Joseph “Jo Jo” Henry White was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. He was the youngest of seven, and like St. Louis native Ed Macauley, Jo Jo White played the majority of his career with the Boston Celtics. White also played for a midwestern team — this team was the Kansas City Kings — before the franchise moved out to one of the coasts. However, Macauley was able to go home to play for the St. Louis Hawks, White’s favorite team as a kid. By the time White was playing, the Hawks had moved to Atlanta though.
Although the Celtics traded White to the Golden State Warriors on January 30, 1979, he will forever be a Celtic. Prior to his death in 2018, the 1976 NBA Finals Most Valuable Player was welcomed to TD Garden on numerous occasions. He would enjoy taking in Celtics basketball, and the crowd was very excited to see him. After the Boston Celtics star passed away on January 16, 2018, the franchise honored him with a black stripe for the rest of the 2017-18 season.
Jo Jo White, who had his No. 10 jersey retired by the Boston Celtics and his No. 15 jersey retired by the Kansas Jayhawks, made the NBA All-Rookie First Team, two All-NBA Second Teams, seven all-star teams, and two championship teams. White was also the recipient of an Olympic gold medal in 1968. Jo Jo White had a tremendous Hall of Fame basketball career.
Jo Jo White – College Basketball Career at Kansas
Jo Jo White had an impressive and unique time as a Kansas Jayhawk. He played in five different seasons for the Jayhawks. White was eligible to play college ball a semester early and head coach Ted Owens and team captain Riney Lochmann, who would play in the American Basketball Association.
The famous 1965-66 Texas Western team, which was immortalized in the movie Glory Road, took on White and the Jayhawks in the Midwest Regional Final. White is well known for stepping out of bounds en route to the Texas Western upset of Kansas. Texas Western eventually won the 1966 NCAA championship.
White’s Jayhawks were not able to make the Final Four when he was there, but he was a two-time consensus NCAA All-American Second Team selection in 1968 and 1969. He also was an All-Big Eight Team selection from 1967 to 1969. White is just one of seven Kansas Jayhawk players who have been enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame. He was also a part of another important squad: the 1968 men’s Olympic basketball team.
Jo Jo White – 1968 Olympic Basketball Team
In 1968, White was a part of the 1968 men’s Olympic basketball team in Mexico City, Mexico. Under the tutelage of head coach Hank Iba, the impressive team of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), Amateur Athletic Union, National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, Junior College, and Armed Forces players went 9-0 en route to the gold medal. White was one of four NCAA players chosen. With the 65-50 gold medal game victory over Yugoslavia, the United States of America brought home its seventh consecutive men’s basketball gold medal.
Jo Jo White – Boston Celtics
On Monday, April 7, 1969, the Boston Celtics drafted Jo Jo White No. 9 overall in the 1969 NBA Draft. Among the players in his draft class to play at least 350 games, he had the best career free throw percentage (.834). White averaged the third-most points per game (17.2) and second-most assists per game (4.9) in his 1969 draft class. He, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bob Dandridge, and Steve Mix were the only players to be drafted in 1969 and play at least 12 NBA seasons.
White’s storied career began with Tom “Tommy” Heinsohn’s first season as the team’s head coach, as Red Auerbach continued as the executive of the Boston Celtics. The 1969-70 season was a struggle because it was the first Boston season without Bill Russell as the team’s player-coach. Russell had won an NBA record 11 championships with the Celtics.
Jo Jo White got his feet wet in his first NBA season in 1969-70, as it was the only year in his first eight seasons in which he was not an all-star. In his 60 games played, he put up 12.2 points per game on 45 percent shooting. Then, White made a huge jump in his second professional season. He was the second fiddle to the John “Hondo” Havlicek show, as Hondo ranked in the top five in practically every important category. Meanwhile, White was the team’s second-best scorer as he ranked 15th in the NBA with 21.3 points per contest.
Early in his career, White was not only a strong scorer, but he was also a very strong passer. He became an iron man with the Celtics, and he owns the franchise’s consecutive games streak with 488 straight games played from 1972 to 1978. Unfortunately, an injury prevented him from continuing to be an iron man. He went on to average more than five assists per game from 1971-72 to 1976-77. Maybe it was a coincidence that White was an all-star each of those years. During two of those seasons, White was a part of a championship team. He enjoyed his time in Boston, and after his NBA career, you could find him in his TD Garden seats. He always enjoyed his time with Red Auerbach as well. Auerbach helped shorten White’s US Marine Corps commitment to allow for White to join the Celtics in 1969-70. It would only take five seasons for him to become a champion.
Let us take a look at how the 1973-74 and 1975-76 Celtics won their NBA titles.
Jo Jo White – 1974 Celtics Championship Team
In 1973-74, White scored 18.1 points per game to go along with 5.5 assists (12th-best in the NBA), 4.3 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per contest. He played 39.5 minutes per game, the 12th-most in the league. The Celtics had tremendous big men rebounding for them that season, with future Hall of Fame big man Dave Cowens second in the league in rebounding with 15.7 per contest. All-star Paul Silas also chipped in 11.2 rebounds per game. John Havlicek was the team’s leading scorer, and he continued to do so in the playoffs.
