(NEXSTAR) — Randy White, a Hall of Fame defensive tackle and Super Bowl MVP, is taking on a new fight—one that hits much closer to home. Known as “The Manster” for his fierce play on the field, White spent 14 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, earning six NFC Championship appearances and three Super Bowl trips. But now, he’s working to raise awareness about the deadly dangers of fentanyl after losing his son-in-law to fentanyl poisoning.
Jesse Dempsey, a professional snowboarder, unknowingly took a pill laced with fentanyl, believing it was a prescribed painkiller for a knee injury.
“He was a professional snowboarder. He was a good kid. He was out all day planting trees, and his friend who has a bad knee gave him what he thought was a real pill, and it was laced with fentanyl,” White said.
Dempsey, 42, left behind his wife, Jordan—White’s daughter—who was pregnant at the time, along with their young son. A family torn apart by one pill.
“He went home, and my daughter, if she had to do it all over, she probably might have been able to save his life,” White said. “She didn’t even realize what was going on. That’s why the education part of this to the people out there is so important. If you don’t know what’s happening, how are you going to help them? How are you going to fix it?”
For White, that education starts at home, where he now helps his daughter raise his two grandchildren.
“We have had some talks with my 13-year-old, and hopefully, he gets it. I think it’s important for parents,” White said. “But see, this is the thing. When they said Jesse died from fentanyl, I never heard of fentanyl. I can honestly look at you, and I don’t live in a closet—I’m out around—but I didn’t even know what fentanyl was.”
Determined to spread awareness, White is using his influence in the sports community to educate young athletes about the dangers of fentanyl. He has teamed up with high school coaches across the country to launch Coaches vs. Overdoses, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting the fentanyl crisis.
“The coaches. I mean, they’re the heroes in this,” White said. “I tell you what, these coaches, they’re out there. They’re with these kids. The kids look up to the coach. They’re very influential.”
Through the program, White hopes to equip communities with a “game plan” to tackle fentanyl abuse and defeat overdoses.
“If you don’t know anything about fentanyl, when you get done looking at this, you’re going to have a good idea about what it is, and that’s what we need,” he said.
To young people, the football great’s message is simple but urgent.
“One pill can kill you,” White warned. “Don’t take anything that doesn’t have your name on the prescription bottle. Don’t take it. And anybody that tries to get you to say, ‘Hey man, you’re chicken, you can do this.’ They’re not your friend. Run away from them.”
