Summit native Flip White is a member of the Harlem Globetrotters. (supplied photo)
Summit native marks decade with the Harlem Globetrotters
By Carol McGowan
Saul White Jr., better known as Flip White to basketball fans, has been with the famed Harlem Globetrotters for just over 10 years, and has no intention of stopping the entertainment he provides for his fans.
White, who grew up in Summit, attended Wharton School and Graves Junior High (now Heritage) in District 104, and is a 2004 graduate of Argo Community High School. After high school, he continued his basketball career at Moraine Valley Community College.
Basketball was always a part of his life.
On his profile for the Globetrotters, he says one of his fondest basketball memories was his father holding him up to the hoop to dunk the basketball when he was a kid.
He told the Desplaines Valley News that his grandparents used to take him to Globetrotters games when he was a young kid, so he always had an interest in the team.
White made a video of him on the basketball court, and put it on YouTube back in 2011. Once it was seen, one person called another, and before you know it, he had an interview with representatives from the Globetrotters.
A couple of days after, he was hired and has been with the team since.
To see him perform on the court would put a smile on anyone’s face. Watching him up on the hoop, literally, is something that needs to be seen. There are plenty of videos that have gone viral of him over the years. His antics on the court, and his ability to play make him a favorite of all who see him.
It’s been quite an experience for White, who has traveled to all 50 states and 65 countries doing what he loves.
Between touring and doing public relations for the team, White keeps busy.
What some may not know, is there are three Globetrotter teams that travel, so they all have either dates to play, or dates to keep in touch with media outlets and promote where their upcoming events will be.
He comes back to visit family in the Summit area when he can, although he now calls Tulsa, Oklahoma, home.
The last time he played in Chicago was in 2019 at the United Center. He loves playing here where his family can come and see him live and in action.
When asked about what he would tell his young fans who hope to someday have a career like his, “I would tell them to never give up on your dreams, you never know what can happen. Don’t ever give up.”
5 Comments
Local News
Chicago Fire II to host Indy Eleven in U.S. Open Cup
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent The Chicago Fire II continue winning in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. They will be rewarded by hosting a third-round game against Indy Eleven at 7 p.m. April 17 at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview. Entry to Fire II games are usually free; but tickets for the Cup match…
Red Stars to play in Summer Cup
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent When the NWSL season started, there was a gap in the schedule — created to accommodate international play — that left the Chicago Red Stars without a league game for most of July. But some extra games have been added, as the NWSL and Liga MX are participating in…
College Sports | Sidney Lovitsch is officially women’s hoops coach at SXU
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent Sidney Lovitsch was named interim women’s basketball coach at Saint Xavier shortly before the 2023-24 season opened and got a trial year to work with. The trial was successful, as the school announced the interim tag has been dropped and Lovitsch is officially the Cougars’ head coach. SXU finished…
Area natives Kendall Coyne Schofield, Abbey Murphy representing at Women’s World Championship
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent Local hockey legends Kendall Coyne Schofield and Abbey Murphy are back with the U.S. women’s hockey team at the 2024 Women’s World Championship. Schofield, a Palos Heights native and Sandburg graduate, is playing in the Worlds for the 10th time. Murphy, an Evergreen Park native and Mother McAuley graduate,…
Hockey gold-medalist Abbey Murphy among college athletes to strike NIL deal with White Sox
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent Four college athletes who attended area high schools have been named CHISOX Athletes for 2024, an NIL initiative created by the Chicago White Sox. Notre Dame offensive lineman Pat Coogan (Marist), Minnesota hockey forward Abbey Murphy (Mother McAuley) and Illinois soccer player Yulexi Diaz (Solorio) are among the athletes…
Swallow Cliff Chapter NSDAR awards students
Spread the loveAt its February meeting, Swallow Cliff Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, held its annual Youth Awards program to honor the DAR Good Citizens Award winners. Seven local high schools nominated outstanding seniors to be candidates for the DAR Good Citizens Award. To be eligible for this award, students had to…
Girls Soccer | Stagg, Reavis looking for more
Spread the loveBy Xavier Sanchez Correspondent The final match of March for both Reavis and Stagg ended in a 0-0 draw on March 28 in Burbank. The Rams (2-4-1 entering this week) are led by third-year head coach Konrad Dziedzic. This season’s team captains include seniors Alaina Hernandez and Olivia Smcyz. “The captains play a…
Sports Bits | Aaliyah Flores named St. Laurence hoops MVP
Spread the love• Shepard alum John Economos was named to the National Hellenistic Hall of Fame. Economos was a Regional News-Reporter Boys Basketball Player of the Year in 1995. • Marist boys basketball coach Brian Hynes was named District 3 Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year. • St. Laurence freshman Aaliyah Flores was…
College Baseball | Saint Xavier and St. Francis combine for 68 hits, 11 HRs
