Coach George Jones (left) with Willie Dean “Pat” White

Ligon High School Coach George Jones (left) with Willie Dean “Pat” White, 9 May 1962.
Raleigh, NC.

Pat White was Ligon High School’s sports prodigy. Excelling in tennis, basketball, football, and baseball. White was a football All-American scoring more touchdowns that any quarterback in the school’s history.

Ralph Campbell, Jr., former Raleigh City Council member and State Auditor of NC, played alongside White. In a 2003 Interview with the News and Observer he remarked, “I’ve never seen any athlete that excelled in every sport that he played. From the standpoint of football, the numbers were just outta sight, his movements were so swift. Nobody could catch him.”

Sadly, at age 19, only days after graduating from Ligon High School, white died of cancer.

In 2003, nearly 40 years after his death, a monument honoring his life was unveiled at Hillcrest Cemetery on Garner Road.
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Photograph credit: NO.62.5.87
From the N&O negative collection, State Archives of North Carolina.

Narrative credit: Olde Raleigh NC