Michael Jay Woods (November 1, 1954 – May 29, 2009) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

who played three seasons with the Baltimore Colts of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. He was drafted by the Baltimore Colts in the second round of the 1978 NFL Draft. Woods first enrolled at

Ellsworth Community College Ellsworth Community College is a public community college in Iowa Falls, Iowa. It was founded as Ellsworth College in 1890 by Eugene S. Ellsworth. Originally a private business academy, it later became a four-year college, a music conservator ...

before transferring to the

University of Tampa The University of Tampa (UT) is a private university in Tampa, Florida. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. UT offers more than 200 programs of study, including 22 master's degrees and a broad variety of majors, ...

and lastly the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,0 ...

. He attended Benedictine High School in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

Early years

Woods participated in football, basketball and track and field for the Benedictine High School Bengals.

College career

Woods first played college football at

. He then transferred to the

. In 1975, he transferred to the

after

Tampa Spartans football The Tampa Spartans football program was an intercollegiate American football team for the University of Tampa (UT) located in Tampa, Florida, that began play in 1933. The program competed against other small college programs in the forerunner of ...

was discontinued at the end of the 1974 season. He played for the

Cincinnati Bearcats The Cincinnati Bearcats are the athletic teams that represent the University of Cincinnati. Though they will move to the Big 12 Conference (XII) the teams are currently a part of the American Athletic Conference (The American), which from 1979 ...

from 1975 to 1977. He was a first-team All-American in 1977 and the first graduate of the University of Cincinnati to earn All-American honors. Woods recorded 114 tackles as a senior. He was also selected to play in the

Senior Bowl The Senior Bowl is a post-season college football all-star game played annually in late January or early February in Mobile, Alabama, which showcases the best NFL Draft prospects of those players who have completed their college eligibility. Pr ...

. He was inducted into the inaugural Bearcats Ring of Honor in 2006.

Professional career

Baltimore Colts

Woods was drafted by the Baltimore Colts with the 52nd pick in the 1978 NFL Draft. He played in 36 games for the Colts from 1979 to 1981, starting 19.

Shooting

On May 21, 1982, Woods went to a house in Cleveland to retrieve his father from all-night poker game. At the house he was shot in the neck in a robbery attempt. The injury paralyzed Woods, rendering him a

quadriplegic Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is defined as the dysfunction or loss of motor and/or sensory function in the cervical area of the spinal cord. A loss of motor function can present as either weakness or paralysis leading to partial or ...

. 17-year-old Victor Gomez Jr. was arrested within a week. Woods died on May 29, 2009.

References

External links

Just Sports Stats
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Woods, Mike 1954 births 2009 deaths Players of American football from Cleveland American football linebackers African-American players of American football Ellsworth Panthers football players Tampa Spartans football players Cincinnati Bearcats football players Baltimore Colts players All-American college football players People with tetraplegia 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people