Hubert White

Hubert White was born Hubert Frank White on September 20, 1902, in Williamsburg, Kentucky, to Jerome B. White and Florence B. McVey. He attended Williamsburg Independent Schools and Tennessee Military Institute in Sweetwater, Tennessee, before enrolling at Cumberland College, now the University of the Cumberlands, in 1921. A talented two-sport athlete, White captained both the football and basketball teams at Cumberland and earned an Associate of Arts degree in 1923.

White transferred to the University of Kentucky in the fall of 1923 to continue his education and attend law school. The 5-foot-11, 170-pound guard played for coach Clarence Applegran during the 1924–25 season, appearing in six games and scoring one point. Kentucky finished the season with a 13–8 record and began playing its home games in the newly opened Alumni Gymnasium.

While attending UK, White helped form the Cumberland Echo, an organization for former Cumberland students. He was also selected for Mystic Thirteen, a junior honorary fraternity recognizing merit and achievement, and belonged to Alpha Sigma Epsilon. White graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1927 and was admitted to the Kentucky bar the following year. He practiced law for approximately 55 years in Harlan and Middlesboro and served as Middlesboro’s city attorney for a combined 30 years. Following in the footsteps of his father, a three-term mayor of Williamsburg, White served as mayor of Middlesboro from 1958 to 1962. He was later appointed to the Kentucky Workmen’s Compensation Board, serving from 1968 through 1971.

White remained closely involved in athletics and civic life. He served as Kentucky commissioner for the Babe Ruth League from 1952 through 1954 and helped arrange transportation for Middlesboro school athletic teams when no regular transportation was available. He was also active in the Lions Club and served as a deacon and elder at First Presbyterian Church in Middlesboro. White was inducted posthumously into the Middlesboro Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997 and the University of the Cumberlands Hall of Honor in 2011. He died on April 12, 1990, in Knoxville, Tennessee, at age 87 and was buried at Middlesboro Memorial Gardens.