Texas Ice Hockey

In memory of long time Longhorn Hockey and Austin youth hockey coach, Jim White,  Longhorn Hockey has dedicated the annual Coach White Memorial Cup in his honor.

The 2011/2012 season will see the inaugural Coach White Memorial Cup competed for between Longhorn Hockey and Texas A&M at Cedar Park Center November 12th, 2011 {time to be determined}. To read about Jim and what he meant to hockey in this town please review the notes below.

On March 5, 2011 the Austin hockey community, University of Texas Hockey and the ACHA lost a friend, a great man and long time hockey coach and player.  Jim White (50) lost a tough battle with cancer.

A Philly boy who dearly loved his Flyers, Coach White spent many hours working with the youth in Austin helping them develop their on-ice skills and creating better citizens along the way.  Jim coached in the youth programs for many years culminating in a very successful season with the 2007-2008 Austin Bantam Travel team as well as with his Round Rock, Texas High School team.  In 2008-2009 Jim was asked to join the University of Texas at Austin hockey team as a coach and he brought his high level of teaching to that program.

Coach White was one of the first coaches in the Austin area to earn his Level 5 Coaching Certificate, the highest level awarded to coaches by USA Hockey.  Jim was not only a mentor to our youth but a solid example to our adult community of integrity in our sport and in life.

Jim approached things with a can do winning attitude and always put up the good fight.  He was never one to hide from a challenge and spent the past year fighting a tough foe many of us have been touched by in our lives.  Jim will be truly missed but his spirit will always be around the rink and in the many people he touched in such a positive way.

Coach diagnosed with cancer fights to get back to team

By Stefan Scrafield, Daily Texan Staff
Published: Thursday, February 3, 2011

It has been a difficult year for the UT club hockey team. For assistant coach Jim White, the battles that take place on the ice have taken a backseat.

While the Longhorns have faced off against North Texas, UTSA and Texas A&M this season, White has been forced to deal with a more difficult opponent: cancer. His battle with kidney cancer has impacted his team more than any game could.

Dave McShane, also an assistant coach for Texas, has been working alongside White for years. The two led the Austin bantam travel team to a 20-1-1 record in 2006-07, just one year before joining the Longhorn staff.

“He really is a student of the game,” McShane said.

White was one of the first coaches in the Austin area to earn his Level 5 Coaching Certificate, the highest level awarded to coaches by USA Hockey. Before the 2008-09 season, Texas head coach Bob Smith asked White and McShane to join his staff and work on strengthening the ice hockey program.

“At that time, he was a huge guy,” McShane explained. “He was incredibly strong, benched huge amounts of weight and most likely had the hardest shot in town.”

Goaltender Ryan McSherry and defenseman Will Harlin both played for White during the 2008-2009 season.

“He was one of the better, if not the best coach I ever played for,” said McSherry, an electrical engineering graduate student.

There aren’t too many things more important to White than the game of hockey. The Philadelphia native wrote an instructional book on half-ice practice drills. However, if there was anything that meant more to Jim White than the game itself, it was the players who played it. Both McSherry and Harlin, a sophomore business major, agreed that although White was tough on them at times and didn’t mind making his guys skate an extra few laps, he was understanding and cared about every one of his players.

“The coaching staff and the kids in the locker room were the most important people in his life, right up there with his wife and family,” Harlin said.

Things took quite a turn for White and the entire program in the middle of last season. During his trips to the weight room, White began to notice a pain in his back. At McShane’s urging, White went to see a chiropractor.

After just a couple sessions, the chiropractor could tell that there was something more severe than a muscle strain in White’s lower back. He was referred to another doctor who took some X-rays and noticed a handlike shape surrounding the lower part of his spine.?It was a tumor.

The doctor knew that the cancer could not have come from the spine itself and as a result, traced it back to where it had originated in the kidney.

“When you lose a person who means that much to your team, it really hits you hard,” McSherry said.

White’s kidney was removed in February of last year, and he has continued to battle the cancer ever since. His former 260-pound, athletic stature is hard to imagine at this point. White continued to lose weight last year but is stabilized now at around 170 pounds.?Just a few weeks ago, the cancer and other complications led to White being put on life support. When White’s wife was asked by the doctor if she wished for him to be put on support, she gave a firm response.

“If there’s a chance, I want him to have it,” she said.

McShane heard the news just before the Longhorns took to the ice in Austin for a game against North Texas. After informing the team about White’s status, they prayed for him together. About a week later, White fought his way back and was once again supporting himself.

White’s illness has forced him to take a break from coaching, but the team continues to hope and pray for his return.