. . . but Myron’s Not Complaining : White Finds Success in a New Field

Myron White has it made--just like everybody thought he would.

Check him out at his California ranch, lounging on the huge sun deck by his pool. And there’s Myron in his spacious living room, which is accented by a circular fireplace, watching a ballgame on one of the 90 channels he receives courtesy of the satellite dish on the side of the house.

What a house it is. Surrounded by 60 acres of orange trees and located in this small agricultural town about 30 miles southeast of Fresno, the 10,000-square-foot, two-story abode has a bathroom the size of most bachelor apartments--you have to walk through a hallway just to get in. Inside is a sunk-in bathtub/sauna, right next to an area in which White plans to build a small garden.

There also is plenty of deck space upstairs. Myron can walk out his second-story bedroom door onto a porch that provides a nice view of the Sierras. Also on the upstairs deck is a small sanctuary, home to White’s 10 pet cockatoos.

Myron White is enjoying the good life, the kind everyone figured he’d be living some day as a professional athlete.

They weren’t sure what sport he’d build his nest egg from. Coming out of Santa Ana Valley High School in 1975, White had his choice between a football scholarship to UCLA, which would have put him on a course toward the National Football League, and a $60,000 signing bonus with the Los Angeles Dodgers, a direct ticket to pro baseball.

But guess what? Myron didn’t have to score one touchdown or carry the ball once in the NFL to attain his present standard of living. He didn’t have to bat .300 in the big leagues or hit any home runs or steal any bases to enjoy such a life style. Heck, he really doesn’t even have to work.

The riches here belong to a 40-year-old paraplegic named Ylla Brown, who inherited the property from her father, built the home, and has decided to share her wealth with White, her live-in boyfriend.

The two met in February, 1984, when Brown was living in Hawaii and White was there visiting. In June, after White had returned to Santa Ana and Brown to Orosi, she invited him to the ranch for a few days.

They fell in love and have lived together since. They’re engaged to be married next year.

“I brought two pairs of underwear because I thought I’d be here for two days, and I ended up staying for two weeks,” said White, 28, of his initial visit to Orosi. “Then, I went back home to get the rest of my underwear, and I’ve been here ever since.”

That puts to rest the rumors around about White’s whereabouts. One had him still living in Hawaii after an unsuccessful attempt to play college football at the University of Hawaii. Another had him living in Las Vegas.

Some of White’s friends thought he was still playing professional baseball, but it has been more than three years since White completed his minor-league career, which spanned six seasons with the Dodgers and a brief stint with the Oakland A’s. White heard one rumor from his father, Jack, that he was in jail .

But, for the past year, White has been tucked away in this peaceful, town (population 5,000), which is loaded with seemingly endless miles of fruit trees bearing oranges, olives, grapes, raisins, nectarines, plums, peaches and apricots.

He has been pursuing a coaching position at nearby Orosi High School but has yet to get any response. A few days of the week are spent working at a Fresno publishing house. The others are spent hunting, fishing, working around the house and yard, or just relaxing.

“I like the solitude here,” White said. “I’m happy where I am. To come up here and not have anyone grabbing at me--just knowing me as Myron instead of as a great athlete--is nice.”

White was one of the greatest athletes to play at Santa Ana Valley. Known as “Miracle,” White led the Falcons to the CIF Southern Section 3-A championship in 1974 and gained 4,164 yards in three seasons to become Orange County’s all-time leading rusher.

Though his record is about to be broken by Valencia High School’s Ray Pallares, White is considered, along with former Edison tailback Kerwin Bell, as one of the county’s best running backs ever.

He also started for four years on the Falcons’ baseball team, hit for a .399 career average, and was good enough to be drafted on the second round by the Dodgers in 1975.

But his athletic career after high school never really panned out.

He turned down UCLA’s scholarship to play baseball, but he only made it to the major leagues once, when he appeared in seven games for the Dodgers late in 1978. White spent most of his career shuffling between Albuquerque (Class AAA) and San Antonio (Class AA).

