In public, he comes across as a crusty Walt Kowalski-esque grump. Just this last Sunday, he was on Sports Beat Sunday- golfing with his former player (2-time Ray Guy punter) Tom Hackett. One of the first things Whit said to him was that his hat was stupid. 🙂
Whit the person is actually a good guy. I've only had one brief conversation with him in person, and then another time, my wife, my son and I were at a restaurant- and he and some of his family came in. They had a new baby, (Whit's grandchild) and he was a very doting grandpa. My son begged us to let him say "hi" to Whit, and we resisted. When his family sat down, he noticed my son staring at him, and said hello. We finally let him go over, for a minute, and took a picture of them. He was very generous with his time.
My mom works at the Conference Center. She's in charge of coordinating all of the volunteers who help load all of the guests in and out of the building, at all events. My mom personally works at the "VIP" entrance. (Local politicians, emeritus GA's, etc.) Both Kyle and Kalani always have tickets to Conference. She has seen Whit, on many occasions, taking several of his players to the Priesthood Session. (She has also seen Kalani and his wife.)