Edward Alvin White (born April 4, 1947) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

player who was a

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

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 majo ...

(NFL). After retiring from football, White has worked as a coach and artist.http://edwhiteart.com/

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...

article:
One on one with Kyle Turley
." Retrieved 07 May 2008.

Biography

White grew up in

Lemon Grove, California Lemon Grove is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. The population was 27,627 at the 2020 census, up from 25,320 at the 2010 census. History The area that eventually became Lemon Grove was part of Mission San Diego de Alcal ...

, and attended Helix High School in La Mesa as a freshman before moving to

Coachella Valley , map_image = Wpdms shdrlfi020l coachella valley.jpg , map_caption = Coachella Valley , location = California, United States , coordinates = , width = , boundaries = Salton Sea (southeast), Santa Rosa Mountains (southwest), San Jacin ...

. He graduated from

Indio High School Indio High School is a public high school for grades 9–12. It is located in Indio, California and has a current enrollment of about 2,090 students. Its mascot is a Rajah (an Indian prince). The school is part of the Desert Sands Unified Schoo ...

Indio, California Indio ( Spanish for "Indian") is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley of Southern California's Colorado Desert region. It lies east of Palm Springs, east of Riverside, east of Los Angeles, 148 mil ...

. White attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

, playing for the

California Golden Bears The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club tea ...

(1966–1968) as a lineman. He was named a consensus All-American player in 1968. White began his professional football career with the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

after being drafted in the second round of the 1969 AFL/NFL draft. He is one of 11 players to have played in all four Vikings

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the gam ...

appearances between 1969 and 1976. Before the 1978 season, he was traded to the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

, with whom he played until 1985 when he retired after 17 years and 241 games. Mainly used at

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative (Netherlands), Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that ...

, he was selected to the

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 ...

four times. He played as an offensive lineman for the Chargers 1978-85. After retiring from the NFL, White worked as a football coach.

Awards and honors

Following his retirement, he was inducted into

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vo ...

, University of California Hall of Fame, Breitbard Hall of Fame, East-West Shrine Game Hall of Fame, and the Chargers Hall of Fame. Indio High School named their football field Ed White Stadium in his honor. As a testament to his impact on every team he played on, in 2015 Ed White was selected to the Pac-12 All Century Football team, playing defensive tackle at Cal. Charger quarterback

Dan Fouts Daniel Francis Fouts (born June 10, 1951) is an American former football quarterback who played for the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League (NFL) throughout his 15-season career (1973-87). After a relatively undistinguished fi ...

has been vocal about endorsing White for the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coa ...

: “When he retired, nobody had played in more games (241) as an offensive lineman than Ed White. They don’t have many statistics for offensive linemen other than Pro Bowls and Super Bowls, but Ed would be a leader. He was one of the most feared offensive linemen in the game. You talk to guys like

Howie Long Howard Matthew Moses Long (born January 6, 1960) is an American sports analyst and former professional football player. He played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons as a defensive end, spending his entire career with the Raider ...

and

Matt Millen Matthew George Millen (born March 12, 1958) is a former American football linebacker and executive. Millen played 12 years in the National Football League for the Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders, San Francisco 49ers, and Washington Redskins, ...

who had to go against Big Ed. They hated it.” Chargers center/guard

Dennis McKnight Dennis Neal McKnight (born September 12, 1959) is an American football coach and former guard who is currently the offensive line coach for the Seattle Sea Dragons He played in the National Football League for the San Diego Chargers, Detroit Li ...

has called White “probably the best all-around offensive lineman in the league in terms of run blocking and pass blocking.”

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The t ...

offensive tackle

Kyle Turley Kyle John Turley (born September 24, 1975) is a former American football offensive tackle who played nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Selected 7th overall in the 1998 NFL draft, Turley played five seasons for the New Orleans ...

has called White the best coach he'd ever had. In 2019, the

Professional Football Researchers Association The Professional Football Researchers Association (PFRA) is an organization of researchers whose mission is to preserve and, in some cases, reconstruct professional football history. It was founded on June 22, 1979 in Canton, Ohio by writer/hist ...

named White to the PFRA Hall of Very Good Class of 2019

References

External links

Ed White Studio"Being Big Ed: A Portrait of the Artist as an Aging NFL Lineman" by Pat Joseph, California magazine, Spring 2011.
{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Ed 1947 births Living people Players of American football from San Diego All-American college football players American Conference Pro Bowl players American football offensive linemen California Golden Bears football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Minnesota Vikings players National Conference Pro Bowl players San Diego Chargers players People from Indio, California