{{Short description|American football and baseball player (1888–1964)}} {{about|the sportsman|the architect|Stanford White}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox CFL biography |name=Sanford "Sammy" White |image= [[File:Sandford white baseball and football.jpg|frameless|center]] |birth_date=May 4, 1888 |birth_place=[[Fall River, Massachusetts]], U.S. |death_date=April 11, 1964 |death_place=[[Easton, Maryland]], U.S. |Position=[[End (American football)|End]] |College=[[Princeton University]] |Awards= |Honors= |career_highlights = * [[College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS|National champion]] ([[1911 Princeton Tigers football team|1911]]) * First-team [[College Football All-America Team|All-American]] ([[1911 College Football All-America Team|1911]]) |DatabaseFootball= |years= |teams= |CollegeHOF= |HOF= }} '''Sanford Brownell "Sammy" White''' (May 4, 1888{{spaced ndash}}April 11, 1964) was an American [[American football|football]] and [[baseball]] player. He played [[college football]] for the [[Princeton Tigers football]] team from 1910 to 1911 and was a consensus first-team [[College Football All-America Team|All-American football]] player in 1911. He scored every point for the Tigers in their 1911 victories over [[Harvard]] and [[Yale]], leading the team to the eastern college football championship. White also played baseball and [[basketball]] at Princeton. As team [[Captain (sports)|captain]], he led Princeton to a baseball championship in 1911.
==Early years== White was born at [[Fall River, Massachusetts]], in 1888. He attended Fall River High School and then preparatory school at [[Phillips Exeter Academy|Exeter]] in [[New Hampshire]]. White played both baseball and football for Exeter.<ref name=Sammy>{{cite news|title="Sammy" White, Football Hero: Opportunist Who Defeated Both Yale and Harvard on the Gridiron This Fall Is a Topnotcher in Other Branches of Athletics and in His Studies as Well|author=Jim Nasium|newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press|date=December 10, 1911|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19111210&id=1SwbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8UgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1398,4705338}}</ref><ref name=Hero/>
==Princeton==
===Multi-sport athlete=== White enrolled at [[Princeton University]] in 1908. At Princeton, he became a four-sport star, competing in football, [[baseball]], [[basketball]], and [[track and field|track]].<ref name=Sammy/> In the summer of 1909, he played for the [[Hyannis Harbor Hawks|Hyannis town team]] in what is now the [[Cape Cod Baseball League]].<ref>{{cite news | title = Base Ball at Hyannis | pages = 2 | newspaper = Hyannis Patriot | location = Hyannis, MA | date = June 21, 1909 | url = http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/APA/Sturgis/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=HYP%2F1909%2F06%2F21&id=Ar00217&sk=73F17E00&viewMode=image }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title = 4th of July at Hyannis | pages = 2 | newspaper = Hyannis Patriot | location = Hyannis, MA | date = July 5, 1909 | url = http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/APA/Sturgis/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=HYP%2F1909%2F07%2F05&id=Ar00231&sk=42DB0D23&viewMode=image }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title = Fourth of July at Hyannis | pages = 2 | newspaper = Hyannis Patriot | location = Hyannis, MA | date = July 12, 1909 | url = http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/APA/Sturgis/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=HYP%2F1909%2F07%2F12&id=Ar00217&sk=1F25F8A8&viewMode=image }}</ref> In December 1911, he reportedly also tried out for the Princeton [[ice hockey]] team.<ref>{{cite news|title=Sam White Trying For Hockey Team|newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press|date=December 7, 1911|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0iwbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8UgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3433,4032244&dq=princeton+sam-white&hl=en}}</ref> During his sophomore year, he did not play football and played only baseball and basketball. He was selected as the captain of the baseball team as a junior and led the team to a baseball championship.<ref name=Sammy/>
===1911 football season=== White reportedly considered baseball his true love, disliked football, and joined the football team in 1911 only after being coaxed into doing so.<ref name=Hero>{{cite news|title=Sammy White, Football Hero of 1911|newspaper=The Paterson Press|date=December 28, 1911|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=mgtVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Gj0NAAAAIBAJ&pg=1939,4178593&dq=princeton+sammy-white&hl=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Sam White Didn't Like Football: But He Played Just to Oblige and Beat Both Yale and Harvard the Same Year--When Coy Went Berserk Mad and Nothing Could Stop Him--Dillon's Jersey Trick Still Rankles at Cambridge|newspaper=Boston Daily Globe|author=Robert Edgren|date=October 29, 1916|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/713698922.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Oct+29%2C+1916&author=&pub=Boston+Daily+Globe+(1872-1922)&desc=SAM+WHITE+DIDN%27T+LIKE+FOOTBALL&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130216161134/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/713698922.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Oct+29,+1916&author=&pub=Boston+Daily+Globe+(1872-1922)&desc=SAM+WHITE+DIDN'T+LIKE+FOOTBALL&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 16, 2013}}</ref> Having been a substitute on the 1910 football team, he became a starter at [[End (American football)|left end]] for the 1911 [[Princeton Tigers football]] team. He led the team to the 1911 eastern college football championship. The 1911 Princeton team compiled an 8-0-2 record and outscored opponents 179 to 15.