James Thomas Woods, Jr. (born June 10, 1943) is a retired American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. He played for the

Kentucky Colonels The Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of ...

during the

1967–68 ABA season The 1967–68 ABA season was the first season for the American Basketball Association. The ABA was challenging the National Basketball Association. The ABA introduced a red, white and blue basketball. They used a 30-second shot clock as opposed to ...

after a collegiate career at

East Tennessee State University East Tennessee State University (ETSU) is a public research university in Johnson City, Tennessee. Although it is part of the State University and Community College System of Tennessee, the university is governed by an institutional Board of Tr ...

(ETSU). He also played internationally for a time after his one season in the ABA. Woods was a

racial integration Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation). In addition to desegregation, integration includes goals such as leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity ...

pioneer in college. When he enrolled at ETSU as a

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

in 1963–64 to play basketball, he became the first African-American player in school history. In a segregated southern United States, Woods was harshly booed early in his college career. His final three seasons from 1964 to 1967, in which he was eligible to play for the

varsity team In most English-speaking countries, varsity is an abbreviation of the word ''university''. In the United States and Canada, the term is mostly used in relation to sports teams. Varsity in the United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, varsity team ...

, saw Woods have an ETSU Hall of Fame career. He was a two-time All-

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern and Southeastern United States, Southeastern United States. It participates in NCAA Divisi ...

Team selection and set still-unbroken school records for

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

in a game (38), career (1,034) and career per-game average (16.2). 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 Senior day or senior night (depending on the time the game is held) is a term used in high school sports and college sports, most notably football and basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players ...

that a local reporter had ever seen. After college, Woods played in the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...

for the Kentucky Colonels for one season. After a brief stint playing internationally, he retired due to an injury. Woods then served as a

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

for the next 30-plus years. In 1996, ETSU inducted him into their hall of fame. 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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woods, Tommy 1943 births Living people American expatriate basketball people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Tennessee East Tennessee State Buccaneers men's basketball players Kentucky Colonels players People from Alcoa, Tennessee Power forwards (basketball) Basketball players from Louisville, Kentucky

See also

References