Homeless as child, Jets WR persevering

THERE were too many times when the homeless shelter had no room for the boy and his family, too many times when the boy, no older than 8 years old, was forced to spend the night sleeping in the backseat of a tiny old red Ford Ranger in Woodland Hills, Calif.

There were too many times when the boy and four or five or six of his eight siblings would collect cans to sell, so the family could eat bologna sandwiches or peanut butter and jelly in the back of that tiny old red ’95 Ford Ranger.

There were too many times when the boy’s parents would donate blood and get $30 for it so everyone could eat in the backseat of that tiny old red ’95 Ford Ranger.

“We found a way,” Tim White says, and smiles a smile he wears more often than most who have been kicked in the gut by life. “So many of us, we’d just cuddle up, and that’s how we would stay warm throughout the night.”

Or they would squeeze into a cheap hotel room somewhere. Or find a welcoming homeless shelter.

“My parents would make a decision whether my mom would stay in the shelter with some of the girls, or whether we would all just sleep in the car, you know?” White said.

His father Tim played football at USC, later played the drums, sold RVs, drove a cab, and struggled to make ends meet. And yet through it all, a unified strength of family let the sunshine in through the darkness.

“We had a lot of fun those times, actually,” White said. “It wasn’t really like a really bad period where it was just like, ‘I can’t deal with this anymore.’ We fed off each other’s energy, we would sing songs and do all this fun stuff. It was like camping every day, you know?”

His is an inspirational tale of faith and perseverance and indomitable spirit. It is a triumph of the human spirit.

“The message I would give to

others is to continue to believe in yourself,” White said. “Continue to believe in those around you. Although it may seem like not the best situation, to know that there’s always another side to the story, and you have the power to control that story and that narrative. You can’t be anybody else but yourself, so just be the best you.”

He is 25 years old and still chasing a dream that has taken him from College of the Canyons to Arizona State to the Ravens, for whom he caught one NFL pass, to catching passes from Sam Darnold. Wide receiver Tim White has refused to allow the cruel fates that confronted him through much of his childhood to shatter that dream, in no small part because his parents never stopped fighting to try to provide their seven daughters and two sons a better life.

Until the tragic night in 2012 when they learned that there were now seven daughters and only one son. Because Elwood White, Tim’s 22-year-old brother, had been shot in the chest by a police officer after acting erratically and recklessly at a San Diego convenience store.

“I wanted to be like him, he showed me everything that I know today,” White said. “It was just definitely a tough situation, but I fought through it and as soon as that happened my focus locked in on how I needed to do things and ... got me here.”

Now he fights the fight of the long-shot free agent with his explosive 4.4 speed. His 6-year-old daughter Brooklyn lives with her mother in Las Vegas.

“I understand the odds are stacked against me, but I know I can play with anybody,” White said.

When asked what he is most proud of, he tells you: “I would say me not getting intimidated by the mountain in front of me. I just kept on climbing, I kept on climbing.”

If anyone deserves a home, sweet home, it is Tim White.