MUSKEGON – Dyron White is an amazing protector, in more ways than one.
West Michigan Ironmen fans who watch the games closely already know what White can do on a football field.
As the longtime starting left offensive guard, his job is to protect veteran quarterback Alex Carder’s blind side when he drops back to pass, giving him time to find a receiver and make the completion.
Carder throws a ton of touchdown passes and the Ironmen win a lot, so it’s obvious that White performs extremely well.
White and the Ironmen will be back at it on Saturday night when they host the Carolina Predators at Mercy Health Arena at 7 p.m.
[1]“When it’s third and long, that’s when you know it’s crunch time,” said White, a hulking 6-foot-5, 350-pound athlete. “You’re tired, and they might have a fresh defensive lineman in, and you have to suck it up and stay in front of them. It’s all about preparation.”
What most fans don’t know is that White’s role as a crucial protector does not end when the football season is over.
In the offseason he works in a suicide prevention/treatment ward in a hospital in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where he makes sure the patients are safe and provides comfort whenever possible.
Sometimes that involves just sitting and talking to or listening to patients and being a kind presence for people who really need it.
It’s a crucial and stressful job, but White takes pride in the fact that he’s helping people whose lives may hang in the balance.
“It’s a difficult job, but I’ve been doing it for a while, and you kind of get used to it,” White said. “You don’t know what the patients have been through. I just try to talk to them and make sure they’re OK, and make sure they know they are needed. I’ve had a few tell me they felt better (after talking).
[2]“I’ve had a couple of them try to walk out, and I have to stop them from leaving the hospital. That can get pretty intense.”
The medical professionals who treat the patients obviously can’t be with them around the clock, and they are very happy to have a dedicated staff member keeping watch, White said.
“If I’m there, they know I’m going to get the job done, and they are grateful I’m still there,” he said.
White, 33, grew up in Slidell, Louisiana and played college football at Southern Mississippi University.
He was largely out of football for three years after college, until he was contacted by the Green Bay Blizzard of the Indoor Football League and moved north to join that team in 2016.
He was in his first season in Green Bay when the coach pulled him aside and suggested that he leave and play with the Ironmen.
That was six years ago, and White has been a valued member of the Ironmen ever since.
[3]“They told me they didn’t feel I was getting enough playing time, and suggested I go to a team in Michigan that needed linemen,” White said. “I said okay, but I had never been to Michigan. I didn’t know anything about Michigan.
“But the team, the coaches and the city embraced me, and I’ve been here ever since. Every year they want me to come back, and I just feel fortunate to still be playing the game I love.”
Nate Smith, the Ironmen’s general manager and head coach, feels very fortunate to have White on the team.
“He’s a very smart player,” Smith said. “The indoor game is all about pass protection, and he has a big frame and moves his feet really well and strikes really well. One of the first things I noticed about him is that he can handle quick guys and big guys.”
Offensive linemen rarely get much public acclaim for their work. The headlines always go to the skill position players who score the points.
But White takes a quiet pride in the role he plays and finds his satisfaction in winning games. The Ironmen are currently 3-1 and would love to put another W on their record on Saturday.
[4]“I just go out there to do my job,” White said. “We’re the first to get blamed and the last to be acknowledged, but you have to have the mindset to do the job. I’m protecting the blind side. The quarterback can’t see who I’m blocking. It always feels good when we win a game.”
Smith says White has an interesting personality, because off the field he’s a very kind person, but at game time that definitely changes.
“He’s a super nice guy,” the coach said. “He’s a gentle giant, but on the field he’s an animal.”
White says switching from nice guy to intense competitor is just a matter of mental preparation.
“Football is a rough sport, and you can’t be nice on the field,” he said. “You’ve just got to have the mentality and do your job, which is to push a grown man from point A to point B.”
In a grinding sport like football, some players reach their 30s and decide that enough is enough and hang up their shoulder pads – but that will not be the case for White any time soon.
He loves football and playing for the Ironmen, and intends to keep doing it for as long as he can.
“I once had a guy tell me to keep playing this game as long as you can, and that’s what I’m gonna do,” he said.
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