The Jo Jo White Interview
By:
Michael D. McClellan
|
Monday, April 7th, 2003
Your
Kansas Jayhawks play Syracuse tonight for the national
championship. Congratulations
are certainly in order – you must certainly be
thrilled. Please
give me your thoughts on this Kansas team and its coach,
Roy Williams.
This Kansas team has jelled tremendously as the
season has progressed.
I’m very impressed by the way that they’ve
pulled together, and I’m hoping that they can win the
national championship tonight.
I don’t want to jinx them [laughs], because
I’ve picked Kansas to win it all before and they’ve
fallen short.
While this KU squad might not have as much talent as
some of the Kansas teams of the past, it’s an
experienced group that plays well together.
That says a great deal about the players, and it
also speaks volumes about Coach Williams.
It should be a competitive game regardless of the
outcome. Both
teams are extremely well-coached, and very deserving of
the championship. I’m
looking forward to it.
Any
plans to watch the game with Celtic star and fellow KU
alum Paul Pierce?
No – after that tough loss yesterday (against the
Wizards), I’m sure that Paul will be focused on
Boston’s next game in Washington.
You
were born on November 14th, 1946 – just
five months after Walter Brown founded the Boston
Celtics. Please
tell me a little about your childhood – where you
lived, and some of the things that helped to shape you
as a person.
I was born and raised in St. Louis.
Although I was playing basketball by the age of
six, sports in general had a big influence on my
childhood. They
taught me many valuable lessons, such as teamwork,
discipline and commitment.
So, sports – all sports, not just basketball
– were a very large part of my life.
Sports also brought our community closer
together. By
that I mean everyone in the neighborhood played.
Still, I always found myself migrating back to
basketball. It
was a great game to play, and as I developed, I just got
more and more into it.
Who
were some of the role models that you looked up to
during your childhood?
I didn’t have to look far for role models.
I was the youngest of seven – I have three
brothers and three sisters – and my parents were the
ones that I looked up to and emulated.
They were the ones who had the most influence on
me.
I attribute my success to the good upbringing and
raising from my parents.
They always talked with us about expectations for
ourselves, how we should carry ourselves, and how to
treat people. Obviously,
they were very important in my development.
Being
a St. Louis native, did you follow the St. Louis Hawks
growing up?
Oh yes, I followed the Hawks closely.
There were some excellent basketball players on
those teams, players like Bob Pettit, Cliff Hagen and
Chico Vaughn. Paul
Silas, my former teammate and a member of two Celtic
championship teams, also played for the Hawks.
This was a little later on, mid-sixties
timeframe. I
was a Hawk fan, so I was very aware of the players and
their accomplishments.
