He enrolled at the University of Texas as an Engineering student in the fall of 1931, and made the varsity golf team, playing for coach Harvey Penick.
In February 1932, White scored 252 for 72 holes in the qualifying tournament for the Texas university team, playing at the Austin Country Club (Riverside Drive course), with rounds of 61-64-65-62, winning the Massengill Trophy comfortably; his score in that event has never been challenged, and it may be the lowest ever recorded in the history of golf, over 72 holes on a regulation golf course.
With the world still mired in the Great Depression at that time, and the PGA Tour still in its formative years, the prize money available in golf was still quite low.
From 1936 onwards, White focused on his engineering career, started a family, and played some amateur golf in the state of Texas, all with success.
Penick stated that White had as much talent for golf as anyone he ever saw, drove the ball as long and accurately as Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan did in their primes, and was the best long-iron player he saw until the arrival of Jack Nicklaus on the PGA Tour in the early 1960s.