Wood playedcollege football for theUSC Trojans, becoming the first blackquarterback to play in what is now thePac-12 Conference. Undrafted out of USC, he was granted a try-out with Green Bay. Wood changed his position to safety in his rookie year, and played for the Packers from 1960 to 1971, winning five NFL championships. He later coached in the NFL,World Football League (WFL), andCanadian Football League (CFL).
Wood was not selected in the1960 NFL draft, and wrote a letter to head coachVince Lombardi to request a tryout;[7] the Packers signed him as a rookiefree agent in1960. After a few days with the quarterbacks, he requested a switch to defense and was recast as afree safety, and was astarter in theseason. He started until his retirement in1971.
Wood won All-NFL honors nine times in a nine-year stretch from1962 through the1971 season, participated in thePro Bowl eight times, and played in sixNFL championship games, winning all except the first in1960.
Wood finished his 12 NFL seasons with 48 interceptions, which he returned for 699 yards and two touchdowns. He also gained 1,391 yards and scored two touchdowns on 187 punt returns. He holds the record for the most consecutive starts by a safety in NFL history.[12]
After retiring as a player in January 1972,[13] Wood became the defensive backs coach for theSan Diego Chargers. In1975, he was the defensive coordinator of thePhiladelphia Bell of theWFL and became thefirst African-American head coach in professional football of the modern era in late July, days before the first game of the season.[15] The Bell's season lasted only 11 games when the league folded in October.[16]
Wood was later an assistant coach for theToronto Argonauts in theCFL underForrest Gregg, a Packer teammate. When Gregg left after the1979 season for theCincinnati Bengals in the NFL,[17] Wood became the first black head coach in the CFL, but after an 0–10 start in1981, he was fired.[18][19]
Wood later lived in Washington, D.C., and underwent replacement knee surgery.[21] In his later years, he haddementia.[19][22][23] Wood died of natural causes on February 3, 2020, at anassisted living facility in Washington, D.C., at the age of 83.[24][25] An autopsy conducted by a Boston University neuropathologist found that Wood had severe (stage 4)chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease linked to repeated hits to the head.[26] He is one of at least 345NFL players to be diagnosed after death with this disease.[27]
^"Trojans to meet Tar Heels tonight".Spokane Daily Chronicle. Washington. Associated Press. October 3, 1958. p. 13.Archived from the original on May 13, 2016. RetrievedJanuary 13, 2016.
^Kuechle, Oliver E. (January 16, 1967)."Interception vital".Milwaukee Journal. p. 15, part 2.Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. RetrievedJanuary 13, 2016.
^Clines, Frank (August 3, 1989)."Wood shrugs off interception".Milwaukee Journal. p. 6C.Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. RetrievedJanuary 13, 2016.
^"Argonauts tab Wood".Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. January 4, 1980. p. 26.Archived from the original on April 27, 2016. RetrievedJanuary 13, 2016.
^"Toronto fires Willie Wood".Afro-American. Baltimore. September 26, 1981. p. 10.Archived from the original on May 1, 2016. RetrievedJanuary 13, 2016.
