From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)

White, Robert M. "Bob"

(born: 1912  -  died: 1969) 

In 1957, Robert White replaced Thomas F. Johnson as the head football coach at Howard University [source: "Bob White named Howard U. grid coach," Plaindealer, 8/24/1957, p. 6]. White would also serve as a physical education instructor. In 1959, the team won the first Archer-Marshall Award when it defeated Morehouse 20-13 [source: "Howard,  Morehouse coaches memorialized at homecoming," Los Angeles Tribune, 12/4/1959, p. 24].

Bob White came to Howard University from New Haven, CT, where for a year he was the program director of the Community School Recreation Program. Before his move to Connecticut, he was the head football coach and athletic director at North Carolina State Teachers College in Elizabeth City, 1953-1956 [now Elizabeth City State University]. The team had a 28-2 record and won the Eastern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference all four years of Bob White's tenure; White was named Coach of the Year for those four years.

Years earlier in 1946, White had been named the ninth head football coach at Kentucky State College [now Kentucky State University] and later the head football coach at Delaware State College, 1950-51 [now Delaware State University] [source: "Robert M. White Records by Year" at the All Time Coaching Records website].

White had 18 years experience as a football coach when he arrived at Howard University in 1957. He left Howard University in 1962 to become a physical education instructor at Maryland State College [now University of Maryland Eastern Shore] [source: "Sease is selected as Howard mentor," Gettysburg Times, 8/29/1962, p. 3]. He would later become the football coach at Maryland State College.

In 1968 Bob White was a scout for the NFL's Washington Redskins (now the Commanders [source: M. E. Jackson, "The World of Sports," Memphis World, 2/3/1968, p. 6]. He was also the Redskins' director of player personnel.

Born in Richmond, KY 9/28/1912, White was a 1936 graduate of Kentucky State College [now Kentucky State University], where he earned a B.S. degree; and a 1939 graduate of Indiana University, where he earned a M.S. in physical education.

Bob White was also a World War II veteran: he enlisted at Ft. Benjamin Harrison in Indiana on November 13, 1945 [source: U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Record Serial Number 35736208].

White died August 16, 1969 in Washington, D.C. [source: U.S. Social Security Death Index]; see Find-a-Grave.

Kentucky County & Region

Read about Madison County, Kentucky in Wikipedia.
Read about Franklin County, Kentucky in Wikipedia.

Kentucky Place (Town or City)

Read about Richmond, Kentucky in Wikipedia.
Read about Frankfort, Kentucky in Wikipedia.

Item Relations

Cited in this Entry

NKAA Source: Plaindealer, The (newspaper) (Topeka)
NKAA Source: Los Angeles tribune (newspaper)
NKAA Source: Gettysburg times (newspaper)
NKAA Source: Memphis world (newspaper)

Related Entries Citing this Entry

none

Cite This NKAA Entry:

“White, Robert M. "Bob",” Notable Kentucky African Americans Database, accessed October 15, 2024, https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/index.php/items/show/3036.

Last modified: 2023-07-07 16:45:31