Inductees

November 16, 1946—January 16, 2018

White was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of a minister. He played college basketball at the University of Kansas, entering the NCAA Tournament and losing a double overtime thriller to Texas Western, currently known as the University of Texas at El Paso, in the Midwest regional final.

After college, White played on the 1968 USA Olympic basketball team in Mexico, which went undefeated (9-0), beating Yugoslavia 65-50 in the title game.

After the Olympics, White was drafted in 1969 in the first round (9th pick overall) by the NBA’s Boston Celtics, who at that time had just won their 11th championship in 13 years. However, before White even reported to training camp, the Celtics’ center and player-coach Bill Russell announced his retirement. White would endure a rebuilding season while the Celtics got back on track, drafting Dave Cowens and trading for Paul Silas. Along with these two and veteran John Havlicek, White would be the cornerstone of two Celtic championship teams in the 1970s (1973–74 and 1975–76).

White went on to become one of professional basketball’s first “iron men”, playing in all 82 games for five consecutive seasons during the 1970s. He was traded by the Celtics to the Golden State Warriors in 1979, and retired in 1981, with the Kansas City Kings. On Friday, April 9, 1982 his number 10 was hung from the rafters at the Boston Garden. He returned to the Jayhawks as an assistant coach from 1982-83.