 |
| |
|
The Official Web Site of the WVU Varsity Club |
|
|
|
Profile: Tom Woodeshick
Woodeshick, from anthracite coal country in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., showed a willingness to mix it up and play hard despite overwhelming odds. He was standout runner at Hanover High school and was steered to West Virginia University by old Corum teammate Jim Moran. Deep from the heart of Penn State country, Woodeshick admitted that it was difficult to turn his back on his home state school, and his father tried several times unsuccessfully to get him to transfer. "I wasn’t a very popular guy up here when I left to go to West Virginia," he said. Penn State’s loss was certainly West Virginia’s gain. The 6-foot, 195-pound running back rushed for 337 yards as a junior to help the Mountaineers to a more respectable 4-6 record in 1961. West Virginia doubled its win total during Woodeshick’s senior season with an 8-2 record. The Mountaineers’ only two losses were on the road at Oregon State and Penn State. West Virginia upset Pitt 15-8 in Pittsburgh and defeated a pretty good Syracuse team, 17-6 on the road to end the regular season. Woodeshick was one of the key contributors in the Syracuse victory, gaining 93 yards on 19 carries. The Buffalo Bills of the upstart American Football League was so impressed with his performance that they signed him right on the spot. Later in the spring, the Philadelphia Eagles also drafted Woodeshick in the eighth round upon the urging of Hall of Famer Steve Van Buren, and he wound up signing with them, too. "I got a lot of publicity over that," he said. "My God, coming from my area in Pennsylvania – that was my team. That was the place for me. Who wanted to play in the AFL? I figured if I didn’t make it in the NFL, I’d still give the AFL a try." Because Woodeshick was a local hero and was the only player in professional football history to sign with two franchises, he had a bit of a reputation when he went to training camp in 1963. Years later, he still believes that notoriety helped him make the Eagles team. "Being an eighth round pick, it really helped me to go into Philadelphia as a known figure," he said. "I mean, I was the first double-signer in the history of professional football. I was known more for that than anything else I accomplished on the field." Woodeshick, the second cousin of major league pitcher Hal Woodeshick, spent his rookie season playing special teams. He carried the football just five times for 18 yards as the team’s third-string halfback behind veterans Clarence Peaks and Ted Dean. Peaks and Dean were gone in 1964 as part of new head coach Joe Kuharick’s housecleaning, but two new ballcarriers joined the team in Earl Gross, who came from Green Bay, and Tennessee State 18th round draft pick Israel "Izzy" Lang. Nevertheless Woodeshick, now weighing a solid 220 pounds, saw more playing time after an injury to Gross, gaining 78 yards on 18 carries in a game against San Francisco. He finished his second season with 180 yards and two touchdowns on 37 carries. By the second half of 1966, Woodeshick got more playing time after an injury to Lang and he finished the year with 330 yards and four touchdowns. His next three seasons were the most productive of his professional career. In 1967, the hard-charging fullback rushed for 670 yards and six touchdowns. He nearly reached the 1,000-yard mark in 1968 with 947 yards in a season that saw him accumulate 1,225 all-purpose yards. Woodeshick was rewarded for his outstanding campaign with a trip to the pro bowl while also earning AP second team all-NFL honors. Woodeshick had another solid year in 1969, gaining 831 yards and scoring four touchdowns on 186 carries. His three-year total of 2,448 yards from 1967-69 also included 17 touchdowns. He managed these heady numbers despite playing for one of the worst teams in professional football. The Eagles managed just a 12-28-2 record from 1967-69 and had only one winning season (1965) during the nine years Woodeshick was with them. Woodeshick’s 1970 season was cut short due to an ankle injury; he managed just 254 yards and two touchdowns in six games. After the ankle injury the fullback was never the same. Woodeshick lost his starting job to journeyman back Ronnie Bull, who joined the Eagles after spending eight years with the Chicago Bears. Woodeshick gained just 188 yards on 66 carries for a meager 2.8 yards-per-carry average. Disappointed with his place on the depth chart, Woodeshick demanded a trade after the ’71 season. Instead, he was cut during training camp in 1972 and caught on with the St. Louis Cardinals, where he played in four games before retiring after 10 seasons. Woodeshick produced seven career 100-yard games, including a career-high 130 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries against the Los Angeles Rams at Franklin Field in 1969. Woodeshick also had a pair of 129-yard performances against Atlanta in 1967 and versus the New York Giants in 1968. He finished his career with 3,577 yards rushing and 21 touchdowns, ranking 14th on the Eagles all-time rushing list. A few years later after his retirement in 1976, Woodeshick was paid a nice compliment by All-Pro running back O.J. Simpson in an interview for Playboy Magazine. Said Simpson about reaching the age of 30: "About the only runners I can think of who played well at that age were journeymen backs like Bill Brown, Tom Matte and Tom Woodeshick." Today, Woodeshick is an independent marketing representative for Trop World, an Atlantic City casino owned by Donald Trump. He was inducted into the City All-Star Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1995. |
It
was during the depths of a miserable 0-8-2 season in 1960 that
first-year coach Gene Corum realized he had a pretty good halfback
in sophomore Tom Woodeshick. |
This site is the property of the
Mountaineer Sports Network, 2001 |
|