Hugh White (American football)

Hugh White (November 7, 1876 – June 11, 1936) was an American football player. He played for the University of Michigan from 1898 to 1901, and captained the national championship-winning 1901 team.

White was born in Lapeer, Michigan in 1876, the son of Henry Kirke White and Jane Wigglesworth White. His father had run away from home as a boy, crewed on a whaling ship, participated in the California Gold Rush, and fought in the American Civil War. White received a Ph.B in 1899 and an LL.B. in 1902 from the University of Michigan.

White played left tackle for the Michigan during the 1898 season, left end in the 1899 season, and returned to left tackle in the 1900 and 1901 seasons. As a senior, he captained the 1901 Michigan Wolverines football team, the first of Fielding H. Yost's famous "Point-a-Minute" teams, which went undefeated with an 11–0 record, outscored their opponents 550–0, and defeated Stanford in the inaugural Rose Bowl, 49–0. In the Rose Bowl, Michigan put the ball in play 142 times for 1,463 offensive yards. Stanford coach Charles Fickert, asked Michigan coach Yost to stop the game, since his team was no match for Michigan, but Yost insisted the game continue. Yost had been ousted as Stanford's coach the year before. With eight minutes left in the game, White agreed with Stanford captain, R. S. Fisher, to stop play.

In the fall of 1902, White became the football coach at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He married Abbie E. Cutting of Lapeer, Michigan in 1903. They were the parents of three daughters, Elizabeth, Martha, and Marion. In 1904, White umpired Ivy League football games. He later worked as an engineer and became president (1924–1927) and Chairman of the Board (1927–1933) of the George A. Fuller Company, one of the largest construction companies in the United States, which erected major public buildings such as the Lincoln Memorial (1918), the United States Supreme Court Building (1933), and major office buildings. White served as Village President of Scarsdale, New York. He died of pneumonia on June 11, 1936 after a brief illness.