LaMont White, 24, won’t let geography tackle his football dreams.
Last week, the Chicago native and former All-State football player from Bolingbrook High School boarded a plane bound for Taiwan, where he will be a starting running back for United Football League’s Taipei Dragons.
It was a move White made to keep his career and dream alive.
“I haven’t been too lucky in America, and going overseas has given me a second chance to do what I know I can do,” he said.
“It could be a steppingstone for me.”
The UFL, a newly formed six-team Asian league, brings North American players and their rugged performances to an international audience for 30 exhibition games.
On July 17, the league and White will make their international debuts in Taipei’s 22,000-seat Chung Shan Stadium as the Dragons battle the USA All-Stars. The game is a sellout.
For White, the new fans, $100,000-plus salary and jade-colored Dragon jerseys will take some adjustment.
“It’s culture shock all around,” said White, who scoped out his new turf accompanied by an interpreter. “It’s still the same game, and luckily I’m not the only American player in this boat.”
Many Dragons have experienced football-superhero status as high school players and deflated success in college arenas. White said he often hears different versions of “the same story.”
White was a top running back at first Lisle and then Bolingbrook. In 1987, his senior season, he garnered All-State honors and a football scholarship to Nebraska.
In Lincoln, he sat on the bench for most of three seasons (1988-90) and watched the Cornhuskers fall in their 1989 quest for the national title against Miami.
After taking 1991 off from school and football, White transferred to Nebraska-Omaha, where he got more playing time on a lesser team and earned a criminal-justice degree in 1993.
Life after college became a game of “catching whatever you’re thrown and running with it,” said White, who went on to attend tryout camps with NFL, Canadian Football League and semipro clubs. He was getting ready to suit up for the Du Page County Eagles when he scored with the UFL.
“I live for the game and would follow it anywhere,” White said. “My mom said to take this chance.”
A proud Debra White still remembers watching her son sleep with a toy football 20 years ago. She used to say, “LaMont, put that football up!” But he never did.
She said: “I knew he wouldn’t put that ball away. It was part of him, and it will always be.”
