COLUMBUS, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 30, 2026--
Fourteen of White Castle’s most loyal and passionate fans were inducted into the White Castle Cravers Hall of Fame yesterday at White Castle’s home office in Columbus. They are the 25 th class of Cravers to be inducted.
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Induction into the Cravers Hall of Fame is the ultimate honor for individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary devotion and love for White Castle. The 14 members of the Class of 2025 joined just 287 other passionate Cravers who have been inducted since White Castle created the Cravers Hall of Fame in 2001.
“Every year, the Cravers Hall of Fame reminds us that White Castle is about so much more than Sliders. It’s about the memories, traditions and connections our fans create around them,” said Jamie Richardson, White Castle’s chief marketing officer. “This year’s inductees represent the very best of that passion, and we’re honored to celebrate the stories that make the Crave truly one of a kind.”
The induction ceremony capped off a two-day, all-expenses-paid visit to Columbus, where inductees were treated to dinner and breakfast at White Castle, a behind-the-scenes tour of the home office and a reception in their honor. They also received a plaque commemorating their special place in the Cravers Hall of Fame.
As part of the ceremony, members of the 2025 class of inductees spent a few minutes talking about their personal connection to the brand that launched the fast-food industry in 1921. The inductees’ stories were sometimes funny, sometimes poignant and sometimes unbelievable, but they were always very personal and heartfelt testaments to the ways in which White Castle has touched their lives and created memorable moments.
Each year, hundreds of Cravers submit their White Castle stories in hopes of being chosen for the Cravers Hall of Fame, and this year was no exception. The judges — a mix of White Castle team members and partners along with members of the family that owns White Castle — carefully reviewed each entry and chose the inductees based on their loyalty to the brand, their creative presentation, the originality of their story and the magnitude of their Crave.
Nominations for the 2026 class of Cravers Hall of Famers can be submitted now through White Castle’s website here.
White Castle congratulates the 2025 class of inductees into its Cravers Hall of Fame
About White Castle ®
White Castle, America’s first fast-food hamburger chain, has been making hot and tasty Sliders since 1921. Based in Columbus, Ohio, the family-owned business owns and operates 334 restaurants as well as a retail division providing its famous fare in freezer aisles of retail stores nationwide. As part of its commitment to offering the highest quality products, White Castle owns and operates its own Slider Provider meat plants, bakeries and frozen-Slider retail plants. White Castle has earned numerous accolades over the years including “Most Influential Burger of All Time” by Time magazine (2014, The Original Slider ® ) and one of the “10 Most Innovative Dining Companies” by Fast Company (2021). White Castle is known for the legendary engagement of its team members and has received the Great Place to Work ® Certification™ for an extraordinary five consecutive years spanning 2021–2026. White Castle is beloved by its passionate fans (Cravers), many of whom compete each year for entry into the Cravers Hall of Fame. The official White Castle app makes it easy for Cravers to sign up for the CRAVER NATION REWARDS ® loyalty program, access sweet deals and place pickup orders at any time. For more information on White Castle and how to Follow Your Crave, visit whitecastle.com.
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White Castle inducted its newest class of Cravers into the Cravers Hall of Fame on April 29.
NEW YORK (AP) — Lindsey Vonn is still recovering physically and emotionally from her frightening crash at the Winter Olympics. For now, the tough decisions about the future can wait.
She has undergone eight surgeries after suffering a complex left leg fracture — one that nearly led to a leg amputation — in the women’s downhill skiing race on Feb. 8. She needs at least one more to repair a torn ACL in that same knee.
So if the 41-year-old races again — and she’s not ready to make that decision — a return is at least a year and a half away, Vonn told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday.
“I just don’t want to jump to any conclusions or even speculate on what I might do,” Vonn said. “I may retire. I may never race again and that would be completely fine, but I’m not in a position emotionally to make that decision at this point.”
Vonn thinks she would have returned to retirement had she been able to complete a comeback season that rivaled one of the best of her career. She ended a six-year absence from the sport largely to race at Cortina, Italy, one of her favorite courses, and the venue for the Milan Cortina Games.
The winner of three Olympic medals, including a downhill gold in 2010, crashed just 13 seconds into the race and suffered a complex tibia fracture, shocking a star-studded crowd and ending a season in which she led the World Cup downhill standings and hadn’t finished worse than fourth in any race.
She’s returned from an assortment of injuries before — she has a titanium implant in her right knee — but this one was different. The pain was different. The eight surgeries are just one shy of the total she had for all the others combined.
“It’s a much different injury in that way, again, like the severity of the injury and understanding that I could have lost my leg and how bad things were,” Vonn said. “I can deal with a lot of pain, but this was so extreme. It’s not even been in the universe of pain with this injury as what I’ve had before.”
Vonn is making progress in and out of the gym, though not as quickly as she would like. She has moved beyond a wheelchair and now is on crutches — she is weary of both — and next week will be able to begin walking short distances.
She is able to travel again, making a trip to New York this week to discuss her support for the biopharmaceutical company Invivyd's “Antibodies for Any Body” campaign, and she has an upcoming vacation planned.
Beyond that, the future is hard to see.
Vonn said she hasn't spoken to her doctor about what a return to skiing would look like, saying they both prefer to focus on this phase of her recovery.
“Regardless, nothing would really happen until '27-28 because I still have one more surgery left to take out the metal and to replace my ACL. That still needs to happen,” Vonn said. “Once I get my ACL fixed, then that’s another six months, so I have at least I would say a year and a half ahead of me before I could really be back to 100%, even just training in the gym.”
Vonn knows there could be risks in a return, and family members don't want her to take them. It was only a day after her crash, when she was still in the hospital, that her father said her career would be over if it were up to him. Said Vonn: “He means the best. He forgot the cardinal rule with me is that if you don’t want me to do something, you shouldn’t tell me I can’t. Tell me I can’t and I’ll prove you wrong.”
Vonn has never shied from taking chances — she raced in the Olympics a little more than a week after tearing her ACL — no matter how they turned out.
“Downhill skiing is one of the most dangerous sports in the world, and that’s a risk that I’ve always taken happily, and this is the result, and I don’t regret it,” said Vonn, who noted she had done all she could to be fully prepped for the race. “I don’t want a do-over.”
But she will at some point decide if she wants to race again.
For now, Vonn said she's focused simply on getting her leg healthy. Only after that's done can she start thinking about a career that may or may not be over.
“I’m still, like I said, in survival mode that I just want to get through this phase and be able to assess where I am in my life,” said Vonn, whose 84 World Cup wins are second-most among women, trailing only teammate Mikaela Shiffrin (110). "And take count of what I’ve done and take count of what could be and make decisions in a much better place than where I am now.
“I don’t want to make a decision now because I think that would be rash and probably too emotional and I don’t want to make a mistake, you know?”
AP Sports Writer Pat Graham in Denver contributed to this report.
AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing
FILE - United States' Lindsey Vonn arrives at the finish area during the alpine ski women's downhill training at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
FILE - United States' Lindsey Vonn is airlifted away after a crash during an alpine ski women's downhill race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
FILE - FILE - Lindsey Vonn, of the United States, poses with all the Olympic medals and Women's World Cup skiing trophies she has won in her career, on March 13, 2010, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta, File)
FILE - United States' Lindsey Vonn crashes into a gate during an alpine ski women's downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
FILE - United States' Lindsey Vonn smiles during a press conference by the U.S. ski team at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)
