Valedictorian at Tailback U

Charles White will be honored in New York this weekend on the 25th anniversary of his winning the Heisman Trophy. The third USC tailback to win the award, White was a two-time All-American who finished his four-year career with 5,598 regular-season yards rushing, the second-most in NCAA history at the time. He helped USC win the national title as a junior in 1978 and led the nation in rushing as a senior, averaging 186 yards a game and 6.2 yards a carry. White played in the NFL from 1980 to ‘88, rushing for a league-leading 1,387 yards for the Los Angeles Rams in 1987. Now 46, he coached at USC from 1993 to ’97 and now works in the university’s administrative information services department. He spoke with Times staff writer Gary Klein.

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I can’t believe that 25 years have gone by since I won the Heisman Trophy.

So much has happened, but it seems like yesterday. I mean, I have five children and they’re all grown up now. Twenty-five years ago, there wasn’t a speck of kids in my future.

Speaking of kids, I’ll never forget when I was growing up in San Fernando. We used to go out and play football on the streets and on Saturday at the junior high. My best friend, William Settle, said to me in the fourth grade, “You could win the Heisman Trophy right now.”

So I was aware of the Heisman. I knew Mike Garrett went to USC and played for the Kansas City Chiefs. Every time they mentioned his name it was, “Mike Garrett: Heisman Trophy winner.” Of course, I also watched O.J. Simpson. From high school on, I knew it was something I wanted to win too.

I’ll never forget my first year at SC in 1976. Before the season, we were going to get our physicals. Anthony Munoz, Brad Budde, we were all over there in line, and I’m thinking, “These have got to be some seniors,” you know, because they were so big.

So I ask Munoz, “What year are you?” And he says, “Freshman.”

I ask Budde, “What year are you?” He says, “Freshman.”

I ask them, “What position do you play?” And they say, “Offensive line.”

Oh my goodness!

I’m thinking, “This is great!”

Coach John Robinson had told me when he came out to recruit me at the house, “I’m going to start the best guy. I don’t care if he’s a freshman or a senior.”

I was just in the right place at the right time that first year. Ricky Bell was a senior and, man, did he run hard. I can still remember the way he grunted. He was so tough. But I still got to play a lot. It was shocking to me because at that time there weren’t many freshmen playing.

As a sophomore in 1977, I’ll never forget going to Notre Dame and those green jerseys. They rolled out this big wood horse. All of a sudden the hatch came open from the bottom of the chest, and, I swear, 50 leprechauns jumped out of there! I knew it was going to be a bad day. Very gloomy.

We won the national championship the next year. We lost only one game, to Arizona State. But the game I remember the most is when we went to Alabama. We knew it was going to be huge. The year before, they had beaten us at the Coliseum, so we were just waiting for that game. During the off-season, everywhere you went people were saying, “Beat Alabama, beat Alabama, beat Alabama.” We did.

The talent on the 1979 team my senior year was unbelievable. Marcus Allen played fullback, and we had so many other great players. We should have won the national championship, but we just let that one game against Stanford get away from us and we tied, 21-21.

I was so cocky, I had said I was going to win the Heisman as a sophomore. My junior year I really thought I had a shot, and I came close. My senior year I wanted it, but I think the linemen wanted it even more. They said, “We’re going to get you that Heisman.” I said, “OK, I’ll accept it.”

Back in the day, they told you if you had won the Heisman maybe a week before coming back to New York. Somebody called me from the Downtown Athletic Club. They told me, “Keep it to yourself.”

Oh yeah, right!

I said, “OK, all right, I’ll keep it to myself.” But I went out that night. After that, everybody knew.

I was back in New York in 2002 when Carson Palmer won. Those poor kids have to sit there and twirl their thumbs until they call the winner’s name. It must be nerve-racking.

I was All-Pro one year in the NFL, but I had some tough times off the field. I made some mistakes. It was just being young and stupid and choosing the wrong people to hang out with -- just dumb things. I just made wrong decisions.

But the Heisman has had a good impact on my life. As a kid growing up you think about it and then, all of a sudden, things are happening and you accomplish these things. It’s kind of shocking.

I still enjoy competition. That’s why I do some work as a baseball umpire in Orange County, mostly youth and lower-division high school games. It’s fun and I find it relaxing.

I’ve had many coaches tell me I was good umpire and many coaches tell me, “I don’t ever want to see you again.” But it’s fun. When you start flinching, it’s time to take a break because that ball hurts!

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THE HEISMAN TROPHY Saturday, 5 p.m. PST, ESPN