A larger-than-life figure in Aggie football lore, George Woodard has passed away in Arlington, Texas, according to his family. Born Sept. 11, 1955, Woodard was 69.
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Few players captured the imagination of college football fans like Woodard, who was inducted into the Texas A&M Athletics Hall of Fame in 2018.
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Hailing from the tiny southeast Texas town of Cedar Lake, Woodard combined the size of an offensive lineman with the speed of a world class sprinter. That unheard of combination of size and speed at the fullback position in then-head coach Emory Bellard's famed Wishbone offense made Woodard a nearly unstoppable force in the old Southwest Conference.
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When asked how much "Big Woo" weighed during his playing day, Bellard told Sports Illustrated: "I don't know what George weighs. I just know he weighs more than he did at birth but less than King Kong."
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Added then-Texas Tech head coach Steve Sloan: "He's not a fullback, he's a Winnebago."
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Even Texas A&M's legendary athletic trainer Billy Pickard, a member of the Athletics Hall of Honor, weighed in on the subject.
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"Our PE department conducted a test and submerged George in a tank of water," Pickard said. "They found he had only 3% more body fat than a normal person of his build. They told us they didn't think George would ever get much below 260."
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The district champion in the 100-yard dash and the shot put at Van Vleck High School, Woodard was an immediate success at Texas A&M. He set the Aggies' freshman rushing record with 604 yards, which included 100-yard games against LSU, Baylor, SMU and Rice, while helping the 1975 team rise as high as No. 2 in the Associated Press Top 25 and earn a share of the Southwest Conference title.
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He followed his big freshman season by becoming the first Aggie running back to post consecutive 1,000-yard campaigns. Woodard rushed for 1,153 yards with a school record and SWC-best 17 touchdowns in 1976 while helping the Aggies to a berth in the Sun Bowl, and 1,107 yards in 1977 when the team earned a spot in the Bluebonnet Bowl. A freak injury kept him out of action in 1978 and he was limited to just 47 rushing yards as a fifth-year senior in 1979.
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A four-year letterman (1975, 76, 77, 79), Woodard finished his career with 2,911 rushing yards and 35 rushing touchdowns. His rushing total ranked No. 2 in school history when he finished and still ranks No. 8, while his 35 rushing scores were a school record and still rank No. 4.
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Few players captured the imagination of college football fans like Woodard, who was inducted into the Texas A&M Athletics Hall of Fame in 2018.
Â
Hailing from the tiny southeast Texas town of Cedar Lake, Woodard combined the size of an offensive lineman with the speed of a world class sprinter. That unheard of combination of size and speed at the fullback position in then-head coach Emory Bellard's famed Wishbone offense made Woodard a nearly unstoppable force in the old Southwest Conference.
Â
When asked how much "Big Woo" weighed during his playing day, Bellard told Sports Illustrated: "I don't know what George weighs. I just know he weighs more than he did at birth but less than King Kong."
Â
Added then-Texas Tech head coach Steve Sloan: "He's not a fullback, he's a Winnebago."
Â
Even Texas A&M's legendary athletic trainer Billy Pickard, a member of the Athletics Hall of Honor, weighed in on the subject.
Â
"Our PE department conducted a test and submerged George in a tank of water," Pickard said. "They found he had only 3% more body fat than a normal person of his build. They told us they didn't think George would ever get much below 260."
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The district champion in the 100-yard dash and the shot put at Van Vleck High School, Woodard was an immediate success at Texas A&M. He set the Aggies' freshman rushing record with 604 yards, which included 100-yard games against LSU, Baylor, SMU and Rice, while helping the 1975 team rise as high as No. 2 in the Associated Press Top 25 and earn a share of the Southwest Conference title.
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He followed his big freshman season by becoming the first Aggie running back to post consecutive 1,000-yard campaigns. Woodard rushed for 1,153 yards with a school record and SWC-best 17 touchdowns in 1976 while helping the Aggies to a berth in the Sun Bowl, and 1,107 yards in 1977 when the team earned a spot in the Bluebonnet Bowl. A freak injury kept him out of action in 1978 and he was limited to just 47 rushing yards as a fifth-year senior in 1979.
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A four-year letterman (1975, 76, 77, 79), Woodard finished his career with 2,911 rushing yards and 35 rushing touchdowns. His rushing total ranked No. 2 in school history when he finished and still ranks No. 8, while his 35 rushing scores were a school record and still rank No. 4.