How a 30-Year-Old Army Veteran Got Another Shot at College Lacrosse

A T-wall is a 20- to 25-foot steel-reinforced concrete structure used for blast protection. For 11 months in 2020, the T-walls surrounding the Al Asad Air Base in Western Iraq served as perfect rebounders for Henry White.

The former Army men’s lacrosse player used his free time to stay sharp at the sport that allowed him to pursue his dreams. He brought his STX Surgeon stick — he couldn’t sneak a pole into his luggage heading to Iraq and later Kuwait — and played wall ball for hours at a clip.

“I had a particular favorite wall that was very smooth and returned the ball pretty consistently,” White said. “There’s a big incentive to be sharp because when you miss a ball, you have to get it out of a big pile of what they call moon dust, which is just really fine sand.”

The sandy pitches where White fine-tuned his stick skills were a far cry from Michie Stadium. During his deployment in Iraq, White hit the wall as a means of passing the time. By the time he deployed to Kuwait, he had a much larger purpose.

By 2021, White and his wife, Callie, began envisioning life beyond the Armed Forces. He planned to study for his master’s degree in business, and a program in West Point’s admissions office offered him a chance to work and earn his MBA. He was selected as part of the program and narrowed his choices to Duke’s Fuqua School of Business or Virginia’s Darden School of Business.

After a trip to Durham and a chance meeting with Duke men’s lacrosse coach John Danowski in 2022, White made his decision — he intended to get his MBA at Duke and try out for the team. The biggest obstacle? He would play college lacrosse as a 30-year-old.

White played just one season of lacrosse at Army (2014), and his leftover eligibility offered him the chance to play an unprecedented final season of college lacrosse so many years later.

“It felt like I had unfinished business with the game after my time in college,” he said. “There was always that part of me that was like, ‘Man, wouldn’t it be awesome?’ Now it’s come to fruition.”

White has earned another opportunity to be a student-athlete, while Danowski adds a 30-year-old Army veteran with years of experience overseas to his program.

“When you’re serving our country, it’s not a game anymore,” Danowski said. “Most of our men will never be in those situations. There will be opportunities for Henry to say, ‘Hey, listen. This is a game. You’re taking it way too seriously. Back off and enjoy it.’ There will be times where Henry can look back and say, ‘This isn’t pressure, fellas.’”

White and his brother, Walker, always had a fascination with serving the United States — his grandfather served in Vietnam, and they listened to the stories wondering if one day, similar experiences would be in their futures.

He first picked up a lacrosse stick in Richmond, Virginia, eventually transferring to St. Christopher’s as his game developed and he received college recruiting attention. Joe Alberici offered him a chance to pursue his two dreams at Army. His brother had already enrolled in West Point. It was perfect.

White played the 2014 season for Army — a dream realized. He graduated from West Point in 2017 and entered the Air Defense Artillery Corps.

“I was drawn to that commitment to serve early on just looking up to my grandfather,” he said. “Army was just a really good fit for me to check both the boxes. My time playing for Coach Alberici, it was the steppingstone to where I am now.”

White started his six years of service, closing the chapter of his life involving lacrosse. Or so he thought.

White completed his Basic Officer Leader Course in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and headed to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, serving on the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Second Battalion, 44th Air Defense Artillery Regiment — training to intercept low-flying threats out of the air.

While serving at Fort Campbell, he met former Duke women’s lacrosse player Callie Francis. What started as a match on the social dating app Hinge turned into a mutual love for lacrosse and service. Francis’ brother played lacrosse at Navy and competed against White.

In 2019, White was sent to Afghanistan for his first overseas deployment. The next year, he was assigned to Al Asan (with a short stay at Camp Taji) for five months. Three weeks before he left, White proposed to Francis.

“They are thrown into being a second lieutenant or second officer and they are dealing with things I don’t think any 22- or 23-year-old should be doing,” Francis said. “They all do it with such grace and maturity, and that’s what struck me first when I learned about what he does on a daily basis.”

At each stop, White found a way to keep his passion for lacrosse. His STX Surgeon was one of his most valued possessions while in Iraq, and it became a talking point among a unit that featured many former college lacrosse players. 

