Byron "Whizzer" White

From Hoopedia

Byron Raymond White (June 8, 1917 – April 15, 2002) won fame both as a football running back and as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Appointed to the court by President John F. Kennedy in 1962, he served until his retirement in 1993. He was born in Fort Collins, Colorado, and died in Denver at the age of 84 from complications of pneumonia.

White attended the University of Colorado, where he was a star football player and earned a degree in 1938. He won a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford (Hertford College). After World War II, he attended Yale Law School, graduating with honors in 1946

White was a star football player for the Colorado Buffaloes, where he acquired the nickname "Whizzer," which he later came to despise. After graduation he signed with the NFL's Pittsburgh Pirates (now Steelers), playing there during the 1938 season. He took 1939 off to study at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, but returned to play for the Detroit Lions from 1940-41. In three NFL seasons, he played in 33 games. He led the league in rushing yards in 1938 and 1940.

White was a starter on the 1937-38 Colorado team that made it all the way to the championship game of the inaugural National Invitation Tournament (NIT), finally succumbing to the powerful Temple Owls, 60-36. White was the second-leading scorer for the Buffaloes, accounting for 10 of their points. The team ended the season with an admirable 15-6 record.

The New York Times reported that, "His law clerks remember him as someone who loved to mix it up on the Supreme Court's basketball court, known affectionately as 'the highest court in the land.'"

In 2006 White was selected as one of the NCAA’s 100 Most Influential Student-Athletes, as selected by a panel consisting of university presidents, athletic directors NCAA committee members, conference office representatives, SAAC representatives and NCAA staff.