Michigan State Spartan Football Legend Lorenzo White Enters The Hall Of Fame!
Spartan Stadium
East Lansing, MI
Lorenzo White is an ICON. A living legend of Spartan Football. Hie's name and number are forever honored inside the High Cathedral of the Spartan Nation: Spartan Stadium and now his name is forever honored in the hallowed halls of College Football itself. Last night he was inducted into the National Football Foundation College Football Hall of Fame!
Above is a great video interview with White courtesy of the National Football Foundation and below are some quotes from his as well! Congrats to a living legend and a great friend of Spartan Nation.
On what it means to him to enter the College Football Hall of Fame…
Well, it means the world of me, but I think because I played it and I did it, and I did have the success, I would like to… This award is like really for my mom, you know, for me. I actually did it and I didn’t do it by myself, with the help of my teammates, and I got a chance to thank them as well. But you know, this is one of those awards, this is where you say your family and your mom put so much time into you and for me, that’s what it means to me; me giving something back to her. It’s the ultimate… anytime that you’re picked to be the ultimate or one of the great players of college football.
On how he found out he was elected…
I always call it the mystery ball – mystery box, put it that way. I came home one day and the crazy thing about it is I just went home to go do something. Then I see this box in there on the step and so I pick it up, and I look at it, and then I open it. It’s got the little confetti all in it and I’m looking, I pull it out, I see a football - College Football Hall of Fame. I’m like, you know I’d have to have been on the ballot nine times? Not getting in, I was like ‘nah, let me dig a little further.’ Then I pulled that letter out and it was official, ‘Thank you and welcome to the 2019 Hall of Fame.’ I was like, ‘Yes! I did it. Finally!’
On what made him go from Fort Lauderdale to East Lansing…
Wow. The number one question in my whole college career. When you think about it, I had serious dreams and goals that I set for myself. If you had to ask anybody around, around my way, they would have told you that I was probably going to wind up going to Georgia, because Herschel Walker had left after two years and the things they were doing with him, that’s what I wanted. But in the back of my mind, the personal part as far as setting the goals, I wanted to go somewhere and be a trend-setter. So when they leave Michigan State, I want to say, ‘Oh, Lorenzo White was here.’ Everything went exactly like I had wanted it, except for the one goal, the one common goal, and that was the Heisman Trophy. I didn’t get it… I led the nation in rushing and I didn’t get it. Bo (Jackson) won it, great guy; but, if he’s looking, Bo, please let me touch that trophy every now and then.
On his favorite touchdown that he scored for Michigan State…
My favorite touchdown would be when we played against Indiana in 1987 to go to the Rose Bowl. We had to beat them to go to the Rose Bowl and just scoring that last touchdown and knowing that it was going to be the last touchdown that I scored in Spartan Stadium. The fans and everybody in the city was like my family and that was like the greatest thing so I wound up keeping the ball for that.
On what he remembers most from all of the records he set…
Just being in a position to carry the ball a lot. Just knowing that everybody always had the question, ‘You don’t think you’re going to get hurt?’ I always go by, when people say that, think about playing on the street or playing at the park. What did we want to do? If you’re a running back, you want to carry the ball. So I always had that motto about carrying the football and you know, just putting myself in good shape.
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