Staff report

A Warren native will be honored in Cooperstown this summer.

Bill White was named the recipient of the John Jordan “Buck” O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum announced on Monday.

“From a young man born in Florida, educated in Warren, Ohio who took the opportunity to raise extra cash to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a doctor, I’d like to take the time to thank the Hall for recognizing my contributions to the sport,” White said in a news release.

White, 92, will be honored at the Hall of Fame Weekend’s Award Presentation on July 25.

The Buck O’Neil Award was created in 2007 to “honor an individual whose efforts broadened the game’s appeal and whose character, integrity and dignity is comparable to the late O’Neil.” The honorees are chosen by the Hall of Fame’s Board of Directors.

White is the seventh winner of the award. Roland Hemond (2011), Joe Garagiola (2014), Rachel Robinson (2017), David Montgomery (2020) and Carl Erskine (2023) were the other recipients.

He was the National League’s president from 1989 to 1994 and was one of the highest-ranking black executives in American sports at the time.

He helped desegregate several leagues while playing minor league ball, including the Carolina League in 1953, as he became the league’s second black player.