Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 2022
- Class:
- 1978
Pete Woods was an outstanding two-sport athlete at Mizzou in the late 1970s who starred at the high-profile positions of quarterback in football and pitcher in baseball. On the gridiron he engineered two of the biggest upsets in MU football history – 22-21 at #2 Ohio State and 34-24 at #3 Nebraska. In Columbus, the Tigers trailed 21-7 at halftime before mounting a second-half rally, closing to within 21-14 late in the fourth quarter. With just 16 seconds remaining in the game, Woods faced a third-and-goal situation. He took a short drop and lofted a pass to the corner of the end zone that was caught for a TD by Leo Lewis. Coach Al Onofrio went for two, but a Woods pass intended for Curtis Brown fell incomplete. The Buckeyes, though, were called for defensive holding and the Tigers got a second chance. Woods called his own number, optioning down the line to his left, avoided two defenders and dove into the endzone. Later that season, Mizzou upset #3 Nebraska in large part thanks to Woods’ 98-yard TD pass to Joe Stewart – the longest pass completion in MU and Big Eight Conference history. Woods is the only quarterback in school history with two wins over top-three ranked teams and joins Phil Bradley as one of only two Tiger QBs ever with two wins over top-five opponents. He led Missouri in passing in 1976 and ’77 and total offense in ’76 and was the Big Eight player-of-the-week three times in his career. He played in the Blue-Gray Football Classic in 1977 as well as the Hula Bowl in 1978, then was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs with the 104th pick. He played parts of four seasons with the Chiefs, Denver Broncos, Cincinnati Bengals and Miami Dolphins. In baseball, Woods lettered for Coach Gene McArtor in 1975 and ’76, posting a 1-0 record and a 2.19 ERA in three starts in ’75, then tied for the team lead in wins the following year when he was 8-1 on a Tiger team that went 46-22, won the Big Eight title and advanced to the NCAA Regionals. In 1982, he worked alongside Bill Wilkerson as the color analyst on the Mizzou Radio Network for Tiger football broadcasts. Woods graduated from Washington University Law School in 1984 and is managing partner at Haar & Woods, LLP, where he has been repeatedly recognized by the Best Lawyers in America in the practice areas of Commercial Litigation and Family Law and as a Missouri-Kansas Super Lawyer in Business Litigation. The University City native has volunteered for numerous organizations including the St. Louis Sports Commission, the NFL Players Association, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Reconcilers, Inc., and Missouri St. Louis. He was inducted into the State of Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.
