From PhiladelphiaEagles.com:
Memory Of White Is Larger Than Life
December 26, 2004
He had this gravelly voice that belonged to a man who commanded your attention. When Reggie White entered a room, you noticed how huge he was, how warm he was and how much he liked to meet and greet and give you the feeling that you belonged in the same company.
Reggie White was somebody you figured transcended normal human beings. On the football field he was an unstoppable force of fury and amazing athletic ability. Who could block a man that big, that fast, that powerful? Not many.
"He was right up there among the best," said Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson. "Great speed, strength. He had it all."
Off the field he performed God's duty. It was more than his passion. It was his life.
So when you remember Reggie White and the 43 years he lived on this Earth, remember a man who lived for others and who served many.
White died on Sunday morning. The news traveled swiftly through the football community and through the social circles in Philadelphia.
Reggie White? Dead?
At the young age of 43, White leaves us in a better place for having known him. He played in Philadelphia from 1985 through 1992 and left, after the city had a parade for him imploring him to stay, in the early stages of the NFL's free agency.
Then-Owner Norman Braman made the fateful decision to open the door for White to walk, figuring the Eagles would parlay two first-round draft picks into something better than White could offer at that stage in his career.
We all know how it worked out. White signed in Green Bay. The Eagles used those draft picks on defensive tackle Leonard Renfro from Colorado and then traded the other No. 1 pick and in a roundabout way that second pick ended up being UCLA defensive tackle Bruce Walker.
That's the way it went down: Reggie White for Leonard Renfro and Bruce Walker.
As the Eagles' fortunes spiraled downward after White's departure, the Packers marched toward a Super Bowl title and White reveled in the glory of the championship.
It was a cruel knife for Eagles fans to digest. White left for a good financial deal and the Eagles were left with a wreck of a franchise.
Since those years, of course, time has healed the emotional wounds. White was an Eagle and a Packer (and, to a lesser degree, a Carolina Panther). When he is inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he will go in as a member of all three teams.
Eagles fans developed a special bond with White, who was acquired in the USFL's supplemental draft and rose to stardom in the Kelly Green and White wings.
"The one story I immediately remember, and I was just telling Harold (Carmichael, director of player programs), was that one time somebody sent Reggie a magnum of Dom Perignon," said Mike Dougherty, the Eagles' director of video. "Reggie didn't drink, but Jerome Brown was. You should have seen it. Jerome was chasing him around the locker room begging Reggie not to pour it out. It was hilarious. They were rasslin' and carrying on like two little kids.
"That's the way it was with Reggie. He was never serious. He was always having fun. It was that kind of atmosphere with Reggie."
Dougherty started with the Eagles in 1976, and he's been with the Eagles through good and bad. When the Eagles allowed White to go -- along with many other players in free agency -- the public outrage was intense.
"That's the way it was in the NFL. Players moved. Players wanted big deals and the Eagles made their decisions," said Dougherty. "Some said the players were right and some said the owners were right.
"I know that when the Eagles had him back, he appreciated it very much. I just saw him last year. He looked great. He loved being around. He liked being an Eagle. He loved it.
"To me, he's always going to be an Eagle. He started here. He became a star here."
And he won a championship elsewhere. Bygones were bygones long ago. Reggie White, the greatest Eagle, took his last breath on Sunday and a world of fans mourn.
"Remember him for the great things that he did and the joy that he brought to people," said Carmichael. "That's what he meant. It wasn't just football. He was so much more than that."