<ref>{{cite web|title=Princeton Yearly Results|publisher=College Football Data Warehouse|url=http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_iaa/ivyleague/princeton/yearly_results.php?year=1910|access-date=February 2, 2013|archive-date=November 4, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104151040/http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_iaa/ivyleague/princeton/yearly_results.php?year=1910|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In Princeton's 8–6 victory over [[Harvard Crimson football|Harvard]] on November 4, 1911, White was responsible for all eight points scored by the Tigers. He blocked a field goal attempt by Harvard and then picked up the loose ball and returned it 95 yards for a touchdown. Later in the game, Harvard's quarterback caught a punt deep in Harvard's territory. White reportedly "hurled himself at the Harvard man in a fierce tackle and threw him back over the goal line for a safety that won the game for Princeton."<ref name=Sammy/>
Two weeks after the Harvard game, White played his final football game for Princeton against [[Yale Bulldogs football|Yale]]. Princeton had not beaten Yale since 1903, and the game was played at [[Yale Field]] in front of a crowd of 33,000. Princeton won the game 6–3 in large part due to the play of White. White recovered five Yale fumbles on a field of ankle-deep mud. He returned one of those fumbles 65 yards for a touchdown for Princeton's only score.<ref name=Yale/><ref>{{cite news|title=Princeton Beats Yale By White's Run: Speedy End of Tigers Snaps Up Loose Ball and Races for Touchdown|newspaper=New-York Tribune|date=November 19, 1911|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1911-11-19/ed-1/seq-1.pdf}}</ref> The ''[[Boston Globe]]'' led its story on the game with a front-page headline, "TIGERS' FOOTBALL HERO FOR PRESIDENT."<ref>{{cite news|title=Tigers' Football Hero For President|newspaper=Boston Daily Globe|date=November 19, 1911|page=1|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/714735852.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Nov+19%2C+1911&author=&pub=Boston+Daily+Globe+(1872-1922)&desc=TIGERS%27+FOOTBALL+HERO+FOR+PRESIDENT&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130216160533/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/714735852.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Nov+19,+1911&author=&pub=Boston+Daily+Globe+(1872-1922)&desc=TIGERS'+FOOTBALL+HERO+FOR+PRESIDENT&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 16, 2013}}</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported on White's long run as follows: <blockquote>"He can run, White can. He followed the ball like a hound follows the fox. Ever ready to scoop it up and run with all the speed in his long, lithe limbs. Once out in front he runs like the wind, looks neither to the right nor left, but with his nose pointing toward the enemy's goal his cleets tear up the muddy turf and he runs faster and faster until, the leather tucked under his arm in a vise-like grip, he plants it behind the line and wins the game. That's Sam White."<ref name=Yale>{{cite news|title=Princeton Wins on Yale Field: Sam White Again the Hero of an Orange and Black Victory; His Run for Touchdown; Great Throng Thrilled While Tiger End Profits by Blue Misplay|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 19, 1911|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/11/19/100341391.pdf}}</ref></blockquote>
White won accolades for his alert play during the 1911 season. One sports writer opined that "football has never known a player with a 'nose for the ball' like 'Sammy' White."<ref name=Sammy/> Another writer added, "The college football season each year develops a 'hero,' and this year his name is Sanford B. White, left end of the Princeton team."<ref name=Hero/> Yet another proclaimed him "the greatest athlete the institution [Princeton] has ever produced."<ref>{{cite news|title=Sam White Is All-Around Twinkler|newspaper=The Spokesman-Review|date=December 3, 1911|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DtwUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=X-ADAAAAIBAJ&pg=3591,379051&dq=princeton+sam-white&hl=en}}</ref>
===Awards and honors=== At the end of the 1911 season, White was chosen as a first-team All-American on the teams selected by, among others, [[Walter Camp]],<ref>{{cite news|title=Walter Camp Picks All-American Team: Unquestioned Football Authority of Country Selects Best Men|publisher=The Lexington Herald|date=1911-12-10}}</ref> ''[[The New York Globe]]'',<ref>{{cite news|title=Three Westernes on All-American Eleven|publisher=Sandusky Star Journal|date=December 2, 1911}}</ref> Tommy Clark,<ref>{{cite news|author=Tommy Clark|title=All American Football Team For 1911|newspaper=The Altoona Mirror|date=December 8, 1911|page=18}}</ref> [[Wilton S. Farnsworth]],<ref>{{cite news|title=Latest Sporting News All-American Football Team Selected by W. S. Farnsworth|publisher=Fort Worth Star-Telegram|date=1911-12-10}}</ref> [[Henry L. Williams]],<ref>{{cite news|title=Dr. Williams Picks An All-American Team|newspaper=The Gazette Times|date=December 4, 1911|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tTkxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=W2YDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2955,2542187&dq=wendell+dalton+thorpe&hl=en}}</ref> [[Charles Chadwick (athlete)|Charles Chadwick]],<ref>{{cite news|title=Chadwick's All-American Football Team Lined up for Action: Four Players Selected from Yale|publisher=Fort Worth Star-Telegram|date=1911-12-11}}</ref> ''[[Baseball Magazine]]'',<ref>{{cite news|title=The All-America Football Eleven: The Stars of the Gridiron for 1911|publisher=Baseball Magazine|year=1912|url=http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/BBM/1912/bbm83i.pdf}}</ref> and ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]''.