By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
PINSON – During the summer, the Pinson Valley Indians basketball team lost one of their own. Team captain, honor student, top 25 basketball player in the nation, top two in the state of Alabama,
and a heart that was unmatched, Caleb White collapsed during a workout on August 10, 2023, and passed away at the age of 17.
The basketball team, school and community were all rocked by his passing.
The festivities for the night included a “white out” in which the attendants were encouraged to wear white. Most of the Pinson crowd donned their white “Uno Out” shirts that were purchased earlier in the year. They also retired White’s jersey and started a tradition that will carry on throughout the year by leaving one seat empty on the bench and putting Caleb’s old jersey on the back of it for the game.
During the ceremony, principal Michael Turner spoke of Caleb briefly before handing the microphone to Curtis White, Caleb’s father, who gave an impassioned speech to the crowd about his son. During his speech, Mr. White spoke of Caleb’s journey and the fact that he and Mrs. White knew Caleb would be good at basketball, so they put him with people who would facilitate his success. He spoke of his family’s time in Pinson as well. “He grew up here in Pinson,” said Curtis. “We have friends who knew me, him, my wife, Cam (Caleb’s older brother). We started out here and it’s just fitting to have his jersey retired here in a place that not only did he play basketball but was a member of the community here.”
White continued, “Caleb was a leader, he was a hard worker, he was a dog! He would come up here to the gym before the janitors got here, at 5:00 in the morning, just to work out and shoot. Nobody was going to out work Caleb.”
Pinson head coach Darrell Barber said the following about Caleb, “He was a leader and a great student-athlete, and he was loyal. He always had a smile for you.
He was always going to go hard and give his best.”
“It was a beautiful event in front of a sellout crowd, just like Caleb liked it,” said Barber. “His family was really appreciative, which was important to us. It was an emotional night for us as a team. It felt like Caleb was smiling down on us.”
The community showed up, as the gym was completely full with standing room only as family, friends, classmates, students from other
schools and many members of the community packed “The Reservation” on Saturday night.
As for the game, the Indians played Carver and beat them 79-48 led by Clyde Walters’ 19 points on the night. But this night was bigger than one game. This night was about remembering the life and legacy of Caleb White.