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MCFARLAND USA: An Interview with Legendary Coach Jim White

MCFARLAND USA: An Interview with Legendary Coach Jim White

Last updated on: February 20, 2015 at 2:09 am by Craig Detweiler

MCFARLAND USA: An Interview with Legendary Coach Jim White 2015-02-20T02:09:44-07:00 Craig Detweiler

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Do you like sports movies? I cry every time I watch Field of Dreams. The rousing underdog stories of Rudy or The Rookie almost feel too good to be true. The cynic in us may resist, but once you actually meet Jimmy, the guy who sank the winning shot in Hoosiers, your perspective shifts. These aren’t just tall tales, manufactured by Hollywood. These can be modest, “everyday” heroes who challenge us to practice, to press on, to never give up.

I recently met Jim White, the legendary cross-country coach whose team inspired the new film, McFarland USA. Kevin Costner stars as Coach White, mentor to seven boys raised amidst the farms in California’s Central Valley. McFarland explores the cultural gaps between Anglos and Latinos. It is about dreams and determination and hard work. Directed by New Zealand filmmaker Niki Caro (of Whale Rider fame), McFarland celebrates the best of America. It is about parents and teachers and students who make a positive difference in their community every single day.

Coach White is a graduate of Pepperdine University, where I teach filmmaking. Disney was kind enough to allow us to host a preview screening for students and alums featuring the man who will soon be known as our most famous graduate. A full house of over three hundred gave a rousing standing ovation to Jim and his wife, Cheryl. Jim introduced their daughters, Tammy, Julie, and Jamie, and four grandchildren. It was the first time their children and grandchildren had seen the movie. It was an emotional and celebratory night with Pepperdine Waves laughing and cheering throughout.

Jim and Cheryl White greet friends and family after the Pepperdine screening of McFarland USA

You graduated from George Pepperdine College in 1964. What did you major in?

I majored in phys ed. I wanted to be a coach, and I finally worked my way into it (laughter). I taught in McFarland for 40 years. I was a fifth grade teacher for nine years. And then started in with 8th and 9th graders.

It took Hollywood about fifty years to make a movie about Martin Luther King. Did it take almost 30 years for the studios to make this film about your life?

It did take about 15 years to develop and for somebody to be serious about it. So we’re very thankful to Disney for making it.

The movie starts in 1987 because that is the first year the state of California had a true high school state championship in cross-country.

When you started out teaching, did you think, someday a movie will be made about my life?

I did everything I could to make this movie happen. (Cheers and laughter). No, it just happens. Blessings come your way when you do things the right way. That’s all I can say about it.

Is it a surreal experience for you and Cheryl to have Kevin Costner and Maria Bello playing you?

They were great choices. It’s a wonderful experience, I can’t think of anybody better except for maybe Clint Eastwood (laughter). Maybe some thought he’s a little bit too old. But I guess he favored me. I don’t know if I favored him…(laughter).

Tell me about the making of the movie. It was shot in McFarland, source of Blue Diamond Almonds.

Two weeks of filming was done in McFarland. I was there almost every day. Some days were close quarters. There are some situations that happen during the movie on set and I’d laugh. Well you’re supposed to be quiet. (laughter). So I had to stay away from some of those scenes.

Two of the actors who played these boys actually graduated from our McFarland High School. Sergio Avelar (who plays ladies man, Victor Puentes) ran with us early on in junior high and he came back and ran with us on our varsity team as a senior.

You’ll see Rodrigo Ramirez who plays Danny Diaz, he graduated from our school as well.

I read some inspired interviews with the athletes you coached. What are some of the principles you imparted over the years that really made a difference?

Attitude is so important, For all young people, take time to develop your attitude. That’s the only thing you can really control is–what your attitude is. You can’t control what somebody else has done to you or what they’re going to do to you or the past or the present. But you control your attitude.

You’re going to have problems in your life, right and left. It might be with your brothers or sisters or your parents or your teachers or your job. You’re going to have these things happen. But the main thing, 90% is how you let that problem effect you. Don’t let that get you down.

Did your Pepperdine experience prepare you and Cheryl for teaching, for life?

Our goal was to graduate. I started three years at Magic Valley Christian College and then I transferred down to Pepperdine. It took two more years to graduate there. I liked to play baseball. I wanted to coach baseball. I had no desire to coach track or cross-country.

What got me into it was the dedication that I could see, that I could get from one guy or two guys. If they wanted to better themselves, then I wanted to help them. I didn’t have to rely on nine ball players out there on the field and then somebody gets hurt and maybe the whole team suffers. If I could just help one individual, that was enough for me, but it ended up being so much more.

Pepperdine is a Christian University. How did faith influence your life?

I ended up leading singing, teaching class, and preaching in the Church of Christ. I even performed the wedding service for Damacio Diaz (one of the runners from the 1987 team featured in the movie).

Forty years of teaching teenagers. That should qualify you for sainthood. How did you continue day in day out, all those years?

You’ll never know if you’re making a difference or not but you still continue to do things the right way. What you build in few years, somebody can tear down in one day. But it doesn’t matter. You do it anyway.

Success brings out false friends and true enemies. Even at our school, with the success we had, we had lots of enemies brought in to try and tear it down. It is never between us and them, it is between you and God. That’s the way it is.

What happens to guys in sports movies? They get so emotional.

Guys cry in sports movies. I do. I have cried at four different screenings of McFarland. Come prepared.

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