On December 5 2003 2003 Heisman winner Jason White
When Jason White was younger, he told his mother they’d paint his name on the water tower in his hometown of Tuttle, Okla. At the time, White was talking about his friends’ plans for a mischievous prank, in which they’d spray paint their names on the tower, soon after city officials had put a fresh coat of red and white on it. By the time White finished his record-setting playing career at Oklahoma, his name was indeed on the water tower. It reads: “Home of Jason White 2003 Heisman Trophy Winner.” White became the Sooners’ fourth Heisman Trophy winner after passing for 3,744 yards with a school-record 40 touchdown passes and eight interceptions. He finished third in Heisman voting as a senior the next year. “The tower is real close to my house, and one day they painted it bright white with a red top on it,” White told USA Today’s Kelly Whiteside in 2004. “As soon as they painted it, me and my friends were like, ‘We need to go up there and be the first persons to paint our names on it.’ So when I said to my mom, ‘One of these days, my name will be up there,’ while we were driving home one day, I was just trying to lead her up to the process that I was going to write my name up there with spray paint.” White never had to. He became one of the most revered players in Oklahoma history after battling back from a pair of career-threatening knee injuries. His freshman season in 1991 ended with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee; he tore the ACL in his right knee the next season. Remarkably, White underwent 10 knee surgeries during his career. The folks in Tuttle, a town of about 4,300 residents, think so much of their home-grown hero that a section of Cimarron Road was renamed “Jason White Boulevard.” White thought so much of his hometown that he’s living there again.
— Mark Schlabach
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