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent In a showdown between two of the top teams in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference, St. Francis (Illinois) won a strange and windy doubleheader over Saint Xavier, 21-4 and 30-14, on March 26 in Chicago. Yes, those were baseball scores. The teams combined for 68 hits and 11 home…
Brother Rice baseball field to get major upgrade
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent Brother Rice is getting an upgrade to its baseball field. The project has been in the planning stages for years, but the Covid-19 pandemic and projects around the school have put it to the back burner. But the school announced last week that the project will commence this summer.…
Neighbors
Capitol Briefs: Expansion of postpartum coverage, ban on kangaroos among hundreds of measures to pass House
By ALEX ABBEDUTO & COLE LONGCOR Capitol News Illinois news@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – Illinois kangaroo owners are one step closer to being forced to surrender their marsupials this week after the House passed a bill criminalizing their possession. That was one of more than 300 bills to pass the House ahead of a Friday procedural deadline.…
Pritzker says state ‘obviously’ needs to change 2010 law that shrunk pension benefits
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com With a month-and-a-half left in the General Assembly’s spring session, Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration is readying its proposal to address Illinois’ chronically underfunded pension system. But the governor this week also acknowledged in the strongest terms yet that any plans to finally get the state on track toward…
Pritzker’s health insurance reforms targeting ‘utilization management’ clear House
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker celebrated a partial legislative victory Thursday night when the House passed his initiative to end some practices health insurance companies use to control the amount and cost of health care services individual patients receive. The “Healthcare Protection Act,” House Bill 5395, cleared the…
Lawmakers, cannabis industry calls for ban on ‘delta-8’ and other psychoactive hemp products
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – Illinois’ largest cannabis business association is pushing to ban the sale of delta-8 THC, an increasingly popular psychoactive substance that’s popped up in corner stores across the country in recent years. New legislation filed in Springfield this week revives an ongoing debate over delta-8 and other…
As state continues to inventory lead pipes, full replacement deadlines are decades away
By COLE LONGCOR Capitol News Illinois Clongcor@capitolnewsillinois.com Lead pipes in public water systems and drinking fixtures have been banned in new construction since 1986, when Congress amended the Safe Drinking Water Act, but they are still in use across the U.S. and in Illinois. The presence of lead pipes has persisted due in part to…
Capitol Briefs: Bill creating new early childhood agency among 244 to advance
By ALEX ABBEDUTO HANNAH MEISEL & COLE LONGCOR Capitol News Illinois news@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker’s plan to create a new state agency to oversee Illinois’ various early childhood programs moved forward on Friday after the state Senate’s unanimous approval. It was one of 244 bills that cleared the Senate this week. Early childhood…
INVESTIGATE MIDWEST: Farmers have clamored for the Right to Repair for years. It’s getting little traction in John Deere’s home state
By Jennifer Bamberg, Investigate Midwest Originally published April 10, 2024 During the 2023 harvest season, one of Jake Lieb’s tractors quit working. A week later, his combine stopped working, too. Both were new — and he was locked out from making any repairs himself because of software restrictions embedded in the machines. Instead, a technician…
Capitol Briefs: Pritzker appoints first-ever Prisoner Review Board director; Chicago advances migrant funding
By JERRY NOWICKI & DILPREET RAJU Capitol News Illinois news@capitolnewsillinois.com Weeks after two high-profile resignations at the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday appointed the first-ever executive director to help lead the beleaguered agency. To fill the newly created position, the governor tapped Jim Montgomery, who most recently served as director of…
Advocates renew push to tighten firearm laws aimed at protecting domestic violence victims
By COLE LONGCOR Capitol News Illinois Clongcor@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – Advocates for stricter gun laws rallied at the state Capitol Tuesday for a measure aimed at protecting domestic violence victims and two other criminal justice reforms. The bills are backed by organizations such as Moms Demand Action and One Aim Illinois among others. “These policies support…
Education leaders seek added state funding to help districts accommodate influx of migrants
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – The recent surge of international migrants arriving in Illinois has brought with it a host of new challenges for state and local officials. Those range from filling their most basic needs like emergency food, clothing and shelter, to more complex issues like lining them up with…
Carol, awesome piece you have done on my son. He loves his hometown, and speak of it all the time. So very glad you noticed. Thank you so very much. Continued Blessings to YOU!!!
LOVE your great son Mrs. McDonald!
Went to high school with his Dad and WOW what a basketball player!! In the downstairs gym i rebounded for him one day and he hit 99 out of 100 jump shots. Hope you are doing well Saul White Sr.
You’re very welcome, Pam. He is awesome, and so are you! You raised a wonderful son that we all are very proud of! Go Flip! Congrats on your wonderful success! You make Argo proud!!!!!
Awesome job Saul, continued blessings! Much love to you & your family????????❤