When Andrew White Sr. started playing basketball, it was probably reminiscent of the opening scene of Space Jam.
In the 1950s, White Sr. played semi-competitive basketball in King and Queen County on dirt courts. At the time, he did not have an idea of what he was starting. Later, he became a reverend and the namesake for Petersburg’s football stadium and the Community Center at Zion Baptist Church.
Now a well-known figure in the community, Rev. White got the ball rolling on an impressive lineage of basketball talent that eventually rendered Andrew White III (Nebraska) and Andrien White (UNC Charlotte).
“It’s been a little of mom and dad but it’s been a lot of coaches and members of the community that have supported these fellas,” White Jr. said. “My father has been very involved in Andrew and Andrien’s lives.”
There is no “secret stuff” involved here, and the story is not close to over.
The White family’s accomplishments on the hardwood had their humble beginnings on those dirt courts. Andrew White Jr. was the first college basketball player in the family – playing at Morehouse College in Atlanta. He was a tall, lanky player that started his freshman and sophomore years for Petersburg before giving way to local legends Darrell Stith and Mark West. As a junior and senior he played a valuable sixth-man role where he played every position from shooting guard to center. While he was a key component of Petersburg’s teams, little did he realize the skills he learned would help him in the future.
Andrew Jr. and Sheryl White connected in college and were married. In the summer of 1993, Andrew White III was born. Three years later, Andrien or “Jaire” came into the world. Though Marguerite Christian youth basketball and football ruled the roost for the White boys, White Sr. says it was not until Andrew was 11 or 12 that he realized that basketball might end up being a way of life for the White family. Their mother always had that suspicion.
“Andrien walked at eight or nine months old,” said Sheryl White. “It probably had something to do with his brother being advanced for his age. I knew they were going to be something special.”
It all started with networking with janitors at local schools to gain time shooting on real basketball goals. The family would get to know different workers and they would be allowed to shoot after games were completed until the custodian was done cleaning the gym. Then there were those long days at the Chester YMCA where the Whites would play basketball until the gym closed each evening.
Andrew White III
All of those long hard hours of practice started to pay off. Though Andrien is smaller than his brother (6-3 vs. 6-7), they always had a skilled player to play one-on-one with. Because Andrew was taller and longer, Andrien had to make up for a size disadvantage and did that with hustling defense. That skill has become his calling card. Andrew has always profiled as a wing-type of athlete and maintained a silky-smooth shooting stroke at every level of the game.
“Andrew helped me a lot,” said Andrien White. “He beat me a lot playing one-on-one, probably double or triple the times I beat him. He really gave me confidence as I got older because I always saw him as the best, so when I got to supposedly top level guys, I always thought – ‘my brother is better than this guy.’”
Both players have evolved since they roamed the court for Thomas Dale. Andrew transferred to the Miller School in Charlottesville to a situation where he could learn to play wing instead of being a post player like most kids his size would be in the Central District. He re-classed and eventually got bigger, stronger and started gaining the attention of major Division 1 programs. Andrien transferred out after his junior year at Thomas Dale and headed south to North Carolina to Quality Academy.
“We greatly enjoyed the time that the boys played under coach Eddie Goss,” said Andrew White Jr. “Goss was vital in helping transcend Andrew from a post player to a guard.”
Andrien was Thomas Dale’s leading scorer in the last season that Goss coached before giving way to longtime assistant and current coach, Mike Walker.
Andrien White
Those long nights of practice and grueling one-on-one matches paid off, and both signed onto play Division I basketball, a special memory for both the boys and the entire family.
After a two-year tour of duty in Kansas and two Big 12 Championships for Andrew White III, he took a year off to transfer to Nebraska. While he was a top 50 talent in his recruiting class, playing time was at a premium behind NBA lottery picks Ben McLemore and Andrew Wiggins. Since his arrival at Nebraska and hitting the hardwood for his redshirt junior season, he’s been a standout.
“I just felt like at Kansas I was selling myself short by accepting a small playing role,” Andrew White III said. “I knew that if I was in a place where my coaches had confidence in my game that I would blossom.”
White III leads Nebraska in scoring at 17.6 points per game, the fourth highest total in the Big Ten as of press time. On Feb. 13, he poured in 35 points against Penn State, including six three-pointers. The athletic wing also had a 30-point performance against Abilene Christian and a pair of 28 point games against Creighton and Rutgers, a game in which many family members were in attendance.
Fresh off a tournament appearance last season, the Huskers are 14-12 with a 6-7 record in conference play. With five regular season games left, including a match-up on Feb. 17 against former L.C. Bird and Benedictine standout Robert Johnson’s Indiana squad, Nebraska could still make a move on an at-large bid.
Andrien has always been more of a blue-collar player. Though he was probably underrated offensively as a recruit, “Jaire” has shown flashes of brilliance on both sides of the court for the 49ers this season, and for his coach, former Cleveland Cavalier and four-time NBA All-Star Mark Price. In fact, when there was a coaching change after the last season, Price called Andrien to let the prospect know he was still interested.
“He is a talented player and he’s shown it this season,” Price said. “He leads with the way he plays.”
Price was referring to White’s defense, hustle and ability to get to the basket. Also this year, at almost a surprise to some, he’s developed a penchant for the outside shot, connecting on 55 of 128 attempts, good for a 43 percent clip from three-point land. The freshman has reeled in two Conference USA freshman of the week honors and is fourth in scoring on a balanced, but high-octane offense at about 11 points per game. He’s a key piece in a program that’s rebuilding.
Prospecting too deeply into the future is not necessary right now, but both brothers have a shot to play professional basketball at some level. Besides, Andrew White Jr. and Sheryl White are having a great time traveling to games and spending nights sometimes watching two televisions at the same time when both sons are playing.
“It doesn’t get old,” White Jr. laughed. “I’ll be watching a game here or there, or listening to one of Andrien’s games while Andrew’s game is on the Big Ten Network.”
The dynamic duo of husband and wife have been quite the road trippers as well, catching almost every game of Andrien and Andrew’s high school games, nearly all of Andrien’s home games in Charlotte (about a five hour drive) and a few of Andrew’s games already, though an airplane is of particularly good use when heading to Nebraska.
There’s been a rumor of a possible game matching up the brothers next season, which would put the White’s traveling band in quite a dilemma. Typically, the family travels and has shirts for Andrew and Andrien, but in the same game?
“They’d probably check each other too,” Andrew White Jr. said.
It would not be the first time he got to watch that match-up, and it certainly will not be the last.
