great white hope

Idioms  

1. Something or someone that is expected to succeed. For example, Mark is the great white hope of the international division. This expression dates from the early 1900s, when heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson, who was black, seemed invincible and the term was used for any white opponent who might defeat him. It gained currency as the title of a Broadway play and later (1970) a film. By then it had been transferred to anyone of whom much was expected.

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Example Sentences

“He became the banner, the poster child for the great white hope of evangelicalism, the salvation of the church in America,” she said.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 10, 2021

But Voeckler has been superbly supported by his colleagues, notably the 24-year-old Pierre Rolland, who was once feted, like so many young French riders, as the great white hope.

From The Guardian • Jul. 18, 2011

On Mr November, Alligator's rousing closer, Berninger sings "the English are waiting", and promises that as "the new blue blood, the great white hope" he will not disappoint.

From The Guardian • Apr. 22, 2010

He never bragged, never proclaimed that he was the great white hope or the straw that stirred the drink.

From Time Magazine Archive

What has become of the great white hope -- the man who saw the writing on the wall, dismantled the bars of apartheid and promised to shape a new South Africa?

From Time Magazine Archive