A basketball player from Ephrata High School, Whitey played one year at Penn State before serving as a paratrooper in World War II. He played 1946-47 for the Lancaster Red Roses in the Eastern basketball league and led the league in scoring averaging 23 points per game.
He also played professional basketball three years with Tri-City and midway through his third season with Tri-city his coach Red Auerbach traded him to the NBA Baltimore team. where he played 1949-1950 and averaged 6.2 points per game. He ended his professional basketball career by playing 1950-1953 with the Lancaster Red Roses. He coached the Roses in the Eastern league and also coached two years at Elizabethtown college.
In June 2022, he was recognized by the NBA Retired Players Association as the first former NBA player to reach 100 years of age.