A few hours before Kevin White became the Chicago Bears 7th overall pick in the 2015 NFL draft, he was strutting down the Gold Carpet off Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago flashing a big smile at cameras and waving to fans. He was taking it all in like a star at a movie premiere.
That is, until he was interrupted by a cameraman angling for a shot, shouting, "Hey! Hey! Keep moving. Keep moving!" White's father, Kevin Sr. who works for AT&T, laughed and patted the cameraman on his back thanking him for keeping his soon-to-be millionaire son grounded.
The Bears Wide Receiver insisted he won't forget where he's come from. That's Plainfield New Jersey to Allentown Pennsylvania, from Lackawanna Junior College to the University of West Virginia. And now the Chicago Bears.
"No matter how much money I (get) ... or how many women want to date me now," White insisted Thursday night. He reminded everyone that he borrowed his draft day wristwatch and bought his earrings at the teeny bopper mall chainstore "Claire's."
Just hours later White was at the Bears practice facility in Lake Forest meeting Jay Cutler, his new quarterback, and fellow wide-out Alshon Jeffery (with whom he shares an agent). White was blurry-eyed, getting only "three to four hours" of sleep and trying to take in everything that has happened not just the past 24 hours, but the last four years.
"It's been crazy," White rolled his eyes while granting a dozen interviews at Halas Hall. Still it's nothing compared to the late nights he spent online researching college coach after college coach for a shot at a scholarship. White estimates West Virginia University's offer came after 250 emails.
"I love for someone to say, 'You can't do it,'" he conceded.
Local
Whether it's the critics who say he's a one-year wonder in college and doesn't have a repertoire of NFL routes he runs. Or whether it's his brothers, Kyzir and Ka'Raun, challenging him to chess, push-ups or for a girl's attention, Kevin White dares you to tell him he can't.
Because he can. And he did.
