Power Plus Speed Equals Andre White

After signing with Wisconsin-Milwaukee, point guard Andre White failed to
qualify academically and now will attend the College of Lake County.

By Frank Rusnak
Andre White plays in-your-face basketball with a scowl on his face. As he trudges down the court and swifts through the lane he looks like an angered boxer getting ready to do battle.

"Andre, over the four years, has matured so much, not only as a player, but also as a person."

Dan Kloth
Zion Benton H.S.

But the 5’11” point guard doesn’t want you to critic him by what you see on the floor.

“People judge me by the way I play on the court,” said White, a four-year starter for Zion Benton. “They say I’m cocky, play angry and they think because I play like that, that’s how I am off the court, but it’s totally opposite.”

Would Andre have reason to be angry off the court? One might think so. He’s never gotten to know his father, who has spent much of Andre’s life in jail. On top of that, he also has a brother who’s spent time in the big house. He failed to meet academic requirements for Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he signed to play. Andre’s also been put in the situation of fathering two kids before he’s fully grown up himself.

Here he is, a healthy teenager offered a free education for the price of playing the game of basketball, which makes him happy -- almost as happy as looking into the eyes of little Julius, 2 years old, and his sister Andrea, nine months old.

A proud father, Andre finished his time at the north-suburban school as its all-time leading scorer and fourth in the Lake County area, where he’s happy he’ll be able to stay close to attending the College of Lake County in Grayslake.

“Andre, over the four years, has matured so much, not only as a player, but also as a person,” said Zion Benton coach Dan Kloth.

Coming in as a freshman, Andre is described by Kloth as primarily a three-point shooter. He then proceeded to include a different dimension to his game each subsequent year for the Zee-Bees.

“Each year he added something else to his game,” Kloth added. “In his second year, all of a sudden he developed a pull-up jumper. Third year he started taking the ball to the basket. And this last year, he just became so much better all around; defense, rebounding, he was our top assist player. It was a joy to have him for four years and we’ll miss him.”

As Zion-Benton was one of the favorites to get to the Class AA Elite Eight in all four of his years, he is disappointed his team was left as nothing more than a bridesmaid.

“I’m just salty because I didn’t get to go to State like I wanted to,” he said. “I thought this year was going to be the year we’d be able to go, but it just didn’t happen. We got to the super-sectional twice!”

After going through many battles with White, Kloth feels confident he knows how the Andre White story will end.

“After you have somebody for four years, you have a different type of relationship with them,” Kloth said. “He’s very mentally tough, and I’m sure he’ll do fine wherever. He has a few things he has to take care of, and I’m sure he will. Andre’s just someone who’s really special, and I’m just sure he’s going to be real successful in life.”