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University of Miami senior Adam White grew up a sports fanatic in Arizona. In high school, White excelled at baseball and couldn’t imagine himself attending school where he wouldn’t have an opportunity to play. So, when coaches told him he would have a chance to walk on to the baseball team and study sports administration, the decision to become a ‘Cane was a no-brainer.
White’s college experience has been slightly different from others. He travelled more than 2,300 miles from the desert heat in Phoenix, to the tropical humidity in Miami.
“I wanted to take a chance and really see what would happen,” White recalled when making his decision. “I have been blessed ever since.”
White’s blessings were numerous throughout his four years in college. After an unsuccessful tryout with UM’s baseball team his freshman year, White travelled back to Arizona to spend his summer training for the next year’s tryout.
Much like his new home in Miami, Phoenix’s scorching hot summers were only bearable for so long. So, after his morning workouts and baseball games, he found himself looking to fill time while ducking the heat in his home.
With time on his hands, White thought back to conversations with his professors and friends who had started their own blogs and websites. “They told me you should go out, meet as many people as you can, and see what you want to do,” he said.
Little did White know, their advice would lead to the start of a new passion. After heeding their advice, he did some research into what he needed to do to get a website started.
The idea behind his blog was to interview the less-known executives in sports—those who work behind the scenes to bring the game to life. Everyone knows who the athletes are, but the executives who help craft the teams remain virtual unknowns.
Realizing this, White got to work. He added himself to sports groups on LinkedIn and reached out to people in hopes of profiling the people working less glamorous jobs behind the scenes.
White’s first interview was with a director of sports media for the The Sports Quotient, a digital sports media company. Soon, White was doing between two and four interviews a day over the summer, building a social media presence and attracting attention from interested audiences across the country.
When it was all said-and-done, he had racked up 110 interviews in the first year alone. “A lot of athletes have great stories, but a lot of people working in sports have great stories too,” White said.
His idea instantly became a hit. “I had six people give me their emails, and they referred me to six more people who referred me to six more people and the next thing you know, I’m interviewing the vice president of adidas,” he said.
Since then, Front Office Sports – White’s company – has ballooned to nearly 25 volunteer contributors on a monthly basis and will turn three years old in July.
White describes the journey of his company as being an “incredible” one. The same can be said of White’s college experience. In what started as a 2,300-mile journey from Phoenix to Miami and included four years of club baseball and a 3.8 GPA, White’s college career will culminate in a cap and gown at the Spring 2017 Commencement, where he will earn a degree from the School of Education and Human Development.
When asked if he made the right decision about where to attend college, White joked, “I would change maybe losing to Florida State all four years that I’ve been here but there are some things you can and cannot change.”
White plans to continue to build on Front Office Sports once he graduates May 12.
