By Paul Letlow, ULMWarhawks.com Online Columnist
MONROE, La. – As a youngster growing up in Farmerville,
Nick White provided a running commentary on anything he could imagine.
"You can ask my mom Judy White," White said. "She can recall me calling imaginary games. I'd call a game with me playing basketball by myself. Or recreating a football game. It really started early; probably 8 or 9."
Fascinated by the voices he heard describing sporting events on the radio, he listened closely to iconic Louisiana broadcasters like ULM's Frank Hoffmann, Louisiana Tech's Dave Nitz and LSU's Jim Hawthorne.
"For me, it was Frank Hoffmann and Dave Nitz locally," White said. "You'd hear Jim Hawthorne and I remember him more for baseball. Those were the guys I looked to. Even high school, somebody like Bob Day, who did Ruston for all those years. I remember Neil Shaw (Neville High School). I'd hear those guys and say, 'I want to do that.'"
Starting with the 2018 season, White's familiar voice is ULM's choice for full-time football play-by-play duties. The broadcaster of 580 ULM sporting events over the past eight years, White inherits the headset from the ULM L Club Hall of Famer Hoffmann, who retired after 42 years in 2018.
"I love the opportunity I had to work with Frank over the past few years and help in doing the road games," White said. "You can't take that lightly. When I think about that, I'm now one of 130 people who have a particular job. That's pretty special company."
ULM's new Chief Administrative Officer Scott McDonald served as the radio color analyst for both Hoffmann and White in recent years.
"I feel fortunate because I had a chance to work for a Hall of Famer, a legend in Frank Hoffmann," McDonald said. "He's a pro and taught me so much about professionalism and how to handle the booth.
"Nick steps into very large shoes. The thing about Nick is his preparation and his passion; it just means so much to him. He pours himself into it. From a leadership standpoint, he leads that booth, and you feel like you need to be as prepared. He's going to bring it every game, and he's going to be ready. I think the Warhawk Nation is so fortunate to go from a legend like Frank to someone like
Nick White."
White served his apprenticeship at ULM by calling road football games the past three seasons. Since joining the team in 2010, White's ULM radio responsibilities have also included the HawkTalk coaches' shows, baseball games and men's and women's basketball games.
"While it's great to do baseball and basketball and all these other sports, you never really become the official 'voice' until you get the football opportunity," White said. "I don't take it lightly. Following a legend like Frank, there haven't been a whole lot of people in that booth starting Thursday besides Frank Hoffmann. I'm excited for it."
For White as he enters his ninth season overall with the Warhawks, the new gig is a lifelong ambition come to fruition.
"Being the play-by-play voice at the collegiate level is a dream of his that we have talked about quite a bit privately," said White's longtime friend and northeastern Louisiana talk show host Sean Fox. "There are only 130 of these jobs in the country. Getting one is a very big deal. … The one thing I can promise ULM fans is they will have the most prepared broadcaster in the country. He won't leave any stone unturned for info to make the broadcast as good and professional as he feels the audience deserves."
White broke into local radio in 2003 with Fox and became a fixture on the local sports talk radio scene. He expanded his resume to play-by-play at the high school level with Cedar Creek football that same year. He later called prep football games for West Ouachita, Ruston and Union.
"They took a wild chance to throw us on," White said. "There are two guys I have to credit with helping Sean and I get our start in broadcasting. That was Gary McKinney and Ed Hebert at what is now Red Peach Radio. If not for those two guys, we wouldn't be doing what we're doing right now."
For several years, White also sat in as co-host on a morning sports talk radio show with longtime northeastern Louisiana sportscaster Aaron Dietrich.
"Nick calls games with a great mix of insight and passion," Dietrich said. "I respect Nick for paying his dues in the business. He called countless games in cracker box gyms or diamonds that barely had scoreboards or fences, let alone press boxes. ULM is in great hands with Nick and look forward to using his calls for years to come."
Fox said he knew early on in their partnership that White was destined to rise in the play-by-play profession.
"He is meticulous in preparation," Fox said. "He starts on Sunday for the opponent next Saturday. He wants to go to the practices, talk to all the coaches, and what would really drive me crazy is that he wants to be at an event at least four hours early in the afternoon. He would say, 'You never know what would happen with equipment.' And a lot of times, he was right.
"He grew up in northeast Louisiana and he has had an unmatched passion for sports in this area, from the high school level on up."
White said he'd have a panic attack if he ever went into a game without getting fully prepped
"I still sit up straight in bed at 2 a.m. with some paranoia or anxiety about being prepared," White said. "That's always the way I've been. I've always been early. My mom instilled that in me as a kid. If you're early, you're never late."
White was willing to the call any event on his way up the ladder and is proud to reach this next rung with the Warhawks.
"I did more than just football in high school," White said. "I did basketball, softball, baseball. I've done junior high games. Anything to try to get better. Have headset, will broadcast."
