Ron White remembers. At least he remembers pretty much everything he tries to remember. And it’s not just a biological thing. He works at it. He has trained with a Navy Seal to be more disciplined in his efforts to remember effectively. He won the U.S. Memory Championship in New York and is hoping to put the U.S. on the map for the first time at the upcoming world championships. What does it take to be a champion?
In one competition, he reconstructed a deck of cards that had been placed in random order after studying the stack for one minute and 27 seconds. That set a new national record.
In another, he was given a list of 1,000 digits. After being allowed to study the list for five minutes, he recalled the first 167 digits, another U.S. record.
“I’m not a genius,” says White, 35. “I’m not Rain Man. But I’m a very hard worker.”
