Page 10
THE BATTALION
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1979
Woodard
Will the hig man ever play football again?
You’ve heard of the $64,000
Question? Well, as with everything
in our modern-day industrial soci
ety, inflation has hit and the $64,000
Question is now the Multi-
Million-Dollar Question.
And the Multi-Million-Dollar
Question is this: Will George
Woodard ever play football again?
Woodard, Texas A&M’s famed
fullback who has gained more yards
rushing in three years than any
other Aggie has in four, fractured
the tibia of his left leg last June in a
softball game. A senior in eligibility,
he was red-shirted for the 1978 sea-
insight
By DAVID BOGGAN
Battalion Sports Editor
son.
Ever since that summer after
noon, the big question when dis
cussing Texas A&M football has
been “Will Big George be back next
year?” Countless numbers of foot
ball fans have pondered the topic, as
have coaches, players and
sportswriters. And certainly the
question has crossed George’s
mind.
Now, eight months later, the big
fullback from Van Vleck is begin
ning to work out an answer to the
Multi-Million-Dollar Question,
which is actually two questions in
one. First, will Woodard’s leg be in
shape to play football? And second,
will he loose enough pounds to
achieve a desirable playing weight?
Woodard is presently on a work
out program designed to answer
both questions at once. Under the
direction of weight training coach
Emil Mamaliga, he runs on a
treadmill in 10-second intervals
equaling a distance of 40 yards with
20-second rest periods between
each interval.
“He is to the point now where he
can run 100 bouts,” Mamaliga said.
That is the equivalent of 4,000 yards
in 50 minutes at a gait which a
sweating Woodard describes as “the
same steps I would usually take on
Kyle Field.”
Mamaliga also has Woodard on a
program working with free weights.
“He has been faithful in reporting
for his workouts,” the weight coach
said. Woodard usually works out
from two to three hours every day,
including weekends, unless swelling
of his leg or illness prevents it.
“I feel strong on the leg,’’
Woodard said. “I just haven’t got it
strong enough to support my weight
at full speed.”
But doctors’ reports show that the
leg is healthy.
“X-rays show that the fracture site
is healed,” Texas A&M trainer Billy
Pickard said. “They plan to leave
the three screws (placed in the tibia
after the accident) in there for the
foreseeable future.”
The question concerning
Woodard’s weight plagued the big
man even before that fateful day on
the softball diamond. In 1977, when
he was mentioned in the same
breath with the Heisman Trophy,
Woodard was listed in the program
as weighing 265 pounds. But he was
known to tip the scales closer to 280.
A variety of diets was prescribed,
but none of them, for whatever rea
son, worked very long. And with
Woodard unable to work out after
he injured his leg, his weight con
tinued to be a problem.
According to Pickard, Woodard
weighed a maximum of 303 pounds
last fall. Needless to say, that far ex
ceeded Coach Tom Wilson’s re
quirements concerning Woodard’s
playing weight.
“George’s weight is coming
down,” said Wilson, who wants the
fullback to weigh between 250-260
pounds. “He wants to play. His at
titude is super. We are giving him
every benefit of training.
“I can’t sit here and not eat and
expect George to lose weight. He
has to do it on his own.”
is giving it the proverbial college
try-
“Right now I weigh 285,” he said
Wednesday during one of his 20-
second breaks on the treadmill.
“I’ve lost about 15 or 17 pounds
since school started from Christmas
break.
“People call up from all over the
nation asking how much George
Woodard weighs because they’ve
heard so many lies. I heard that an
Austin television station said I
weighed 310 pounds the other
night. Well, just let them say what
they want to say. When it comes
time for me to get out there and do
my job. I’ll do it. People say I can’t
lose weight. I’m going to prove to
everybody that I can do it.”
That, friends, is where the
multi-million-dollar part of the
Multi-Million-Dollar Question
comes in.
VI
7-
At
9?
fi ,'v
He is not presently on a diet, but
with his running program, Woodard
“Pro scouts have told me that if I
show I can lose weight, then that’s a
big plus on my side,” Woodard said.
“Man, I see money every time I
stand on this thing (the treadmill).
Every step I take means money.
Every pound I lose is worth $1,000.
“As I run, I can see myself playing
pro ball. That’s my dream; that’s my
vision. I’m going to play pro ball be
cause I want to play pro ball. A lot of
how I’m going to live when I get out
of A&M depends on right now. ”
But, as Woodard himself admits,
he cannot dream away his excess
pounds overnight and time is a
scarce resource.
“I am going to need some time
For George Woodard it’s fourth-and-long late
in the game. The big fullback presently weighs
285 pounds and is working to reach a playing
weight of 250-260 pounds. Woodard is on a
running and weights workout program de
signed to help him reduce and get
shape before football season. Weight I
coach Emil Mamaliga, seen in the mirror,i|
that he feels Woodard will return to I
j-on. Battalion photo by Lee Roy
Aggie notes
Dickey goes to the Garden
Texas A&M’s Curtis Dickey will
compete tonight in the Melrose
Games in New York’s Madison
Square Garden. Dickey will partici
pate in the 60-yard dash against na
tional speedsters Houston McTear,
Harvey Glance and Jerome Deal.
Texas A&M’s men’s and women’s
track teams will be in Oklahoma
City Saturday to compete in the
Oklahoma Indoor Classic at the
Myriad.
