- 1stSgt. Christopher Borghese

2012 ORIGINAL INDUCTEE OF THE MILITARY DRILL HALL OF FAME

Mr. Donovan White
The name Donovan White has been synonymous with military drill excellence for decades. This in itself is an amazing feat as Mr. Donovan White lives on a very small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, isolated from the rest world. As the premiere driller on the King's Guard Drill Team from Honolulu, Hawaii for over a decade, the living legend that is Donovan White is a man that has had fame hoist upon him - it was and still is not something he has ever sought!

Donovan White joined the King's Guard drill team in 1990. He is an imposing figure with hands that look like they could crush a rifle as much as make it sing - and sing it does in his hands. He is quiet bordering on reserved - until he gets to know you, then the real Donovan comes out. Playful, fun-loving and with a great sense of humor, these attributes make Donovan While a great driller but even more important in some respects, a great teammate to the King's Guard Drill Team as well. He remains an icon within the drill community with young drillers from around the world constantly trying to emulate his unique blend of power, precision and flow to everything he touches - wishing they could innovate and create in a small fraction the way Donovan does.

Donovan's style is unique. He drills with a "controlled fury". Watching Donovan White move a rifle often leaves the viewer forgetting to breath. The rifle does not simply spin, it moves violently in all directions with a controlled beauty. If you have never seen Donovan White drill, this video shows Donovan White drilling with a bayonet for the first time event - no practice, no "get back to me in a week when I have a chance to work with this thing". The humble man simply drills like nobody that ever ever walked the Earth.

As the Drillmaster of the King's Guard for over a decade, Donovan maintains a position of deserved honor and reverence. Having traveled around the world with the King's Guard, Donovan finds no more appreciative audience than when he and the Guard perform on the main stage at the National High School Drill Team Championships. With three thousand drill enthusiasts watching there every move, Donovan and the Guard always put on one of their best shows in the eyes of the Nationals cadets. The King's Guard were the first performance drill team of any kind to ever perform on stage at the Master's Level Awards Ceremony and to this day, remain the finest single performance ever witnessed.

Without any question, the King's Guard has maintained the single biggest influence on the sport of competitive JROTC drill around the world. So many of the movements found in drill tody had their origins within the fertile minds of the King's Guard and were often perfected by Mr. Donovan White. A Drill Hall of Fame could NOT even be considered legitimate without the inclusion of maybe the most electrifying driller that has ever walked the planet. We are honored to maintain Mr. Donovan White as an inductee as an initial member of the national Drill Hall of Fame.