<ref name=SP>Spalding's Official Football Guide, 1912, p. 19.</ref> The Princeton Club of Philadelphia also presented White with a gold cigarette case filled with a piece of sod taken from the spot where White planted the ball in the end zone at [[Yale Field]].<ref>{{cite news|title=White Given Bit of Yale Field|newspaper=The Toledo News-Bee|date=December 25, 1911|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kyBYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=T0UNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4165,4718956&dq=princeton+sanford-white&hl=en}}</ref>
White was also the president of Princeton's senior class, president of its Senior Student Council, and was voted the most popular, most respected, best all-around man, and the man who did most for his class. He graduated from Princeton in June 1912.<ref>{{cite news|title=Glory for Sam White: Princeton's Clever Athlete's College Days Are Over|newspaper=The News and Courier|date=June 15, 1912|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YGpJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1goNAAAAIBAJ&pg=3367,5857105&dq=princeton+sam-white&hl=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title="Sam" White Garners Princeton Honors: Football Hero Has Distinctions Showered Upon Him By Appreciative Classmates|newspaper=Trenton True American|date=May 2, 1912|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nnFFAAAAIBAJ&sjid=f7wMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4814,5774227&dq=princeton+sam-white&hl=en}}</ref>
==Business career and military service== After graduating from Princeton, White represented [[International Harvester Corporation]] in the Midwest. He next worked for the Princeton Bank and Trust Co.<ref name=Obit>{{cite news|title=Sanford Brownell White '12|publisher=Princeton Alumni Weekly|date=June 2, 1964|page=3}}</ref>
In the fall of 1917, White served as the chairman of the local [[Liberty Loan]] committee at Princeton, raising funds to support the allied cause in [[World War I]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Colleges To Work For Loan: Princeton Holds Stirring Meeting and Harvard Enters Drive|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 9, 1917|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1917/10/09/96275011.pdf}}</ref> In January 1918, he enlisted in the [[Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Sam White Enlists|newspaper=The Hartford Courant|date=January 19, 1918|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courant/access/796591142.html?dids=796591142:796591142&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Jan+19%2C+1918&author=&pub=Hartford+Courant&desc=SAM+WHITE+ENLISTS&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130216164953/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courant/access/796591142.html?dids=796591142:796591142&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Jan+19,+1918&author=&pub=Hartford+Courant&desc=SAM+WHITE+ENLISTS&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 16, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Sam White Joins the Aviation Corps: Princeton's Football Hero Now in Service of Uncle Sam|newspaper=The Atlanta Constitution|date=January 24, 1918|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/ajc_historic/access/556234822.html?dids=556234822:556234822&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&date=Jan+24%2C+1918&author=&pub=The+Atlanta+Constitution&desc=SAM+WHITE+JOINS+THE+AVIATION+CORPS&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130216160653/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/ajc_historic/access/556234822.html?dids=556234822:556234822&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&date=Jan+24,+1918&author=&pub=The+Atlanta+Constitution&desc=SAM+WHITE+JOINS+THE+AVIATION+CORPS&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 16, 2013}}</ref> He was commissioned as a second lieutenant and served as a post [[adjutant]].<ref name=Obit/>
After his discharge from the military, White returned to work for International Harvester. He became the secretary and remained with the company until his retirement in 1947.<ref name=Obit/>
==Family and later years== In April 1913, White was married to Jeanette McAusland at [[Summit, New Jersey]].<ref>{{cite news|title="Sam" White Weds|newspaper=Evening True American|date=April 23, 1913|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NmpgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=a3ENAAAAIBAJ&pg=5721,7660221&dq=princeton+sam-white&hl=en}}</ref> He had two sons, Sanford B., Jr., and Charles McAusland, and two daughters, Jean (married to Edward Bax) and Priscilla (married to Ashton Graham). He died of a heart attack in April 1964 at age 75.<ref name=Obit/>
==Notes== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== *{{Find a Grave}}
{{1911 Princeton Tigers football navbox}} {{1911 College Football Consensus All-Americans}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Sanford}} [[Category:1888 births]] [[Category:1964 deaths]] [[Category:All-American college football players]] [[Category:American football ends]] [[Category:Princeton Tigers football players]] [[Category:Hyannis Harbor Hawks players]] [[Category:Cape Cod Baseball League players (pre-modern era)]] [[Category:Baseball players from Fall River, Massachusetts]] [[Category:Players of American football from Fall River, Massachusetts]] [[Category:Princeton Tigers baseball players]] [[Category:United States Army personnel of World War I]]