Sunday, December 26, 2004
REGGIE WHITE
Man, this is rough.
Reggie White is dead at the age of 43. He had just turned 43 on December 19.
In my opinion, White was the best defensive end to ever play the game of football. When he retired in 2000, he was the all-time sacks leader (198 career sacks). White holds the record of most consecutive seasons with 10 sacks or more (1985-1992 Philadelphia and 1993 Green Bay).
White is the second member of the vaunted Eagles defensive line of the late 1980s-early 1990s to die way too soon. Defensive tackle Jerome Brown died in 1992 in a car accident.
"The Minister of Defense" is already sacking folks upstairs. RIP, Reggie.
(Edit at 1:40 p.m. Pacific: Sports Illustrated's Peter King sums it up best.
I believe the Green Bay Packers wouldn't have achieved the greatness they achieved in the late '90s without White. Brett Favre won three MVPs. Reggie White and Favre were the sheriffs of that locker room. Players just followed him. His imitations -- Muhammad Ali, Fred Flinstone, countless others -- had his teammates loose. They would've followed him anywhere.
In the end, White made it popular for free agents, especially African-American ones, to go to the NFL's smallest franchise in northeast Wisconsin. I know Mike Holmgren always felt the White signing was the turning point for that franchise. It's amazing when you look at the Packers today and see them in contention every year. Make no mistake, Favre deserves a lion's share of the credit, but there's no way the Packers would be the consistently winning team they are had Reggie White picked another team in 1993.
King is absolutely right on this.)
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