One of the most prolific scorers in SEC basketball history, Tony White is a member of an elite club. He and Naismith Hall of Famer Bernard King are the only two Tennessee players in history to twice lead the SEC in scoring. White, a 6-foot-2 guard from Charlotte, N.C., averaged 22.2 points as a junior and 24.5 points as a senior.
He was a master at finding ways to score over taller players and gave himself the nickname of the “Wizard.” White was named the SEC Player of the Year in 1987, and on Feb. 14 of that season, he scored a school-record 51 points in a 103-84 victory over Auburn, a record that still stands 35 years later. Only three other SEC players have scored more than 50 points against an SEC opponent since White’s record night. He remains the SEC’s sixth all-time leading scorer with 2,219 career points and is one of only two players in the top 10 shorter than 6-4.
White was a second-round NBA draft pick of the Chicago Bulls and carved out a lengthy professional career in Europe before retiring in 2000. White became a huge fan favorite in Greece with his array of moves to the basket and was dubbed “Mickey Mouse.”
White was a part of many memorable moments and wins, but his biggest victory came off the court when he beat cancer. In 2018, White was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. He underwent four rounds of chemotherapy and was confined to a hospital bed for nearly five months before undergoing successful bone marrow transplant surgery in March 2019. White’s older brother Gene was a perfect match for the transplant. White is now cancer-free and lives with his wife Barbie in Lenoir City.