Havlicek put up 27.1 points per game in the team’s 18-game title run. Cowens scored 20.5 — in addition to 13.3 rebounds per game — and Jo Jo White scored 16.6 points per contest in the NBA Finals series victory. Of course, Havlicek was the Finals MVP, as he and Boston played team basketball to outlast Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the Bucks. Dave Cowens (game-highs 28 points and 14 rebounds) was the team leader in Game 7 though. White scored 16 points and chipped in five assists as well. The Celtics were champions for the first time since 1969. It was the first championship for head coach Tommy Heinsohn since he was a Celtics player in 1965.
Jo Jo White – 1976 Celtics Championship Team
Then in 1976, Heinsohn’s Celtics did it again, as there was more team basketball on the parquet at the Boston Garden. This time it was Cowens and White leading the show, with Havlicek, Charlie Scott, and Silas chipping in for the green. White scored 1,552 points during the regular season, and that mark was the 18th-best in the NBA. Then, White was the man in the playoffs, as he led the Celtics in scoring with 22.7 points per game.
This time, Boston took on Alvan Adams, Paul Westphal, and the Phoenix Suns, who were in their first NBA Finals. The Celtics took the first two games of the 1976 Finals, then the Suns matched the C’s with two wins of their own. Then at Boston Garden for Game 5, the Celtics and Suns played one of the closest games in Finals history. Jo Jo White could not be stopped, as he went for a game-high 33 points to go along with nine assists and six rebounds. The Celtics won the contest, 128-126, in triple overtime. Boston went on to win Game 6, 87-80, and the green celebrated the franchise’s 12th championship. The MVP of the 1976 NBA Finals was none other than Jo Jo White, as he went for 21.7 points per game, 4.3 rebounds per game, and 5.8 rebounds per game.
Jo Jo White – Golden State Warriors
Unfortunately, White’s strong career in Boston came to a close midway through the 1978-79 season. On January 30, 1979, the Celtics traded him to the Golden State Warriors for a first-round draft pick in the 1979 NBA Draft. At age 32, White joined a subpar Warriors team. With the below .500 Warriors, White did not have a chance to compete for a third NBA title.
Jo Jo White – Kansas City Kings
Then on September 10, 1980, his player rights were sold by the Golden State Warriors to the Kansas City Kings. White played just 13 games for the Kings and did not play in the postseason for Kansas City that year. He then retired and returned to Kansas as an assistant coach for the following year.
Jo Jo White – Topeka Sizzlers
In 1987, White went to the Continental Basketball Association and tried to be the player-coach of the Topeka Sizzlers. White lasted just 26 days as the team’s player-coach. His knee injuries proved to be too much for him, as he played just five games and averaged only 5.6 points per game. Nevertheless, White had a tremendous NBA career, and for that reason, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Jo Jo White – The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Jo Jo White became a member of many halls of fame, including the Missouri, Kansas, Marine Corps, and St. Louis. However, the most important one was his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame in September 2015. He was inducted with Tommy Heinsohn, and he was introduced into the Hall of Fame by teammates John Havlicek and Dave Cowens. White had a storied career and he will be remembered as a very impressive Celtic.
Jo Jo White – Net Worth
Jo Jo White is a former NBA star who has an estimated net worth of $1-5 million. He was a successful basketball player who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015. After retiring from the NBA, he went on to have a successful career as a businessman and entrepreneur.
What happened to Jo Jo White?
Jo Jo White, the sharpshooting guard for the Boston Celtics whose smooth, nearly unstoppable jump shot helped carry the team to two National Basketball Association championships in the 1970s, died on January 16, 2018. He was 71. The cause was pneumonia, complicated by dementia and brain cancer, his daughter Meka White said.
What high schools did Jo Jo White attend?
Jo Jo White attended McKinley High School in St. Louis, Missouri.
How good was Jo Jo White?
JoJo White enjoyed a long and successful NBA career, earning All-Star honors seven times and Finals MVP honors once. The 6-foot-3 guard was a gifted scorer and playmaker, compiling 14,399 points and 4,095 assists over the course of his career. He was also a solid rebounder for his position, finishing with 3,345 boards. In addition to his impressive statistical accomplishments, White was also named to the All-NBA second team twice.
Throughout his career, White was known for his impeccable work ethic and competitive spirit. He will be remembered as one of the greatest players of his generation.
Did Jo Jo White really step out of bounds?
In 1966, the Kansas Jayhawks were one win away from the Final Four. Standing in their way was Texas Western, a team led by five African American starters. In a key moment late in the game, Kansas’s Jo Jo White was called for stepping out of bounds, a crucial call that led to the Jayhawks’ defeat, 81-80. The loss was significant not only because it ended Kansas’s season, but also because it marked the first time an all-white team had lost to an all-black team in the NCAA tournament. The game was a turning point in college basketball, one that opened the door for more black athletes to compete at the highest level. Thanks in part to Jo Jo White’s historic step “out of bounds,” college basketball had changed for the better.
