, he might have been the piece needed for the Knicks to win the 1952 and 1953 NBA Finals rather than lose them both to the Minneapolis Lakers. In 1984, Madison Square Garden named White to its all-time college basketball team.

Personal life

White married twice, and with his second wife, Ellen, they raised six children. He also coached basketball at the Newark and East Orange YMCAs in New Jersey.

Home Box Office (HBO) wanted to interview him for a feature-length documentary on the college basketball scandal of 1951 called City Dump: The Story of the 1951 CCNY Basketball Scandal, but he refused. White was upset that HBO had also wrongly claimed that part of the reason for his harsher punishment compared to the other players was that he had a juvenile criminal record, which he claimed was not true.

White died on August 4, 2011, in Piscataway, New Jersey, of congestive heart failure.

See also

• CCNY point shaving scandal
• List of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 60 or more points in a game
• List of people banned or suspended by the NBA