By: Carson Gourdie | March 16, 2025 at 10:23 pm
After 36 years and 417 wins, Tom White retired as De La Salle’s head basketball coach.
But three years ago, he returned to the court to lead the school’s Special Olympic basketball team.
After Sunday’s championship game in Champaign, he told me why: years ago, Tom’s nephew, Mikey, was a Special Olympian.
“And the ability to hold these medals, and he would honor them and wear them. And he would have like 40 of them. And it kind of touched my heart,” White said.
“He passed away three years ago,” he said.
Mikey impacts Tom daily, and was the catalyst of Tom coming out of retirement.
“When the team came to me, to ask me if I would coach, I saw Mikey in them. And they got me,” White said.
