92: Reggie White, the most dominant defensive player to don the green and white in my lifetime, passed away today. He was 43. I'm just stunned.
All the other Philadelphia sports stars of my formative years were decidedly unemotional types -- Mike Schmidt, Julius Erving, Steve Carlton, Randall Cunningham and Ron Jaworski were all players who directed their energies towards the field. They all had a certain kind of asceticism to their game -- for them, it wasn't about displaying emotion, or playing to the crowd. They did their jobs, and did it well, but they were all more admired than beloved.
Not so Reggie White. The Minister of Defense was larger than life -- on the field and off. His game was intense, with a power/speed combination few have ever had on the defense line, and a battery of moves to skirt offensive linemen that was just stunning to watch. That swim move? Wow. He had nine straight seasons with double-digit sacks to start his NFL career, retiring number one all-time despite spending his first two seasons in the USFL. (Bruce Smith ultimately totaled two more sacks, but needed three more years to do so.)
But it was off the field that he galvanized a city. He showed us his sweat, his fury, his emotion. His heart. Randall Cunningham was exciting to watch, but it was Reggie and that defense we loved, never more so than that 1991 season in which Randall went down, and the defense rose to #1 against the run, #1 against the pass, #1 overall, bringing the "house of pain" to Houston and obliterating all that lay before it.
And when his teammate Jerome Brown died in an offseason car wreck, it was Reggie who comforted us.
Sure, he had his controversies -- whether deciding as a free agent to go "where God told him" (which happened to be the city offering the largest contract), his three separate retirements or his outrageous remarks before the Wisconsin legislature in 1998, which made John Rocker seem mild. Even today, I cannot defend any of what he said, but can only accept the sincerity of his commitment towards bettering the urban poor, that he did not simply abuse the language of religion in order to further political or personal ends. As he would have us do, I suppose, I detest the sins of that speech, but still loved the sinner and hoped he would change.
Five straight seasons with ten-plus wins in Philadelphia, then a Super Bowl ring in Green Bay. Thirteen Pro Bowl selections. I can't believe he's gone.
Just before I moved to Chicago for law school in 1994, Reggie came back to Philadelphia for his first game as a Packer. No one booed. They welcomed him back with the kind of open arms and loud cheers that this city never extends to anyone who leaves. Except Reggie.
SI's Peter King has more.
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