Gaylon H. White

Gaylon Hooper White is the author of two baseball books -- Singles and Smiles: How Artie Wilson Broke Baseball’s Color Barrier,published in 2018 and The Bilko Athletic Club, released in 2014.[1] He’s also co-author with Ransom Jackson of a 2016 book, Handsome Ransom Jackson: Accidental Big Leaguer. Rowman and Littlefield is the publisher of all three books.

White graduated in 1967 from the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s degree in journalism-broadcasting. He was a sportswriter for the Denver Post, Arizona Republic and Oklahoma Journal before entering the corporate world and writing speeches for top executives at The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Control Data Corporation and Eastman Chemical Company.

At Eastman, a manufacturer of plastics, chemicals and fibers, he established an award-winning website, the Eastman Innovation Lab,[2] which uses storytelling to bridge the communications gap between the materials and design worlds. He was responsible for a highly acclaimed series of videos called Design Insights that featured thought-provoking interviews with some of the world’s top product designers.

White received a personal recognition award from the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) in 2010 for his support of design education and being a “great builder of bridges” between the manufacturing and design communities. In 2011, White was awarded an honorary lifetime membership in the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA). “At heart, Gaylon White is a storyteller,” Bob Grace of Plastics News wrote on White’s retirement from Eastman in 2012. “Others would do well to learn from his story.”

In 2015 the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) selected him as one of its 50 most notable members from the past 50 years.

Hailed as “one of the best sports books of 2014” by Bruce Miles of the Chicago Daily Herald, The Bilko Athletic Club is about beer-loving, home run-hitting Steve Bilko and the 1956 Los Angeles Angels of the old Pacific Coast League.

Accidental Big Leaguer covers the career of Jackson, a two-time National League All-Star in the 1950s. The book was a grand slam with Allen Berra of the Chicago Tribune, who wrote: “We can only hope that among today’s players there’s someone as sharp and funny as Handsome Ransom Jackson to remember them.”

Singles and Smiles traces Artie’s life from Birmingham, Alabama, where he was born in 1920 to Portland, Oregon, where he lived 55 years until his death in 2010 at the age of 90.

Artie was 30 years old when he quickly passed through the majors with the New York Giants. He started just one game, batting a mere 24 times. He slapped four singles, walked twice, swiped two bases, scored two runs and batted in another to hit .182. He was the 13th black player to appear in the majors after Jackie Robinson broke in with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

Despite his brief stay in the majors, Artie knew from five all-star seasons with the Birmingham Black Barons (1944–48) in the Negro American League that he could play with the best.

One of Artie's teammates with the Black Barons in 1948 was Willie Mays, a legendary Hall of Famer. Ironically, Artie was the player the Giants sent to the minors in 1951 to make room on the roster for Mays.

“Artie Wilson was one of the guys who watched out for me when I played for the Black Barons,” Willie said. “In turn, I watched Artie. That year, he hit .402! That was a lesson in hitting that I always remembered.”

White is a member of the IDSA and Society for American Baseball Research. He and his wife, Mary, live in Kingsport, Tennessee. They have three children and seven grandchildren.

Awards

  • Technology from the heart, 2011 Industrial Design Excellence Awards, Curator’s Choice[3]
  • Making the world safer through design, 2010 Industrial Design Excel Award[3]

Websites

  • "The Bilko Athletic Club". The Bilko Athletic Club.
  • "The-Bilko-Athletic-Club-The-Story-of-the-1956-Los-Angeles-Angels". Rowman & Littlefield.
  • "Homepage - Eastman Innovation Lab". Eastman Innovation Lab.

Articles

  • "PN launches series by Gaylon White". Plastics News. August 19, 2013.
  • Green, Michael Flynn/Opportunity (November 11, 2011). "Insights by Opportunity GreenOG 11 Social Innovation Case Study: HydroPack and Bringing Water Back to Life".
  • "IDSA honors Gaylon White". Plastics News. September 27, 2011.
  • "Eastman soups up design-centric website". Plastics News. September 26, 2011.
  • "White leaving legacy of design innovation". Plastics News. September 26, 2011.
  • "Clean water technology travels the globe, packaged in plastic". Plastics News. May 9, 2011.
  • "When Worlds Collide" (PDF). Innovation Magazine, Spring 2011.
  • "Decade-old flood wall gaining acceptance". Plastics News. September 13, 2010.
  • "Eastman cultivates a niche for working with designers". Plastics News. May 24, 2010.
  • "Insights by Opportunity Green: Redefining the Supply Chain: An Interview with Gaylon White, Part 1". Opportunitygreen#com. 2013-06-27. Retrieved 2014-01-09.

References

  1. ↑ "The-Bilko-Athletic-Club-The-Story-of-the-1956-Los-Angeles-Angels".
  2. ↑ "Welcome to the Eastman Innovation Lab - Home". Eastman Innovation Lab. Retrieved 2014-01-09.
  3. 1 2 "Homepage - Eastman Innovation Lab".
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