Mike White (softball)

A native of New Zealand's capital of Wellington, White grew up playing multiple sports, most notably soccer and softball. In a 2023 interview, White told ESPN writer Dave Wilson that he had hopes of making the national soccer team, but a planned training trip to Fiji and New Caledonia was scuttled due to civil unrest in Fiji. He had been a star pitcher in New Zealand, a hotbed for men's fast-pitch softball, and around the time his soccer trip was canceled, he received a call from the U.S. inviting him to play softball there. At the time, men's fast-pitch had a noticeably higher profile in the U.S. than it does today.[2]

White then spent the next decade-plus playing for various fast-pitch teams while running a resale shop in Iowa. In that day, many New Zealand men's softball players were recruited by American fast-pitch teams, typically spending a season or two in one place before moving to teams that offered more money. By contrast, White spent most of his U.S. playing career in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, attending and graduating from the local Mount Mercy University and marrying a local woman. He became a U.S. citizen in 1994. In softball, White won 70 games in world championship tournaments between 1990 and 2006, more than any other men's pitcher in that period. He pitched for 11 teams that won championships in the American Softball Association or International Softball Congress, and was named MVP of one of those organizations' tournaments five times.[2]

In 1997, White met Ralph Weekly, then the director of national teams for USA Softball. White expressed a wish to enter coaching, and Weekly was impressed by White's leadership potential. Weekly then spread the word about White's availability to the women's college softball community, and White would be hired by Oregon as a pitching coach in 2003. He left Oregon after two seasons, believing that being an assistant coach was not his best fit. White would spend the next several years helping to raise his three daughters, coaching their youth teams, and doing private instruction.[2]