The son of the late NFL
Hall of Fame defensive lineman Reggie White held a book signing on campus
Nov. 15 for “In His Shadow: Growing Up
with Reggie White.” The book, an autobiography by Jeremy White, an Elon senior in the School of Communications, has been featured
on national programs, including those aired on ESPN.
The signing was sponsored by the Eta Gamma chapter of
Lambda Pi Eta and the School of Communications honor society. It featured a reading from White and a question-and-answer
session with the audience afterward.
Reggie White played for the Philadelphia Eagles, Carolina
Panthers and Green Bay Packers, where he won a Super Bowl in
1997. He died Dec. 26, 2004, at the age of 46, and was
elected into the Hall of Fame posthumously on Feb. 4, 2006.
He left behind his son, Jeremy, his daughter, Jecolia, and
his wife, Sara.
Jeremy White said the inspiration for writing the book came
from other people: He had grown tired of everyone asking
him about his father, so the book was his “way of giving
back to the masses,” he said.
“I decided to write the book one week before he
died,” White said. “Then after he died, it gave me
more encouragement to write it.”
White said it took him more than a year and a half to finish
the book completely.
“It’s not so much about
football,” he said. “Even if you’re not a
football fan, I think you will like it.”
White said writing the book about his experiences with his
Dad, a 13-time Pro Bowl participant, was a breeze.
“I couldn’t get the words out fast enough,”
he said. “I have a photographic memory. I can remember
what I was wearing when I was 3 years old. It plays out in my
mind. The more I wrote and remembered, the more it would pile
up and by the time I got around to writing it, I
couldn’t get it out fast enough.”