Daniel Phillip Wood (May 21, 1946 – May 7, 2020) was a collegiate and professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

coach. He was also a

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

who was the top money winner on the 1996 Senior Series Golf Tour.

Youth

Wood was born in

Elmira, New York Elmira () is a city and the county seat of Chemung County, New York, United States. It is the principal city of the Elmira, New York, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses Chemung County. The population was 26,523 at the 2020 cens ...

and graduated from Ithaca High School in 1964. An outstanding athlete, he was inducted into the school's hall of fame in 2004. He grew up in New York State and attended

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epis ...

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...

for three semesters where he was a three sport (soccer, baseball and basketball) letterman. He transferred to

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

in 1966 and earned his bachelor's degree in sociology in 1968. While at Tufts, he was also elected to

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

and was

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

. Wood was the captain of the Tuft’s 1968 baseball team and also lettered in soccer, basketball and football (placekicker.) He was awarded an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship to study at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

, where he became the soccer and tennis coach and earned a PhD in Education in 1977.

Soccer coach

Over his five years as the Cornell Big Red coach, he took the soccer team to a 52–20–6 record and five NCAA post season appearances. In 1972, Cornell reached the NCAA Final Four where it fell to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. Wood is also famous for recruiting future

United States national team The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

coach

Bruce Arena Bruce Arena (born September 21, 1951) is an American soccer coach who is the head coach and sporting director of the New England Revolution. He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame and the NJCAA Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Arena has had ...

, who was playing on the Big Red lacrosse team, into the men’s soccer team after injuries decimated the team’s goalkeeper corps. In December 1975, Wood resigned from Cornell to pursue a professional career. In 1976,

Booth Gardner William Booth Gardner (August 21, 1936 – March 15, 2013) was an American politician who served as the 19th governor of Washington from 1985 to 1993. He also served as the ambassador of the GATT. A member of the Democratic Party, Gardner previ ...

, owner of the expansion American Soccer League (ASL) franchise

Tacoma Tides The Tacoma Tides was an American soccer club based in Tacoma, Washington that was a member of the American Soccer League. It began play in 1976, but the league folded the following year. It was owned by businessman and future governor Booth Gard ...

, hired Wood as the team’s first, and only, head coach. Despite being in its first year, Wood took the team to second place in the Western Division and a berth in the ASL semifinals where the team lost to the eventual champion

Los Angeles Skyhawks The Los Angeles Skyhawks was a professional soccer club based in Los Angeles, California, that was a member of the American Soccer League. Founded as part of the American Soccer League's expansion to the west coast in 1976, they were the first pro ...

. When the Tides folded at the end of the 1976 season, Wood returned to Cornell to finish his doctorate in education in 1977 and then moved to the Colorado Caribous of North American Soccer League (NASL) as the assistant coach. Wood was promoted to head coach for the last month of the 1978 season, but was unable to replicate his success at Cornell and Tacoma as the Caribous went 8–22 and well out of playoff contention. At the end of the season, the team moved to

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, becoming the

Atlanta Chiefs The Atlanta Chiefs were an American professional soccer team based in Atlanta, Georgia. The team competed in the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) in 1967 and the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1968 to 1973 and again from 19 ...

. Despite his lack of success with the Caribous, Wood was retained by the team management in the move and served for two years as the Chiefs’ head coach. In 1980, he brought David Chadwick, his former Tides assistant coach, in as a joint head coach. When Wood left the Chiefs during the 1980 season, Chadwick replaced him as head coach. In 1984, Wood was the assistant head coach under Chadwick with the Minnesota Strikers, the last year of the NASL.

Golf

Wood, who was an outstanding amateur golfer through all his years as a coach, turned professional in 1980. He entered the club pro ranks in 1985 after several years of competition on various Florida mini-tours. He attained full PGA membership in 1988 and he tied for second in the 1988 North Florida PGA Section Championship, qualified for the

1992 PGA Championship The 1992 PGA Championship was the 74th PGA Championship, held August 13–16 at Bellerive Country Club in Town and Country, Missouri, a suburb west of St. Louis, Missouri, St. Louis. Nick Price won the first of his three Men's major golf champion ...

Bellerive Country Club Bellerive Country Club is a golf country club in the central United States, located in Town and Country, Missouri, a suburb west of St. Louis. With the Old Warson, Westwood, and St. Louis country clubs, it is considered one of the "big four" old ...

in St. Louis, and won the Florida PGA Open in 1995. In 1996, he was the top money winner on the Senior Series Golf Tour and earned his card on the

Senior PGA Tour PGA Tour Champions (formerly the Senior PGA Tour and the Champions Tour) is a men's professional senior golf tour, administered as a branch of the PGA Tour. History and format The Senior PGA Championship, founded in 1937, was for many years ...

. He played the Senior PGA Tour full-time starting in 1997 and in 1998, he had several top-10 finishes, including a tie for seventh at the

U.S. Senior Open The U.S. Senior Open is one of the five major championships in senior golf, introduced in 1980. It is administered by the United States Golf Association (USGA) and is recognized as a major championship by both the PGA Tour Champions and the Eu ...

, one of 52 events that he played on the Senior PGA Tour. In 1998, he led the Senior PGA Tour in eagles and achieved an all-around statistical ranking of 16th among all Senior Tour players. Wood was the golf director and managing owner of the Winter Springs (Florida) Golf Club from 1985–1998. He was the women's golf head coach at

Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca (which is separate from the town), Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and go ...

(New York) until 2015, where he was assisted by his wife Sandra whom he married in 1986 and who was the Women's Club Champion at both the Cornell University Golf Club, the Orange Tree (Florida) Golf Club and the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

Death

Wood died on May 7, 2020.

References

External links

U.S. Senior Open bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Dan Soccer players from New York (state) American soccer coaches American Soccer League (1933–1983) coaches Cornell Big Red men's soccer coaches Lehigh Mountain Hawks men's soccer players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) coaches Atlanta Chiefs coaches American male golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers Golfers from New York (state) Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences alumni Association footballers not categorized by position Lehigh Mountain Hawks baseball players Lehigh Mountain Hawks men's basketball players Tufts Jumbos baseball players Tufts Jumbos men's basketball players Tufts Jumbos football players Sportspeople from Elmira, New York Basketball players from New York (state) Baseball players from New York (state) Players of American football from New York (state) College golf coaches in the United States Ithaca Bombers coaches Tufts University alumni Cornell Big Red tennis Minnesota Strikers coaches 1946 births 2020 deaths Association football players not categorized by nationality Ithaca High School (Ithaca, New York) alumni