Career
Woods was a racial integration pioneer in college. [2] When he enrolled at ETSU as a freshman in 1963–64 to play basketball, he became the first African-American player in school history. [3] In a segregated southern United States, Woods was harshly booed early in his college career. [3] His final three seasons from 1964 to 1967, in which he was eligible to play for the varsity team, saw Woods have an ETSU Hall of Fame career. [4] He was a two-time All-Ohio Valley Conference Team selection and set still-unbroken school records for rebounds in a game (38), career (1,034) and career per-game average (16.2). [3] By the end of his career, the same fans who had been booing him as a freshman were giving him "loudest and longest" standing ovation on senior night that a local reporter had ever seen. [3]
After college, Woods played in the American Basketball Association for the Kentucky Colonels for one season. [1] After a brief stint playing internationally, he retired due to an injury. [3] Woods then served as a police officer in Louisville, Kentucky for the next 30-plus years. [3] In 1996, ETSU inducted him into their hall of fame. [4] On November 3, 2012, in a ceremony prior to the school's 2012–13 season, the men's basketball locker room was named in his honor. [3]
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