Bucs Go Beyond: Toward the North Star

Being the first Black player on the ETSU men’s basketball team was an accolade Tommy Woods did not realize was his until arriving on campus in 1963.

“All I cared about was winning the game and winning for my school,” Woods said. “Yeah, I could jump a little higher, but I didn’t see myself as an excellent player…just equal to my teammates.”

And despite the racial unrest of the early 1960s unfolding off the courts, Woods said his new teammates treated him as equal, “the same as everyone else,” he remembers.  In fact, he says his teammates were a strong support network during times when others made Woods feel less than equal.  

Woods proved to be a valuable member of the Bucs in his 64-game career, scoring 979 points. He became a two-time all-Ohio Valley Conference selection and finished his ETSU career with the record for the most rebounds all-time (1,034) and rebounds per game (16.2).  

It was during the 1964-65 season playing Middle Tennessee State University when Woods notched a place in ETSU history by getting 38 rebounds in a single game.

But it wasn’t always cheers he heard from the stands, at least in the beginning. There were times he made a shot and would be subjected to boos from the student section. Once, someone shouted he should go back from where he came.

“I knew why some people felt this way, but it bothered me because I had not done anything wrong to them,” he recalls. At some away games, the team had to receive a police escort when leaving town.  

However, things eventually got better, especially as other Black athletes arrived, including Woods’ brother, Butch, who also played basketball.

It was a sports commentator who first coined him “the Big Dipper,” a name that has stuck for 60 years.

Following his time at ETSU, Woods played a season in South America and returned to the states and played one season in the American Basketball Association league with the Kentucky Colonels. From there he served two years in the U.S. Army where he progressed through the ranks as an E-5 Sergeant.  

He would go on to spend 22 years working as a police officer in Louisville, Kentucky, and six years working security for the mayor of Louisville. Of course, he kept playing basketball, whether as a coach at Lincoln Elementary School or through a league with the police department.

“I had been playing ball since I was a kid, but by the time I reached the age of 60, I decided it was time to stop running up and down the courts,” he laughed.

Though the Big Dipper has taken a seat on the sidelines, he is still a headliner. In 1996, he was inducted into the ETSU Athletic Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in  2021, the same year he was the first recipient of the Woods-Russaw Trailblazer Award. The ETSU Department of Intercollegiate Athletics named the Buccaneers’ men’s basketball locker room in honor of Tommy Woods.

There was one other moment, an occasion that still sends chills down his arm when he talks about it.

It happened earlier this year when Woods returned to Johnson City. ETSU had announced that it would retire Woods’ number 22 jersey. Woods was there for the ceremony, which took place February 8 at Freedom Hall.

“Seeing the crowds in the stands, knowing my jersey was being retired…I felt like I was walking on air,” Woods recalls. “It was an indescribable feeling, and I could not ask for anything more.”

Upon the retirement of his jersey came the announcement of the new Big Dipper Trailblazer Scholarship, named in honor of Woods.

“If I had not gotten a scholarship to attend ETSU, I would still be back in Alcoa, probably working at ‘the plant,’” he said. “Coming to college gave me more opportunities than I could ever have imagined, and now we can make these same opportunities happen for less fortunate athletes just like me.”

This initiative is being spearheaded by Woods’ granddaughter, Rev. Nachia Tellis.

“Growing up, I would go to my grandfather’s house and see the trophies and photos but I never thought much about it,” she said. “As I got older, I would sit with him in his living room and listen as he shared stories about what he had experienced. And I thought, if he can overcome those obstacles and heartaches and come out with such motivation to do good in the world, then I had no excuse.

“I’m a chaplain, and I encourage people to leave a legacy,” she added. “When we are gone, I want the world to remember what my grandfather did, and the scholarship will pave the way for people who are less fortunate. It’s time to pass the torch.”

Support the Big Dipper Trailblazer Scholarship

By Joe Smith | Photo by Scott Bowers