Loren Robert White (August 22, 1938 – May 7, 2025) was an American professional football player who was a fullback for the Houston Oilers of the American Football League (AFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the Ohio State Buckeyes. White died May 7, 2025, at the age of 86.

College career

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

, White played

for three seasons with the Buckeyes from 1957 to 1959, playing both fullback on offense and

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

on defense. Each of those seasons, White was picked as the team's Most Valuable Player and named an Ohio State Academic All- Big Ten Honoree. In 1957, he and the Buckeyes won the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

title and then went on to win the 1958 Rose Bowl10–7 over

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. Both the UPI and Football Writers named Ohio State the National Champions, but the AP placed the Buckeyes No. 2 behind Auburn. In 1958, White had his best individual season, leading in the Buckeyes in scoring (12 touchdowns) and rushing (859 yards). White was named a First-Team All-American and finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting. He was also named the Academic All-American Player of the Year in 1958. Following a less flashy senior year (312 rushing yards, no touchdowns), White finished his Ohio State career with 1,723 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns in 27 games.

Professional career

White was drafted in eighth round, 91st overall by the Cleveland Browns in the 1960 NFL Draft, but opted to play for the Houston Oilers, who had drafted him. In his only AFL season, White played just six games for the champion Oilers.

Honors

White was inducted in to the Ohio State Varsity O Hall of Fame in 1987.

References

1938 births 2025 deaths Sportspeople from Portsmouth, Ohio Sportspeople from Covington, Kentucky Players of American football from Kentucky American football fullbacks Ohio State Buckeyes football players All-American college football players Houston Oilers players American Football League players {{collegefootball-player-stub