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Larry White

Larry White always defied the stereotype. Recruited by UNM as a football player out of Hobbs High School in 1951, White not only fulfilled that expectation in a grand way, but also became one of the school’s outstanding students and citizens.

White established such dominance as a two-way Lobo football player (center and linebacker) that he became the school’s first All-American in 1953 and again in ’54. He was a member of Student Council and the Psi Omega Biological Honorary Society, and also played the oboe for the Albuquerque Symphonic Orchestra and the UNM Symphonic band.

White earned his biology degree from UNM in 1955 and two degrees from the Baylor Dental College: a D.D.S. in 1959 and an M.S.D. in orthodontics in 1968. His orthodontic practice eventually expanded throughout southeast New Mexico and even parts of West Texas.

White wrote and published more than 20 articles on his profession, and in 1988 received the International College of Dentists’ “Golden Scroll” award as editor of the most improved dental journal in the United States.

His head football coach at UNM, Dudley DeGroot said: “Larry White may not be the biggest or fastest player I ever coached, but he is the best one. He does it with head and heart and that seems to be enough.”