The Dodgers sold his contract to the A’s during the winter of 1981 for $12,000. He was assigned to Tacoma (Class AAA), but failed to appear for the first two games of the 1982 season. Although he had some personal problems with an ex-girlfriend, he told the team that he was having car trouble.

It didn’t matter. He was suspended and soon released by the A’s. No other teams were interested in White, who had trouble hitting left-handers, so he gave up on baseball for good.

On a visit to Las Vegas to see his sister-in-law, he met former high school teammate Ricky Walker, who plays for the Washington Redskins. Walker suggested that White call Dick Tomey, the UCLA assistant football coach who recruited White out of high school but had since become Hawaii’s head coach.

Tomey took a chance by giving the 25-year-old White a scholarship. But in the second game of the 1982 season, White suffered torn ligaments in his right knee when he was tackled on a kickoff return. Surgery was successful, but White’s football career was over.

So was his baseball career and any visions White had of becoming a professional athlete. By 1983, he had dropped out of school. Those were just a few of his setbacks.

Before he had turned 19, he was married, had a child and was divorced. In 1980, his older brother, Jackie, died of stomach cancer.

White also had to endure a three-week court trial in Hawaii in January, 1984, when he was accused of being an accessory to a robbery. He missed a court appearance and was fined $1,000, but he was later cleared of the charges. White said he was a friend of the robbery suspect but was not linked to the crime.

He was in a state of depression when he met Ylla Brown, a former model who was confined to a wheelchair. His outlook soon changed.

“She became my inspiration,” White said. “Talk about a come-back story. She got hit by a drunk driver seven years ago, broke her back and severed her spinal chord. She has wanted to die a few times.

“I thought I had it bad, going from playing baseball and making money to not making anything, and then getting hurt in football. She had reason to be down every day, but she didn’t let it get to her. She brought me through a lot of depression. One day, I didn’t see the light, and the next day, my whole life turned around.”

White wasn’t aware of the ranch Brown owned when he met her, and he cringes at the slightest suggestion that he might be free-loading.

“I’m sure some people might think I’m a gold-digger or something, but I’d love her if she just had a trailer out back,” White said. “This just adds pleasure and makes things a lot easier.”

The Cincinnati Reds-San Francisco Giants game is on the radio during the drive to nearby Dinuba for lunch.

And now for the play-by-play, let’s go to Dave Glass. “That guy used to announce the games at Albuquerque,” White said.

Leading off the inning for the Giants is left-fielder Jeff Leonard. “Hey, that’s my old roommate,” White said. “We were buddies.”

Back at home, the Cubs are playing the Pirates on television. Chicago first baseman Leon Durham smashes a home run that caroms off a fence behind the right-field bleachers.

“That’s just the way he used to hit them in Triple-A,” White said. “He could kill ‘em.”

Whenever White is watching or listening to a game, be it baseball or football, there are those reminders of what might have been.

He played in the minor leagues with many of today’s Dodgers--Greg Brock, Steve Sax, Pedro Guerrero. There is Ricky Walker, his Valley teammate playing for the Redskins, and there is long-time friend and Valley teammate Garry Templeton, shortstop for the San Diego Padres.

“When I see my buddies playing on TV, I think, geez, I was right there with those guys,” White said. “I see guys who are holding out because they’re only making $350,000 a year. Shoot, pay me $20,000 and I’ll play every day--without a glove. I don’t think the desire to play will ever go away.

“But I’m happy now. It’s nice to reflect on those memories, but I don’t have time to dwell on what might have been.”

White said he doesn’t miss the recognition that came with being a superstar and a professional athlete. But it’s difficult to believe him.

“People here don’t know me,” he said. “They don’t know what I’ve done. People see me and think, ‘that’s just another black guy.’ But I had worth, I had something that was good. I’m not an average person. But I try not to let that bother me.”

About a year ago, it really bothered him. Even if he wouldn’t admit it.

“He was really depressed when I met him,” Ylla Brown said. “He was crushed because he wasn’t playing baseball or football anymore. He felt abandoned. He was really quiet and he kept all of his hurt inside.”

