He was making splash plays like scoring touchdowns and making sacks.” “When he went back to Oakland for his last few years, he was still one of the best. “Once he went to Green Bay, he got serious about his legacy and he went to the next level,” said Marcus Ray, a teammate at Michigan and with the Raiders. The Raiders didn’t want him back and Green Bay was essentially his only option in free agency. Woodson was limited to six games because of a broken leg in 2005, the eighth season of his first stint in Oakland. “It was slim pickings for me as a free agent,” he recalled. Unlike a lot of Hall of Fame players in the free-agency era, though, Woodson was not wanted when he was on the market. Woodson won the 2009 Defensive Player of the Year award after making a career-high nine interceptions, helping him earn a spot on the NFL’s All-Decade team. He helped the Packers win the Super Bowl over Pittsburgh in February 2011, eight years after coming up short in a Super Bowl with the Raiders against Tampa Bay. Woodson was an AP first-team All-Pro four times, and was on the second team in four other years. 4 overall in 1998 and he was recognized as the league’s top rookie on defense after making 64 tackles, five interceptions and forcing two fumbles. Woodson beat out Peyton Manning, a fellow Hall of Fame inductee, for the Heisman as the first and only one to win the award after playing primarily defense. Woodson lifted the Wolverines to the national championship in the 1997 season, their first in nearly four decades, with a win over Ryan Leaf-led Washington State in the Rose Bowl. Tall and lanky in his teens, Woodson was a running back and defensive back at Fremont’s Ross High School in northwestern Ohio and he bolted from the Buckeye state to play for the Wolverines.Īt Michigan, head coach Lloyd Carr lined him up at cornerback and also let him carry and catch the ball on offense, along with returning kickoffs and punts. Woodson was also one of the best football players of all time, joining Hall of Fame running back Marcus Allen as the only players to win a Heisman Trophy, Associated Press Rookie of the Year, AP Player of the Year and a Super Bowl. “His legacy is more than just a football player,” said Scotty Passink, a close friend. This year, he added Woodson Bourbon Whiskey to his lineup of business interests. Over the past two decades, Woodson has been part of a team that has made and sold wine that bears his name after being exposed to the industry in Napa Valley during training camps early in his career with the Raiders. “It will contribute to saving lives in the future.” “It is truly a special thing that he has created here at Michigan Medicine,” said Dr. With Woodson’s money and donations from the public, researchers in Ann Arbor, Mich., are developing the technology to preserve a heart for a day instead of just several hours for transplants.
“The opportunity to help save lives, I think that’s really at the root of it,” he said. Woodson aimed to attract the world’s best researchers to help children. He donated $2 million in 2009 to the new University of Michigan Mott Children’s Hospital and Women’s Hospital, creating the Charles Woodson Clinical Research Fund. Woodson, 44, has brought joy to countless people in Ohio, Michigan, the Bay Area, Wisconsin and beyond with his play on the field and his mission off it to build a legacy that transcends sports. With Oakland Raiders (1998-2005 2013-15), Green Bay Packers (2006-2012):ġ1 touchdowns on defense (second all-time)Ħ5 career interceptions (fifth all-time) See More Collapse
0 kommentar(er)
