A Chance for Redemption

Wendell White, a senior basketball player at Redondo High, looks around his cramped bedroom and feels a warm rush of inspiration.

He gleans some from atop his dresser, where a framed newspaper photograph shows him releasing the game-winning shot in last season’s Southern Section Division II-A championship game against Riverside King.

He keeps the picture at eye level, right next to the doorway, so he will see it every day. The memory has helped to keep him motivated during the last 2 1/2 months, when the big games and clutch shots haven’t always fallen in his team’s favor.

He also knows he can find inspiration in his closet, where he neatly stores some shoes and clothes that had belonged to his father, Walter White Sr., who died from a heart attack last June.

This connection has pushed him to continue improving, both on the court and in the classroom, which is something his father always encouraged.

White, 18, is built a lot like his father. At 6 feet 5 and 210 pounds, he is seemingly able to rise above any defender to get off a clean shot or grab a rebound.

White, who has committed to Pepperdine, is averaging 24 points and 14 rebounds heading into the first round of the Division II-A playoffs next week.

Although the Sea Hawks began the season No. 21 in The Times’ Southland rankings, they haven’t performed like a team preparing to defend its section title for a second consecutive season.

Redondo finished the regular season 15-11 and in third place in the Bay League with a 7-6 mark. White, however, believes the playoffs present a clean slate.

“It’s never too late to come alive and go off in the playoffs,” he said. “We expect to be the underdog, so it’s important to come out and play hard.”

White was the only returning starter for the Sea Hawks this season, and only one other player, junior Corey Sigel, had any significant playing time a year ago.

Though White is regarded as one of the top players in Southern California, it’s the first season he has been Redondo’s No. 1 scoring option. As a sophomore, White started alongside Dijon Thompson, now a starter at UCLA.

Last season, he shared the backcourt with Keith Ellison, now a defensive back for the San Diego State football team, and Adam Zahn, a forward at Oregon.

White has relished his new role this season, but not because of the increased number of shots. He likes the way it has freed up his teammates for easy baskets.

“When everybody collapses on me, I like to find the open people,” he said.

White hasn’t shied away from scoring opportunities, having combined for 90 points in consecutive overtime games against San Bernardino Cajon and Irvine University in December at the Irvine tournament.

On Jan. 8, he scored six points in the final nine seconds against North Torrance, tying the score and allowing Redondo to win in overtime, 64-54. That performance helped offset a 61-59 loss to Santa Monica two days earlier, when White missed a three-point shot at the buzzer.

White’s latest heroics came Thursday against Rolling Hills Estates Peninsula in the regular-season finale. He made a three-point basket with 1.8 seconds left to give Redondo a one-point lead. The Sea Hawks eventually won, 72-69, to avoid a third-place playoff game today.

“I would rather win or lose with him than anyone else,” Coach Tom Maier said. “Everyone in the building knows he’s going to shoot it at the end of a close game, no matter who is guarding him, because he can elevate so high.”

Three months after losing in last season’s section final, his father died.

White and his older brother, Walter Jr., have lived with their aunt and uncle, Barbara McDaniel-Taylor and Larry Taylor, nearly their entire lives but had remained in contact with their biological parents.

Walter White, 46, lived in Los Angeles and their mother, Rose, in Seattle.

“It changed me a lot, taught me life is not promised every day,” he said. “It made me more determined than ever to get to college and do it for my dad.”

White turned down a repeat visit to the prestigious Nike All-American Camp last summer in order to focus on his academics.

In November, he committed to Pepperdine, where he looks forward to working with Wave assistant Jim Nielsen, who coached White during his freshman and sophomore seasons.

White, who was not academically eligible when he made his commitment, said he recently achieved a qualifying grade-point average and is waiting to earn a qualifying score on his SAT.

“I put myself in a big hole and finally got myself out,” he said. “I realized I have something special and I should do something special with it.”