White swears he could have made the A’s major-league team. If he just would have made it to Tacoma in time for that season opener in 1982. Oakland was in the middle of a youth movement at the time and, as with the Dodgers, many of the players in Tacoma that year are in the big leagues today.

“I thought I’d be right there with them, but you can’t write your own script in life,” White said.

Even if White could re-write his script, he’s not sure how he’d handle the plot after high school.

There are those who still think White should have chosen the UCLA football scholarship over baseball and the signing bonus, which White used to buy a few cars and to invest in some condominiums, which have since been sold.

Many think he went pro for the money, but White said money wasn’t the biggest factor. He said he was burned out on football. The outfielder was confident in his baseball ability and he was always a Dodger fan, so he jumped at the opportunity to with L.A.

But when asked if he thinks he could have been a great football player, White’s eyes light up and a big grin comes to his face.

“I think so,” he said. “Billy Simms and I were on the same All-American team. According to what people were saying, I was just as good as him. I could have been there, and I think I could have hung with those guys.”

He left most defenses hanging in high school.

White was twice named The Times’ Orange County Back of the Year. As a sophomore, he split time at tailback with Templeton and gained 483 yards. For White’s junior year, Dick Hill, Falcon coach, moved Templeton to split end, and White ran for 1,702 yards and 24 touchdowns.

White, 5-foot 10-inch, 180 pounds during his playing days, went on to rush for 1,983 yards as a senior, including a 250-yard game against Monrovia in the 1974 Southern Section 3-A semifinals and a 204-yard game against Colton in the final. Despite playing the championship game with the flu, White made touchdown runs of 52 and 61 yards. Colton had entered with a 13-0 record, but Santa Ana Valley won easily, 47-14.

“I thought he was capable of being one of the great backs of our time, especially behind some of those college lines,” said Hill, now the coach at Santa Ana. “His moves were just rhythmic. It was tremendous to watch his acceleration. You’d think he was going all out, and all of a sudden he’d put it in overdrive and get some extra speed.”

Tomey called White the best high school back he had ever seen. He also was one of the area’s best outfielders, and that combination created a great deal of stress for White when it came time to making a decision between the sports.

“I should have been two people,” he said. “If I’d have cloned myself, I might have known which sport to play. The barber-shop-type guys, the older guys around Santa Ana, the church folks, they say I should have played football. But if I had played eight years in the big leagues, what would they have said then? That I should have played football still? It’s a situation where I’ll never know.”

White won his share of football awards and trophies, but one unsavory souvenir from his playing days is the 12-inch scar that runs from the bottom of his right thigh, down the side of his knee, and to the top of his calf.

White spent about six months in a full-leg cast after his surgery at Hawaii. He had a good recovery and Hawaii coaches were hoping he would make a comeback, but White said the psychological damage was too much. He didn’t have the confidence to play again, so he decided to quit.

After three years, he’s still conservative when it comes to putting extra stress on the knee.

“I don’t know if I’d be able to play handball or racquetball or jump off buildings, but I can get up in the morning,” he said. “I have a few creeks and cracks, but I’m not that limited. I still work out a little.”

That was the only serious injury White had suffered from football. About the only thing that kept him out of the lineup in high school was Santa Ana Valley’s propensity for blowing teams out. White often sat out of games in which the Falcons had built insurmountable leads.

“I was sitting out of most games for 15 minutes,” he said. “By the second quarter, I was kicking back, looking at the cheerleaders. I could have had some records that would have been unbeatable, but we didn’t have the type of team or coach who rubbed it in or tried to pounce anyone.”

White’s Orange County career rushing record will fall, though. Pallares is 263 yards shy of the mark and should break it within the next two games. White seems to be taking it well.

“I’ve never seen Pallares. I’d like to meet him, beat him up, break his leg so he couldn’t break the record,” White joked. “But really, I’d like to wish him all the luck in the world.

“I’m happy for him and I know he’s worked hard. It’s not tough to see the record go, because I know people will remember Myron. It’s like with Pete Rose, they’ll always remember Ty Cobb.”

It will be the same way with Myron White, even though he’s living far away in the orchards of Orosi.

They’ll always remember him in Santa Ana.