Jo Jo White

Joseph Henry White (November 16, 1946 – January 16, 2018) was an American basketball player. As an amateur, he played at the University of Kansas, where he was named a second-team All-American twice. White was part of the U.S. men's basketball team during the 1968 Summer Olympics, winning a gold medal with the team. In the 1969 NBA draft, White was drafted 9th overall by the Boston Celtics, with whom he would play for ten seasons, winning the NBA Finals in 1974 and 1976 and being named Finals MVP the latter year. A seven-time NBA All-Star, White set a Celtics record with 488 consecutive games played. White's No. 10 jersey was retired by the Celtics in 1982. In 2015, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Early life and amateur career White was born in St. Louis, the son of a Baptist minister, George L. White Sr. and his wife, Elizabeth Rebecca Guynn. As the youngest of seven children, he had three elder sisters; Shirley, Adlean, and Irene, and three elder brothers, George, Dewitt and Ronald. He started playing basketball at six and found sports to be a key platform for his community. As a child, he followed the St. Louis Hawks, and played on the basketball team at McKinley High School in St. Louis. College Due to his age, White was eligible to play college basketball a semester early at the University of Kansas, and team captain Riney Lochmann led a vote to determine that White would be welcomed by the players.