Albert White

Chicago (St. Rita)/Oklahoma State

Wrestler

Albert White enjoyed one of the most historic careers of any Illinois wrestler, becoming one of the first 10

individuals who were four-time IHSA champions and establishing a new record for wins as both he and Montini

Catholic’s Mike Benefiel became the first to record 200 victories to cap their careers in 2007. He also had the

opportunity while competing for St. Rita of Cascia High School to be on a state title Dual Team and on three

others which finished third or better.

While injuries affected his chances of continuing his high level of success at the college level, Albert captured a junior college national title for North Iowa Area Community College and also qualified for the NCAA Division

I National Tournament for the first time as a senior while competing for Oklahoma State University. He started

his coaching career at a Georgia college and had two high school head coaching jobs in Oklahoma, which prepared him for the position he currently holds, which is an assistant coach at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Albert is a proud product of the Harvey Twisters Wrestling Club. That prepared him well for his memorable

career at St. Rita, where he assembled a 200-4 record while competing for 2010 IWCOA Hall of Fame inductee

Dan Carroll. He went 50-0 as a freshman and took first in Class AA at 135 in 2004 and was 48-3 as a sophomore

and won the title at 140 in 2005. Albert had another unbeaten season as a junior, going 52-0 and taking first at

145 in 2006 and capped his Mustangs’ career with a 50-1 record as a senior when he won the 152 championship

in 2007.

As a freshman, Albert was a member of St. Rita’s second state title team, which defeated Providence Catholic

27-22 to repeat as IHSA Class AA champions. After claiming third place in 2005, the Mustangs advanced to the

Class AA for the third time and took second place after falling 33-19 to Carl Sandburg in 2006. St. Rita also

placed third in 2007 in his senior season. He was the No. 3 overall recruit in the Class of 2007. In 2006, Albert

was the Fargo Junior Freestyle National champion at 145 and after his freshman season, he placed second at

Fargo.

Albert began his college career at North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City, Iowa, which restarted its

program after a 32-year absence. He won the 2008 NJCAA National Championship at 149 with a 3-2 win over

Colby Community College’s TJ Hepburn to cap a 31-3 season. The team had three national champions and took

fourth place. He was honored for winning a title in his only season at the school by being Inducted into the NIACC

Hall of Fame in 2024. He was a three-time letter winner from 2010-2012 at Oklahoma State, where he competed

for coach John Smith. He got injured in his first two seasons and in 2012, he placed third in the Big 12 Conference

and earned his first trip to the NCAA Division I Tournament.

Following college, he got into coaching at Darton State College in Albany, Georgia and coached the program’s

first national champion. Albert was head coach at Oklahoma’s Edmond Memorial High School and Cushing High

School for two years each and led the latter to fourth place in the 2021 Oklahoma Class 4A State Championships.

In 2021, he joined the staff at Arkansas Little Rock, which is coached by his former Oklahoma State teammate,

Neil Erisman. Albert would like to thank his mother, Donna White, his late father, Thomas White, and all of his

family.