Shaw High grad runs with Olympic torch

Even though it’s been 20 years since Columbus hosted Olympic softball at South Commons, this year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro has local ties as well.

Columbus native Leroy Duke White, a 2012 graduate of Shaw High School, was selected through a contest held by his employer Nike to run with the torch for 200 meters in Sao Paulo last month during its trek through Brazil.

After graduation, White headed first to Birmingham-Southern College to play football, then transferred to Morehouse College while still playing the sport. It was there where he went to work for the Nike store in the Buckhead area of Atlanta.

“I’ve been working (at Nike) for about two years now, doing product specialty and training,” White said. “This past fall, back in August, they put up a competition for employees to enter to carry the torch for the U.S. and Nike.”

White completed the application process, then took advantage of his high school courses to get a step ahead of the other entrants.

“After completing the application and giving examples of leadership I exemplify in the store, they had an optional creative assignment,” White said. “I made a video. I used a lot of my videography skills I learned from Shaw. Using my background from that, I made the video, and about a month later, I got a call from Nike corporate letting me know I was chosen.

“I didn’t know until later that I was the only one chosen from the U.S. That made it a lot sweeter.”

White spent five days in the Sao Paulo area, running his 200 meters with the torch on July 26.

“The best thing for me was the culture that the country showed, from when I got off the plane to when I got to the hotel,” White said. “Meeting the locals, they showed a lot of love. Soccer’s their main sport, so you can see their passion for that as well. The food was amazing, too.”

Despite not being at the epicenter of the Games in Rio, White was in the much larger city of Sao Paulo for his torch run.

“It’s the same energy there (as in Rio),” White said. “Sao Paulo is just like New York. There’s much more people than Rio, and a lot bigger street presence. That energy that Rio has is definitely matched there.”

The energy came to a head as White made his run, and Sao Paulo welcomed him with open arms.

“It was surreal,” White said. “They had us waiting on the bus at our particular checkpoint. As soon as we got off the bus, there was a crowd of people who rushed us. There were pictures being taken. They asked me a lot about American football just in that small span of time while I was waiting to run my relay.

“Once I got the flame, it was electric from there. Running the relay, pretty much all that was going through my head was one, not to fall, and two, really just taking the pride and responsibility I had for where I’m from in Columbus and representing us, being a pillar for my community and establishing something that down the line my kids can watch and be proud of.”

White and the Nike representatives also performed community service in Sao Paulo at Dida Corrida, an athletic facility.

“It’s run by a woman who started it after her two sons passed away,” White said. “It’s a camp in the center of the community where kids and their parents come to work out and have different activities. They brought us in to share our experience with Nike and the influence with soccer. We did a lot of physical activities with the kids, and it was a great chance to them to learn English. In return, the kids taught me Portugese. That experience was amazing.”

Despite the articles circulating about Brazil’s crime rate and the threats from the mosquito-transmitted Zika virus, White says his experience was nothing but positive.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve traveled abroad,” White said. “Crime is everywhere. The whole time I was there, I didn’t feel unsafe or threatened. It’s all about how you prepare and present yourself.

“The locals don’t worry about Zika, and they don’t really talk about it. But I took precautions, like wearing bug spray, and I was fine. I didn’t worry about it once.”

White has continued his success with Nike and is now headed for the University of Oregon for graduate school, where he will be in a sports product management and science program through the company.

This story was originally published August 4, 2016 at 9:54 PM with the headline "Shaw High grad runs with Olympic torch."