Ultimate White-Frisbee: He Survived UW Losing to Become a Winner in Life
Jordan White-Frisbee should be a basket case.
He has every right to be the most negative person in the world.
Down on life.
All doom and gloom.
Instead, a near hour-long conversation with the former University of Washington football player is filled with booming laughter, positive mantras and great hope for a post-pandemic world.
You remember JWF, don't you?
He came to the Huskies as this mountainous defensive lineman from suburban Inglemoor High School who made the switch to the O-line and was good enough to become a starter on each side of the ball. He had realistic NFL ambitions. He answered to that memorable name.
It was all that other stuff around him that didn't go as planned.
As a true freshman in 2004, White-Frisbee lined up as a starting defensive tackle for a 1-10 Husky team, which became the worst in school history.
In 2008 as a fifth-year senior, he was a starting offensive guard for an 0-12 outfit — now the most inept in UW annals.
In between, White-Frisbee broke his right foot several times. Broke it horizontally and vertically. Had surgery on each occasion. Had screws inserted. Broke bones between the screws.
Ouch.
"We lost every game," he said of his final Husky season. "Every Saturday, it was really tough to get through. You learn a lot about yourself when you lose."
Jordan White-Frisbee started at DL as a freshman.
UW photo
Today, White-Frisbee lives on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound as a doting dad for two young children who see only this large, positive man. They live in a house surrounded by farmland. He can see sheep from his home office window.
His wife runs Ruby's Room, a kid's consignment store in Freeland. He owns and operates Tsunami Docks Northwest, a dock- and float-building construction business that welcomes maritime-related work. It's a new business for him, coming after years in housing construction.
"It's all about taking responsibility with my relationship with God, my kids, my family," he said. "Who I was before doesn't matter. It's who I am tomorrow. That means I have to change who I am today."
In that case, it means a much smaller Jordan White-Frisbee.
The big man who Husky teammates teasingly referred to as Andre the Giant or Shrek carried a 6-foot-6, 370-pound frame when he left college football.
Together with his friend Jonas Rosenberg, White-Frisbee heads up a workout group that meets at 4:50 a.m. these days at a Clinton fitness center to slim down. Since last October, he's dropped 50 pounds, bringing him to an even 400 pounds.
"I'm doing pretty good," he said. "I lead the morning workout crew. I'm doing all this good stuff in the Whidbey Island community."
Now, about that bad stuff.
White-Frisbee, 34, showed up for Washington football at the wrong time. The program was reeling from the Rick Neuheisel firing. Things took a big dip in 2004 when he was a freshman, with the one-win season bringing the firing of reluctant replacement coach Keith Gilbertson and his staff, which included a young defensive-backs coach named Jimmy Lake.
Things were so disconnected for that football team that White-Frisbee, in recent years, encountered Lake while working at an Eastside marina and was in for a big surprise.
"I was talking to him like I'd never met him," Jordan said. "He said, 'Bro, I was the DB coach.' I had no idea. I must have not been paying attention. I didn't know Jimmy Lake coached me for 11 games."
The disconnect was greater for the 2008 team that ran the table and went 0-12, beaten badly in every game except three. The Huskies lost to USC 56-0 at midseason, to Cal 48-7 in the season finale.
"It came down to leadership, not just from the coaching staff but from our seniors," White-Frisbee said. "I know I wasn't a great leader. The locker room was toxic."
As for Ty Willingham, his second UW coach, White-Frisbee learned of the man's firing while watching ESPN Sportscenter, an indication of how close everyone was.
"I'm not going to badmouth him — I think he was a good dad," he said. "I don't think anybody came out of that feeling good."
When he arrived at the UW, White-Frisbee was a promising defensive tackle. He changed positions after repeatedly breaking his foot and thereafter being unable to plant properly to get upfield. He had to play flat-footed.
While White-Frisbee sat out most of two seasons, the big man was humored when he heard opposing offensive linemen calling out his name during games, confusing him with equally good-sized teammate Donny Mateaki.
"Either that or they couldn't read numbers," he said.
He also was impressed by the devotion of UW fans who continued to support the team as the losses piled up and the despair set in. Especially when they showed up on the road.
"That was the bottom, the bottom bottom," he said. "You learn about the Husky family in times like that. We couldn't believe they still went to our games. They went to our away games and we said, 'You know, we're going to lose.' They didn't care."
As a senior, White-Frisbee pulled 12 starts at right guard, playing with yet another broken foot for the latter two-thirds of the season. He couldn't even consider pro football when he was done.
"If I wanted to keep the foot, I had to stop," he said. "That was brutal."
White-Frisbee is in a good place. He's a family man. He owns his dock company. He's learned how to deal with adversity like no one else.
"It was a blessing, maybe not at that time, but you reflect on what really matters in life," he said. "You appreciate what you have. I don't need much. I'm a different person."
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