Ronnie White, one of the most respected and influential members of The Huntsville Times sports department for more than four decades during the newspaper's heyday from the mid-1960s until the late 2000s, died last Saturday following a lengthy illness under the care of Amedisys Hospice.

He was preceded in death by his parents, William Thomas White and Christine White; and two brothers, Don White and Gary White. Survivors include his wife, Sherry Adcock White; two sons, Ron White (Tabatha) and Rodney White (Rita); daughter Courtney Jeffreys (Cole), and stepson Jeff King; a sister, Judy Byars (Gwin); grandchildren: Mary Clair Henson (Zach), Zac White, Savannah Jeffreys and Taylor Yelverson; great-grandson Iver Henson, along with a niece and nephews and other family members.

A Celebration of Life Service will be Thursday at the Berryhill Funeral Home chapel, beginning with visitation at 3 p.m. followed by the service. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Huntsville-Madison County Senior Center's Rock Steady Boxing, to Walk to End Alzheimer's (the world's biggest event to raise awareness for Alzheimer's care, support and research), and to the Parkinson's Disease Foundation of Huntsville.

"Everybody who ever knew Ronnie, and I knew him better than most people, is going to really miss him," said his longtime friend and fellow racing enthusiast, Buster Walker. "He was like a younger brother to me, and he was a great racing writer whether he was covering the short tracks or the major speedways."

The first stock car race Ronnie White ever covered happened to be the first stock car race he ever saw. It was the Daytona 500 in 1967, the same year he joined the sports staff of The Huntsville Times after working two years at the newspaper as a copy boy, the most thankless job in the building, while still playing high school football at Madison Academy. More than four decades later, White was still covering auto racing, writing stories for the paper and serving as the chief scorer at the historic short track Huntsville Speedway, even though he officially retired in 2009.

By unofficial reckoning, Alabama's "dean of short track racing" covered more than 5,000 races in his long career. White was a up-close witness when the original Alabama Gang - Bobby and Donnie Allison and Red Farmer - was first making news on both the big tracks and short tracks of the Southeast.

He knew and interviewed many other drivers who went on to compete at the highest level of NASCAR, including Davey Allison, Neil Bonnett, Dale Earnhardt Sr., Darrell Waltrip, Rusty Wallace, Cale Yarborough, Sterling Marlin, and local favorite Jimmy "Smut" Means, who was inducted into the Huntsville-Madison County Athletic Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2009. His friend Ronnie White was inducted into the same Hall of Fame three years later as a member of the Class of 2012.

"I grew up in Huntsville knowing Ronnie and knowing his work at The Huntsville Times because he was the racing authority of Huntsville Speedway," said Means, now a resident of Forest City, N.C., after learning of his friend's passing. "The city of Huntsville and that little quarter-mile track down by the Tennessee River were better places because Ronnie lived here."

Born in Chicago, Ronnie White moved to Huntsville with his family in 1954 and has been a resident ever since. Although best known for his racing coverage, he was also an award-winning outdoors writer, and later served as The Times ' managing sports editor for more than two decades. He was elevated to systems editor for the last several years of his long career following the paper's transition to laptop computers after printing its seven-day-a-week editions for decades while relying on linotype machines and hot-metal type.

A voting member of the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, White was also a recipient of the Maxwell House Real Hero of NASCAR Award for his efforts to improve the quality of life in his commitment through such organizations as the Salvation Army, Special Olympics, the Huntsville Boys and Girls Club, the Madison County Commissioners' Youth Fishing Rodeo, United Way, and the Metro Huntsville Kiwanis Club.

In 2002, Ronnie was one of the first recipients of the Publisher's Club Award, which was established by The Huntsville Times' late publisher, William C., Green. White always considered it one of his finest honors.

While he was serving as The Times' outdoors writer, White was named the 1978 Conservation Communicator of the Year by the Alabama Wildlife Federation and the National Wildlife Federation. He won numerous writing awards in racing and outdoors in his career. One year, he won not only first place in the racing category but also second and third. In 1992, he received the Huntsville Track Club's prestigious Media Award.

White always credited his writing successes to two of his role models at The Huntsville Times , Bill Easterling and John Pruett. "I was also fortunate," he said, "to work with a lot of talented folks like Al Burleson and James Magness."