White Receives SMU 2009 Distinguished Alumni Award

DALLAS, TX (11/10/2009)(readMedia)-- Branson's Joe. T. White received the Southern Methodist University Distinguished Alumni Award during a ceremony held on Nov. 5. The award is the highest honor the university bestows upon its graduates.

Joe T. White started the Christian-oriented camps called Kanakuk Kamps, which are summer camps dedicated to helping adolescents achieve their greatest potential. Since 1976, he and his wife, Debbie Jo, have operated the camps in Missouri. White now serves as president and chairman of the board of Kanakuk Ministries. The camps host 20,000 campers and 2,500 college-age and professional staff members each summer.

White earned a B.S. degree in biology from SMU in 1970. He was a two-year starting defensive tackle for the SMU Mustangs and received the Mike Kelsey Heart Award. After graduating, he was a football coach at Texas A&M University before assuming responsibility for Kanakuk Kamps. He has received honorary doctorates from Southwest Baptist University in Missouri and Belhaven College in Mississippi, and has authored 22 books for parents and teens.

White expanded his Christian camping vision by founding Kids Across America, which provides opportunities for 7,000 inner-city children, including some from West Dallas, to attend camp each summer. White also founded Cross International, a world relief organization that cares for orphans and the impoverished in 30 Third World nations, and Men at the Cross, a national men's ministry that seeks to "end spiritual fatherlessness" in America.

The 2009 SMU Distinguished Alumni Award recipients include White, Frederick B. Hegi and Cecil Williams. For more information, visit smu.edu/homecoming.

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Editor's Note: A photo is available upon request.

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