Dickey won a special 60-yard
dash in Los Angeles last Friday
night with a 6.29 clocking. Univer
sity of Texas’ Johnny “Lam” Jones
was second at 6.32, Kevin Williams
of USC and James Owens of UCLA
were both timed at 6.35.
while
A&M
Sharon Duncan
record in the
set a new
200-yard
breaststroke with a time of 2:14.02.
The Texas A&M women’s gym
nastics team will open its spring sea
son tomorrow with the third annual
A&M Invitational Meet at 3 p.m. in
G. Rollie White Coliseum.
Teams entered include Southwest
Texas State, Oral Roberts, LSU, Air
Force Academy and TCU.
Dave Ogrin, a junior from
Waukegan, Ill., who won the Jim
Deaton Intercollegiate tournament
Sunday at Houston Atascocita
Country Club, will lead a five-man
Texas A&M golf squad into the
Pan-American Invitational in
Monterrey, Mexico, this weekend.
The other four Aggies in the
meet, which runs Thursday, Friday
and Saturday, include Jay Kent,
Steve Bowman, Richard Cromwell
and Doug Ward.
Houston won the team title at the
Jim Deaton meet with a 728. A&M
had 740, Texas 754 and TCU 787.
The Texas A&M women’s swim
ming team hosts Arizona and LSU
in a match tonight at 7, while the
men will compete against Arizona
and TCU at 2 p.m. tomorrow.
The Aggies lost to Texas Tech
Sunday 67-46. The A&M winners
were Bob Leland, John Oberto,
Hugo Cuenca and the 400 medley
relay team of George Dallam, Le
land, Ed Kahil and Thad Putnam.
The A&M men, last Friday,
posted a pair of victories over Col
lege of Pacific, 62-33 and
California-Davis, 64-67, at
Stockton, Calif. The women split a
pair of matches, beating Cal-Davis,
74-29 and losing to Pacific, 61-47.
On Saturday, in Palo Alto, Calif,
the men lost to Stanford, 79-16
while the women lost to Oregon,
77-54 and Stanford, 106-36.
Roger Lien and Leland were
double winners for A&M Friday
The Texas A&M men’s tennis
team will host St. Edward’s tomor
row at 1:30 p.m. at Briarcrest Coun
try Club in Bryan.
The Aggies are 2-0 this season
after beating North Texas State and
Rice in the Lamar Invitational
Tournament in Beaumont last
weekend. A&M and Houston
emerged co-champions of the tour
nament when rain washed out the
final match.
and hard work,” he said. “At the
rate I’m going, I don’t think I’ll be
ready for spring training. But I
guarantee I’ll be ready for two-a-
days. I’m going to try to be ready for
spring training.”
“Somewhere along the line we’re
going to have to say if he can or he
can’t play,” Pickard said. “Our job is
to rehabilitate him and get him in
shape to play. At that point, the doc
tors will decide if he is in physical
condition to play.”
The ordeal of the past eight
months has been no low-calorie pic
nic for Woodard, who rushed for
2,846 yards in his first three seasons
at Texas A&M.
“It has been tough,” he said, “but
I can cope with it. I don’t feel like
nobody can say anything to bring
me down now.
But what exactly are people say
ing about Woodard and his attempt
to come back in 1979? Wilson, Pic
kard and Mamaliga each have differ
ing opinions on the subject.
“I’ll be as honest as I can be,”
Wilson said. “I don’t know if George
Woodard will play or not. I would
love to have George back, but I’m
setting my plans to go without him
because I just don’t know if he can
come back.
“He will not come back and be
given a place. He will have to earn
it.”
Wilson said Woodard would have
no trouble adjusting to the
I-formation or a split-back forma
tion.
“George Woodard is a great
athlete,’ the Aggie coach said.
“You’ve seen George run outside
before and if he gets his weight
down I’m sure he can run outside
again (from the split-back forma
tion).”
Pickard expressed some doubt as
to Woodard’s ability to return.
“His future is clouded right now.
I’d think,” the trainer said. “He’s a
senior in college now; it’s time for
him to do something. We’ve given
him every opportunity we can.
We’ve given him all the tools to
work with.”
Mamaliga, who is probably
Woodard’s closest contact with the
athletic staff at this time, said that
his man will be on the football field
next fall.
“Absolutely, no doubt about it.
I’ve had too many with this similar
situation that have come back to
think that George can’t,” Mamaliga
said, citing former quarterback
David Shipman as an example.
Shipman missed his freshman sea
son with a knee injury, but returned
and became a three-year letterman
for the Aggies.
But the most important opinion in
this matter belongs
whose sweat graces the i
of the treadmill.
“I will be. I
Woodard said emphatic!
stepped off the machine.i
want anybody to think Iii|
for nothing.
“I know I can go backu
and play some ball. I mi
can go back out there andlj
than I was before this 1
feel like I’ve got
who knows that but the!
If he’ll just give me thes
keep on going, I’m
That is a very deter
for someone who
and the odds. But then,
tion is what this thing i
George Woodard must I
mined to prove wrong I
and the rumors of others !
be determined to lose !
and get his leg in shape. 1
determined to learn thesis]
new coach.
I hope he does it, butwi
sake of Texas A&M football
coaches or the team or ititl
the press. For the sake oi|
Woodard, I hope George! 1
can answer “Yes’ to tb
Million-Dollar Question.
As Coach Wilson said, III
very interesting to see ifhtl
it.”
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