"The Flying Tomato" - what a great kid. Brian Williams did a segement about him tonight. Can't wait to see him compete.
'Flying Tomato' Cleared for Turin Takeoff
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You don't need a program to identify the teenage sensation from sunny Southern California. Just look for the mop of red hair flowing from under his helmet as he smoothly turns 1080s and other big-air tricks, such as the ones he performed in soaring to X Games gold.
White barely missed qualifying for Salt Lake City four years ago, when gold medalist Ross Powers led a U.S. medals sweep in the halfpipe.
Now 19, White is riding quite the snowy wave into Turin. He won all five U.S. Olympic qualifiers, then picked up two Winter X Games gold medals last weekend.
"Now I have to go to Italy and try to win it there," said White, who can fly as high as 20 feet above the halfpipe's rim. "It's going to be insane over there."
Will it ever, especially if "Il Pomodoro Volante," as the Italians can call him, rules the halfpipe in Bardonecchia in the Alps on Feb. 12.
For the younger generation, White could be the face of these games. He has rock star status and he looks like one, too, with his shaggy locks.
"Yeah, it just grows so fast, keeping it under control is a full-time job," White cracked. "Most people recognize me by my hair, so it's cool."
These days, almost everything about White is cool. He is a free spirit if ever there was one. His nickname was bestowed on him by a fellow rider during a skateboard tour with Tony Hawk in 2001. The full "Flying Tomato" effect comes across better when he's skateboarding, because he wears a smaller helmet and his hair really flops around when he's flying above the ramp.
Still, the moniker captures his looks, his sense of humor and his ability to get really big air — or amplitude, as riders call it.
"'The Flying Tomato' — that pretty much sums it up," said pro skateboarder Andy Macdonald. "He's pretty much a goofball. It's all about having a good time. He's not too worried about who's who and what's what, or what sponsors are cool. He just lets his riding speak for himself. That's the way it should be."
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White grew up in Carlsbad, just north of San Diego. He took up skateboarding first, then started snowboarding after watching his older brother, Jesse, try it. He began entering amateur competitions when he was 7, and got his first sponsorship deal when he was 13.
His parents were supportive, even if it meant having the family sleep in its van or stay at the cheapest hotels while on trips to ski areas northeast of San Diego.
"We have so many crazy stories," White said. "We would drive 2 1/2 hours every weekend to go riding at Snow Summit or Bear Mountain. Those were some of the best times of my life. We would cram into the smallest hotel rooms, sleeping on the beds, floors, bathtubs, just making it happen anyway possible. It was a great way for my whole family to bond. Those experiences really brought us together."
Now he reportedly makes more than $1 million a year in endorsements. He has his own clothing line, a DVD called "The White Album" and appears in the movie "First Descent," about snowboarding in Alaska. He owns three homes and drives a Lexus.
"I don't think about that stuff too often. I'm just having a blast experiencing everything I get to," he said.
"I think it's better to buy real estate than say, a yellow and purple Corvette or an elephant that can speak sign language," White added. "My parents help me out a lot with that stuff. They don't want to see me when I'm 30, dead broke, selling bootleg tapes of my snowboard movies on the side of the freeway."
If he keeps riding like he has this winter, he'll never have to worry about that.
"He is a sports superstar with his feet firmly planted in reality," said Hawk, himself a hero to two generations of skateboarders.