The Burr Building is the indoor practice facility for the White House Blue Devils, sitting behind the school and attached to the team's fieldhouse and football offices. Built as a stand-alone building, it has since been attached to the fieldhouse and now contains the team's weight room facilities as well as indoor turf and open space for practices, meetings, game preparation, post-game meals and other sports services.

This story was written four years ago and serves as a background for the building and a tribute to the late Burr Howeth, one of the many who have passed on but left a tremendous legacy on the Blue Devil football program and White House community.

By Kris Freeman
White House Football

When the White House High School football program dared enough to dream big, people within the school and community made true the realities of success.

Cramped inside a gymnasium locker room in 1984 with a significant air flow problem, the Blue Devil leadership was faced with the challenge of drilling through an eight-foot concrete wall for ventilation, or just lay the groundwork for a new building. The result was a foundation established not in mortar and wood, but in goals and dreams, which culminated a nearly two decades later with one of the nicest facilities anywhere in the state of Tennessee.

This spring, the program gave back to one of those which gave so much to it - naming the largest section of the complex "The Burr Building," after long-time supporter Randall "Burr" Howeth. The surprise honor was awarded on May 5, 2003 at the annual Robert Covington Steak Supper and Auction, and when the Blue Devils took to the weights and indoor practice facility this fall, it was underneath Burr's likeness above the corner, outer entrance sign.

"I was preparing the auction and had all the auctioneers ready to go, and Coach (Jeff) Porter took the mic away so I knew something was up," said Howeth of the steak supper. "I was shocked and I didn't know what to say. I wasn't expecting that, but my wife and kids knew and helped Coach prepare it."

Howeth, and his wife Patricia of 38 years, became involved at White House High School approximately 1975 with the former White House Athletic Club, a booster for the entire school. Since, he has served in numerous roles for the football program and its current booster, the Quarterback Club, including the last three years as president. His motivation was helping kids - and remains the reason for his intense involvement today.

"My role has been working with kids, not directly, but in conjunction with others to supply the kids with things to make the program work," Howeth said. "My thinking for years, long before White House football, was that if you could keep one kid out of trouble, you have accomplished something in life. Being involved with Coach Porter, the school and the programs, I hope has helped me to accomplish that."

Porter, the head football coach, relies on the strength of a supportive community and fan base to make the program successful - and has seen first-hand the efforts of those like Howeth ensure goals become reality.

"Burr's been the one to make it happen," Porter said of his great friend in the community. "Whatever we have been able to dream in our mind, he has been able to take it out into the community. You can dream all you want to, but if you don't have people like Burr to make it happen, dreams will never come true. Dreaming is fun when you have people in the community who are willing to dream with you.

"I'm thankful for Burr's friendship and his commitment to the young people of this community."

The original building was a weight room adjacent left and behind the high school in 1984, then addition of a locker room in 1987. The first two projects were named the Robert Covington Weight Room and Junior Redferrin Field House. But the "Burr Building" saw its beginning in 1992, the first of four phases on an indoor weight room and practice facility, which is now 80 x 172 feet with 3,520 square-feet of weight room and an 8,500 square-foot area of artificial playing turf, with a gymnasium-tall ceiling.

Now, all three sections are connected. Two under brick, and the largest a white metal facility to the right. The former weight room and locker room is now an expanded locker room, showers, offices, and storage, and a training facility still under renovation.

"I think it's the best high school facility in the state of Tennessee," Howeth said. "We never would have dreamed it would have been like this when we started. We had a little building in mind, and through the efforts of some great people, this developed. There are so many others who have been a part of this and I am just thankful to be able to help the kids."

White House Principal Jeff Cordell, in his ninth year at the school serving both as the principal and an assistant, continues to believe that high school athletics and the kids of the school system reap benefits from active people like Howeth and his fellow contributors.

"People like Burr Howeth are always around, whether it's helping with the auction, or working around the field house," Cordell said. "He means everything to us at White House High. He is always there to help us, not just the football team. He is here for all of us. It is just unbelievable what we have here. They had a vision and they got it."

A large percentage of the building is paid, and when the bill is complete, the price tag including the amenities inside numbers well over $400,000. Through the great fundraising efforts of the Quarterback Club, the money will - and has - come all from within.

As a result, the facility is not just a product for the football program, but for the entire school and community.

"This building is open to all the students of the school and in the community," Howeth said. "The Quarterback Club has paid for it, but the building is great for the whole town. There is not a town anywhere which has a facility like this. "Just think - it's wonderful for the athletic programs and the school," Howeth added. "But if you have a tragedy of some kind, you have a facility for anyone to use and a place for anyone to go."