One special football season for the White family of Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS — This was how it worked.

Cedar Rapids Kennedy won a big football game last month at Iowa City High. Cougars head coach Brian White, his wife, Debbie, and their oldest and youngest sons, B.J. and Calvin, respectively, hopped in the family vehicle postgame and headed east.

Way east.

It’s 775 miles from Iowa City to State College, Pa., and the Whites were taking on that distance overnight. Driving 12 hours was nothing since Max White, Brian and Debbie’s middle son, was playing with the Iowa Hawkeyes in a prime-time night game at Penn State.

“I will never forget it,” B.J. White said. “We left Iowa City about 10:30 (p.m.). We won, so it made it a lot more bearable. My mom drove the first couple of hours, my dad uploaded the game film, so we kind of just watched it after that. Honestly, Calvin and I didn’t really fall asleep until 12:30 or 1 o’clock.

“My dad then started driving until he got exhausted, then eventually I took over. He doesn’t like me going very long because he likes being the driver. So I drove for an hour or so while he slept. Then he took back over, I fall asleep, and the next thing you know, we’re in Happy Valley. It was a great trip.”

It’s been a special fall for the Whites. A special football fall.

Max White is a walk-on running back at Iowa who has played in every game this season on special teams. He got his first career touchdown in a win over Western Michigan.

Brian White’s Kennedy team has been ranked in Class 5A most of the season and is preparing for a first-round playoff game Friday night at Cedar Falls. Calvin White is one of the Cougars’ top players: a high-level linebacker, fullback and long snapper.

B.J. White is in his first season on the Kennedy coaching staff. The 23-year-old recent Wartburg College grad has had quite a bit to do with a Cougars passing offense that statistically ranks in the top five in 5A.

“It’s been a great year for us,” Brian White said. “Max has been traveling, has assured being a letterman now, so that’s been really exciting. Calvin’s having a good year, and I think he’s going to have some postseason accolades. B.J. is really developing into a great coach, and he’s going to keep ascending through the ranks, be an offensive coordinator, be a head coach someday.

“As a dad, what more could I ask for? I’ve got three awesome kids who have had to deal with a lot because their last name is the same as the head coach ... I’m a lucky guy.”

This is the 10th consecutive year one of White’s sons has been a player in the Kennedy program. It’s also the final year, considering Calvin is a senior.

The coach said he has tried his best to sit back at times and simply enjoy the moment. Just take in everything.

They all have.

“We all support each other,” B.J. White said. “Football is kind of the one thing that keeps us together. It literally means everything. I know it sounds cliche, but football has been our whole life. We’ve been around it forever. When football season’s not happening, we’re wishing football season was happening. Our whole conversation is ‘When does football start?’”

“It has been the best,” Calvin said. “I’ve learned everything from my brothers, they’ve made me tougher. I hated them for it (growing up), but they’d always say ‘Oh, you’ll thank us for it later.’ I’d say no I won’t. But now I see how much they truly cared, and how much better of a football player and a man they’ve made me.”

He feels the same way about his dad.

“It’s kind of two different relationships, when you’re on the field and you’re at home,” Calvin White said. “But there is a positive side of us being coach’s sons. I get to learn so much more from him. On the field if I make a great play or something, dad kind of comes out in him a little bit. If I make a bad play, the coach part definitely comes out. That’s kind of how it is, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

All the Whites wanted to make sure it was known how important Debbie White has been in this whole thing. B.J. called her the first lady of Kennedy football, Brian said she’s the rock of this football family.

“Our mom has bought in like crazy,” B.J. said. “She loves football, and she has played a huge role in taking us to practices and stuff. When the varsity team is going, and they’re really busy, she has taken us to practices. She takes pictures for us on the sidelines now. It’s been great.”

This story sounds exactly like one involving Cedar Rapids Xavier Coach Duane Schulte. His three sons played football for him, one coaches with him now and another, Quinn, is a starting safety for Iowa.

As a matter of fact, B.J. White said his family ran into the Schultes in State College. They also made the overnight drive after a prep football game to watch a son/brother play in a special night game a long way from home.

Perhaps the two families should just rent an RV for the next long road trip.

“I was very fortunate to have Greg Purnell as my head coach at Linn-Mar,” Brian White said. “He made me a man, molded me into the person I am today. Not having a father in my life and seeing the impact of a football coach, that was what I wanted to do. I knew that was my calling right away.

“Now being able to be a dad when I didn’t have one ... I’m not perfect, and I tell my kids that all the time. But not only being able to coach them, but watch them grow up and become strong individuals, you know, that has been great.”

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