When he was named the new commissioner of the Southern Conference, Alfred White became the first African-American in that role at a Division I league not consisting of historically black colleges and universities. He addressed it straight on during his introductory press conference on April 6, 1998, at Asheville’s Grove Park Inn.
“I respect the fact that I’m the first African-American to be a Commissioner, but I don’t plan on dwelling on it a whole bunch,” he said. “I do think it’s kind of an honor.”
White joined the Southern Conference after a distinguished fifteen-year career at the NCAA, working his way up from a communications assistant to director of promotions to director of corporate marketing. He began his career in intercollegiate athletics working in media relations at his alma mater, Texas Tech University.
White quickly laid out his primary goals—enhancing the SoCon’s position among Division I-AA conferences, building a corporate partner structure, and improving the league’s internal governance.
“I thought getting the ball rolling on a marketing initiative that was more encompassing than just at the championships was a step in the right direction,” White recalled. “But basically, getting the governance groups talking and respecting each other was my proudest accomplishment. I sensed that I inherited a culture of communicating ‘to’ rather than ‘with.’”
White became an outspoken advocate for making I-AA football viable and attractive for institutions and conferences that realized they could not compete with the greater-resourced I-A (now FBS) members. He saw that an unstructured landscape for I-AA meant more programs trying to reclassify, as former SoCon member Marshall did in leaving for the Mid-American Conference in 1997.
“Anyone who’s considering a jump needs to get their arms around what I-A is doing,” he told Bob Gillespie of the Columbia (SC) State. “That division is going more to the super conferences. They need to do some soul searching about why they think they need to move up.”
White toured all twelve campuses in short order, including that of the newest member, the College of Charleston. He met with presidents, chancellors, faculty, coaches, and administrators, listening to their concerns. He laid out a meticulous three-page plan for his first 100 days in office. “I thought unifying the members around a strategic plan was monumental because it was a conversation that the presidents, ADs, SWAs, and faculty reps had never had before,” recalled White.
After the conference’s agreement expired with the Greensboro Coliseum for its basketball tournament, White negotiated a deal with the Bi-Lo Center in Greenville, South Carolina, and brought the event there for two years. Additionally, White’s office worked with the arena to secure the first and second rounds of the 2002 NCAA Tournament, a major coup for Greenville and the Southern Conference.
By the time the event came, however, White was no longer part of the conference. In July of 2001 he announced he was stepping down as commissioner to accept a position as president of the Asheville Altitude of the NBA’s development league (now known as the G League). The move would allow White, his wife, Judy, and their daughter, Cassidy, to remain in their home in Asheville.
“This has been an extremely difficult decision for my family and me,” White said in a statement. “I will forever be indebted to the Southern Conference for giving me the opportunity. The SoCon will always have a special place in my heart.”
After three years with the Altitude, White returned to Division I conference work as the senior associate commissioner of Conference USA. In 2016, he left to join the College Football Playoff as senior director of marketing and strategic partnerships, utilizing his many years of marketing expertise to sell special VIP ticket packages, hospitality suites, and other incentives for college football’s championship game.
“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working on both of the premier sporting events in college athletics during my career—the Final Four and the College Football Playoff national championship,” White said.
Bio taken from "A Proud Athletic History: 100 Years of the Southern Conference" by John Iamarino