He also used some of the lessons instilled in him from Alberici as he led a unit of young men in the Middle East.

“There is a year-long buildup where you get to know the guy to your left and your right,” he said. “Once you're there, the expectation is that you bring your best every day because that person’s life depends on you. I draw parallels to lacrosse. In a lot of ways, deployment is like game day, where you bring your best and do your job.”

White returned from Iraq in late 2020, got married to Francis in May 2021 and moved to Fort Sill to complete his Captain’s Career Course, taking command of an air defense battery by the spring of 2022.

In the meantime, White and his wife began thinking about the future outside of the Armed Forces. He knew he wanted to earn his MBA at a reputable university, and he began looking for opportunities in the summer of 2022. In the back of his mind, he wanted another chance at college lacrosse.

He came across an advertisement for a program at West Point’s admissions office that would help pay his way to an MBA program. He applied with few expectations and got the job offer — another dream come true. 

While working at West Point, White applied to programs across the country, but his focus remained on Virginia and Duke.

In October 2022, he visited Durham as part of a veteran’s symposium. The morning of his seminar, White took a run to ease his nerves. He left from JB Duke Hotel, weaving through campus before passing by Koskinen Stadium. As he approached, he saw what looked like Danowski leaving his office. He seized the opportunity.

“I had to shoot my shot,” White said. “I said, ‘Hey Coach, my name is Henry White and I have another year of eligibility.’ I gave him my 30-second elevator pitch and said I’d love a tryout. I thought the odds were stacked against me.”

As it turned out, Danowski had spoken with Alberici that summer about White. He had experience coaching a veteran. Former Blue Devil Casey Carroll returned for a fifth year in 2013 after seven years of military service.

“I knew who he was,” Danowski said. “He was a very impressive young man and very articulate. He looked like a West Point guy. It’s hard not to be impressed.”

After the encounter with Danowski, White was sold. He connected with the team’s strength and conditioning staff and prepared for another shot at college lacrosse, but he had one more mission to complete.

In December 2022, White headed to Camp Arifjan in Kuwait for another six months of duty as commander of a Patriot Air Defense Battery. There, he stuck to a regime of training that would have him ready to suit up when he returned. He wasn’t hitting the T-Walls for fun anymore — he was gearing up to compete for one of the nation’s top programs.

“I paid more attention to this college lacrosse season,” White said. “Playing lacrosse again wasn’t something I allowed myself to get too excited over for a long time, but my wife was so supportive, and I was doing my training as best I could.”

Francis could not contain her excitement about returning to Durham. When White approached his wife about the potential of playing at Duke, she remembered Carroll’s time with the Blue Devils.

“This was a great opportunity to give us some stability,” Francis said. “Who doesn’t want to go to Duke? We knew we needed to get back to Durham. I could not picture myself being on a lacrosse field at age 30 playing college kids, but I understand why he wanted to do it.

“This was a top-five moment of excitement for him, after our wedding day and finding out that we’re having a baby.”

White returned from Kuwait in June in the best shape of his life. The couple moved to Durham in July and White was on campus by August, training for one of the more unlikely college lacrosse seasons in recent memory.

As a 30-year-old college student who hadn’t played organized lacrosse in six years, he knew there would be a gap in experience both on the field and in life.

“Catching over the shoulder, right-handed on the run, full speed was second nature 10 years ago,” he said. “It’s a little bit different now. It’s a very humbling experience, having to focus a lot on those things.”

White was also humbled when players in the locker room asked if a Michael Jackson song came out when he was in high school — or when his teammates could recover and hit the field a little more quickly than he could.

“They don’t miss an opportunity to remind me that my knees may hurt a little bit more than theirs,” he said.

White has found a few ways to bond with his new teammates. After he recently found out his wife was pregnant with their first child (due next spring), he walked into the locker room wearing a “Dad Gang” hat and waited for one of his teammates to react. Zach Jepsen was the first to notice, and a celebration ensued.

As for how the family will balance a newborn with a new opportunity?

“I am hoping to be cheering Duke on at the national championship game with a three-month-old,” Francis said.