It took four flights, 19 hours of travel time and a trip halfway across the country and back, but there was no way Sheldon White was going to miss his son Cody’s NFL debut.
“Being there the first day, even if he didn’t play or dress, he was on the active for that game, I thought it was significant that I be there,” Sheldon said. “If there was any way I could make it, I would.”
White, the former Detroit Lions’ interim general manager, learned his son, the former Michigan State football standout and practice squad receiver with the Pittsburgh Steelers, would be on the Steelers’ game day roster for last week’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals around 4:30 p.m. Saturday, about the same time as the rest of the world, when the NFL posted its daily transaction report.
SHAWN WINDSOR: Lions fans, find solace in this: Microscope is finally on NFL’s saddest fanbase
The problem: White was in the midst of a two-week scouting trip across the midlands in his current role with the Washington Football Team and was due to attend the Iowa-Colorado State game Saturday afternoon.
White bought a plane ticket from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Pittsburgh a day earlier, after the Steelers held receiver Diontae Johnson out of practice a third straight day with a knee injury, but still needed some good fortune to make kickoff.
He got back to his hotel about 8 p.m. after Saturday’s game, set his alarm for 3 a.m. Sunday and was at the airport about two hours before his 6:45 a.m. connecting flight to Detroit.
[ D’Andre Swift ticketed for bigger role after big game vs. Baltimore Ravens ]
Fifty minutes after he landed in Detroit, White boarded a plane to Pittsburgh, and when his flight landed about 11:30 a.m., he hustled through the airport to a waiting rental car and fought gameday traffic on his way downtown.
At 12:58 p.m., 4 minutes before Bengals kicker Evan McPherson sent the opening kick into the end zone for a touchback, White got to his seat, where his wife and other family members had already settled in.
At just that moment, Cody looked up to where his family was sitting in the stands.
[ Anthony Lynn hasn’t spoken to USC football: ‘Focus is 1 million percent’ on Lions ]
“As you’re older, you really start feeling these moments,” White said. “(Former Lions assistant) Daron Roberts is on LinkedIn. He talked about how he got out of coaching because he didn’t like how it was dictating his time sometimes and he was talking about how great it was to take his kids to the bus stop. So my response to him in that LinkedIn was, that’s great because I had three bosses along the way that allowed flexible hours. Matt Millen, Martin Mayhew and Tom Lewand, so really I didn’t miss my kid growing up. There were hours, extended hours when I was away, but if there was an event, I was at most of them along the way.
“So this was another one of those moments. I mean, this is a defining, special moment when your kid’s going to walk on an NFL field for the first time. It’s got some legacy stuff to it, father-son. He’s, for now — even though he was with the practice squad for two years, his second year now and they love him, he loves them and all that stuff; they protected him the first week of the regular season, all that stuff. But now you’re kind of officially a former Pittsburgh Steeler. You’re not a, quote, practice squad/taxi squad guy who was just practicing with them. No, you’re actually a participant and then he put numbers up so he’s got stats. He’s actually in the book as being a former Steeler forever, if that makes any sense.”
COACH GETS COACHED: Meet the guy who keeps Dan Campbell on track with his in-game calls
White marveled at the technological advances that allowed him to make the game, and how that wouldn’t have been possible when he first got into scouting in 1997.
He booked his flight to Pittsburgh on the Delta app, cruised through airport security with his CLEAR clearance, had Cody send him paperless tickets to avoid will call, bought a parking pass from a secondary website that he kept on his phone and used the Waze app to navigate to the stadium.
“One delay, I’m screwed,” White said. “I’m in the airport and I gave it a great shot and, hey, I gave him a great shot and I won’t be upset at myself. But everything had to go correctly with research and development, innovations and IT support to make sure everything’s working fine.”
Cody White made his NFL debut just before halftime, when he ran a hitch route on a draw play.
[ Chris Spielman’s role with Lions involves coaching: ‘The best QC in the league’ ]
He played eight more snaps in the second half and caught the only two passes thrown his way for 17 yards.
After the game, the Whites met outside Heinz Field for a family photo before Sheldon headed back to the Pittsburgh airport for a 7:20 p.m. flight back to Iowa, connecting through Minneapolis. When he landed, he had 3½ drive to his scouting destination the next day.
“All of a sudden you’ve got a Hall-of-Fame quarterback throwing to your kid, he makes his first catch. And obviously, yes, he made it. He wasn’t too nervous, it wasn’t too big for him,” White said. “He plays nine snaps and he catches two balls. That’s a good day. Good day for a guy who was not supposed to play. And to top it off, it was my wife’s birthday, so what a great birthday present.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.