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The sporting world brought to a virtual standstill, Kevin White lamented the absence of his beloved Sudbury Spartans the past two summers, unable to play the game that he loved.
This summer, and for every ensuing one moving forward, it will be the Spartans that will dearly miss Kevin White. Following a short battle with pancreatic cancer, Kevin White passed earlier this month.
The Newfoundland native who suited up for some 30 years of NFC play between his start in 1985 and his last snap in 2019 leaves behind family and friends, and a long list of hundreds of former teammates, almost all of whom can share a Kevin White story with a smile.
Most of those relationships were developed on the football field. For the likes of Paddy Walsh and a handful of others, however, their connection predated the moments that were shared on the grass and mud of Queen’s Athletic Field, and more recently the James Jerome Sports Complex turf – and countless other comparable venues right across the province.
“We used to get together at Antwerp Playground, after hours, and we would play hockey or even ringette (my sister was really into that) until midnight or later,” said Walsh, the long-time Spartans lineman who estimated that his playing time with White likely numbered some 20 years.
“The shack wasn’t open so we would put our skates on outside, leave our boots there and hop the boards. When you were done, you would put your frozen boots back on. Most people don’t know that Kevin was a very good hockey goalie.”
Most of the stories, however, revolve around the Sudbury Spartans – which seems all too fitting for the man who has been associated with the team for as long as anyone could remember.
“There was this story that Kevin told all the time about Lou Pagan,” recalled Walsh, who joined the silver and blue in 1987. “Lou was pretty aggressive. In practice, one time, he was getting into it with an opposing lineman. He looked after at Kevin and said, ‘I’m going to stand him up and you put your helmet on his knees’.”
White may or may not have followed those directions, but it was clear, within just a few years, exactly the type of presence that he commanded around the team.
“You first noticed just the way he worked at practice, that he went about his business and never really said a word — but when he did speak, you listened,” said J.P. Pigeon, a rookie linebacker in 1991, one of the many seasons in which the Spartans would lay claim to an NFC title banner.
It didn’t take long for a veteran like Pigeon to realize the full impact of lining up behind White.
“He would open up so many holes for me,” Pigeon said. “He made my job so much easier. He could take two men on and pretty well keep them occupied where most linemen would have trouble just keeping one.”
By NFC lineman standards, White was a tad undersized, especially early in his career.
Thankfully, there was plenty that could not be measured by the tale of the tape.
“He had absolutely no quit in him at all,” Pigeon said of the father of two. “He always wanted to be the best and push himself to be that much better.”
Walsh echoes that sentiment.
“I remember him telling me just to go out and work hard, play hard and don’t take any crap,” Walsh said. “But you also don’t go looking for trouble. He was undersized when he first started, but his determination, his work ethic and his toughness made him so good.”
If the perception sometimes of those men in the trenches is merely muscle meeting muscle, smashing helmets along the way, Kevin White broke the mold, a true student of the game in a niche that did not always facilitate this approach.
“The mind that he had for picking up the little things was incredible,” said Walsh. “He would pick up on body language, how to read and react.”
Perennial all-star and visiting quarterback Mark Demerling was as proficient as any at picking apart opposing defenses. Facing White, however, created its own unique challenges.
“There would be an audible that Demerling would call and suddenly Kevin would be telling us: the ball is going here,” said Pigeon.
“He would say that and they would call a timeout. He just seemed to remember all of the plays they were running.”
Yet for as much as the tackles and sacks, the times on the field were special, both Pigeon and Walsh and all of the others who now reminisce speak even more highly of the man that Kevin White was: a teammate who made everyone feel welcome, even if it required him to pick up the tab; a family man who would make the trek to camp on just two hours of sleep, still feeling the effects of the long bus ride home.
Kevin White was special, in so many ways, and for that, he will be missed — even more than he missed playing the game he loved in recent years.
White leaves behind his wife, Jillian, and two children. You can read White’s obituary here.
Randy Pascal is a sportswriter in Greater Sudbury. Pursuit is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.
