Carrying On

Despite age and admonition, Reggie White insists he’ll make some noise in his final NFL season -- on the field and off.

His bad back no longer gives him fits. Regrettably for the Green Bay Packers, the same cannot be said for the anti-gay message the 36-year-old defensive end has spread since his infamous speech to lawmakers in March.

The Packers were drawn into the debate when a newspaper ad included an unauthorized photo of White in his uniform, prompting team president Bob Harlan to apologize to the nation’s largest gay and lesbian political group.

“I believe everyone is entitled to their opinion,” general manager Ron Wolf said. “But sometimes it’s time to shut your mouth.”

White, an ordained, nondenominational minister since age 17, retorted: “You’ve got to realize, I’m not going out volunteering to continue to speak on this issue. I’m being asked about it.”

And as long as he’s being asked, White’s going to speak his mind.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, White said God has healed him for the fourth time in his life and “as much as people want me to be quiet, I won’t. It just makes me more determined to spout off.”

Although coach Mike Holmgren cautioned White that more controversial comments could hurt the team, there’s no separating man from minister, the player from the preacher.

White is the most-honored defensive end in the NFL, but the legacy he wants to leave goes far beyond that.

“I hope that my life serving God and doing what he called me to do would overshadow anything I did in football,” White said.

Critics contend White’s anti-gay campaign is clouding his image as a man who has worked tirelessly to bridge the racial, religious and economic divide in this country.

“I am not a hypocrite,” White replied. “Just because that one issue is a political hot button, that doesn’t mean I’m going to back off.

“I mean, God called me. I have to do this.”

Just as he must play another year of football.

After failing to win a second straight Super Bowl, White retired in April, only to return two days later, citing inspiration from the Lord and fears that he was breaking his word to the Packers.

“I want to go out right,” White said. “And I think God wants me to go out right.”

Coaches had expected White to sit out of drills until August, then maybe become a third-down pass-rushing specialist. But with White’s surprising performance at training camp, those plans are changing.

He’s first in line for every drill, every sprint. And his famous club move is back, too.

“I might be having the best camp since I’ve been here,” said White, who joined the Packers in 1993, guiding Green Bay to respectability after 25 years of ineptitude.

“And it’s exciting for me. Not just for me, but for the whole team. And, hopefully, I can provide even more leadership by being out there.”

White said God has healed a torn hamstring, a lacerated knee ligament and a frayed elbow tendon in recent years -- and now his back.

“It’s stiff off and on, but it’s nothing that’s limiting me in any kind of way,” White said. “I believe I can play every snap right now. Sure, I want to go out on top. But I want to go out on top of my game, too.”

Despite recording 11 sacks and earning a record 12th straight Pro Bowl berth last year, White’s game declined because a displaced vertebra in his lower back caused spasms.

“After games, I was walking like I was 70,” White said. “My spasms were so bad that they were pulling my spine, making me crooked.”

With White’s back quiet, the Packers were hoping he’d be silent, too.

Holmgren nixed a group interview on the sideline when camp began for fear White would spout off in front of the TV cameras. Since then, White has chatted on occasion, usually with just brief comments on his health or football.

But he’s not backing down on his denunciation of homosexuality.

“I’m a minister,” White said. “And the one thing I can say about this issue is I don’t think there is a person in America who can prove that Reggie White hates, because my life hasn’t shown it.”

In White’s speech to Wisconsin lawmakers, he used cultural stereotypes to describe racial differences and denounced homosexuality as “one of the biggest sins in the Bible.”

David Smith, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay rights group, said he doesn’t believe White is hateful but the remarks “could give license to haters and sometimes that manifests itself into violent acts.”

White insists he’s preaching the doctrine of “love the sinner, hate the sin.” Still, he realizes his words have struck the wrong cord with some, and he insists his views cost him an analyst job at CBS, something the network denies.

White’s only regret in all this? That he drew the Packers into the firestorm. For that, he said he’s sorry. But he’s not the least bit repentant about anything else and will continue to speak out.

“It’s made people think,” White said. “And it’s given me the opportunity to minister to people I’ve never had the opportunity to minister to.”