Woodys history

RRFC Active A-side player 1969-1993
RRFC Player: Most Valuable Forward 1973, 1980
RRFC Player: Most Valuable Back 1976
RRFC Coach: 1974 -’75, 1980, 1985
RRFC President: 1988
RRFC Player: Captain 1978
VRU Player: Multiple Appearances 1975-1990
Lead The Virginia Gentlemen RFC 1988 Irish Tour
Aspen Highlanders Player: Led Highlanders to win the Aspen RuggerFest All Star Old Boys (Group 55+)

"The Greatest Punch-Out Ever against Montalban in '78. Other than that he was the best athlete I ever played with in any sport. Calm leader on and off the pitch ... for decades." John Goodale

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Woody was introduced to rugby in 1968, his senior year at Randolf Macon College
Richmond Rugby Football Club where he was a constant force at #8 on the A side for the next 24 years.
Setting the tone for a glamorous career, he spent the summer of 1969 in Hawaii playing for the Hawaii Harlequins and returned to Richmond for the fall season and in time for Richmond RFC’s first ever international match verses Richmond Rugby Club.
1975 toured England with VRU Select Side winning 2 out of six matches.
1975 toured Bermuda winning 3 matches and losing 3 matches against the Bermuda National team with Woody scoring 5 tries.
1980 Traveled to Ireland with the VRU Select side
Was a on the VRU Select side From the first match in through the early 80’s
1981Won the Cape Fear 7’s Tournament
1988 Virginia Gentlemen RFC to Ireland
Coached Richmond for five years
Served as club president
Woody played 751 matches and scored 2330 points.
Woody broke his nose 4 times, suffered four broken ribs and a collar bone and had blood poisoning once.” Danny Patterson
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Dr. Woolfork is being nominated for induction to the Commonwealth of Virginia Rugby Hall of Fame. We know that Woody was a good player but here are lesser-known Woody Fun Facts:
He spent the summer of 1969 in Hawaii playing for the Hawaii Harlequins.
He was #8 on the RRFC A-side for 24 years.
He was awarded the coveted GPE* in 1979 while playing against touring side from Montalban, France *Greatest Punchout Ever
He ranked fifth nationally in decathlon, age-group 65-70 Danny Patterson
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" He ran track for Randolph Macon. To this day at 76 he still participates in a senior Olympics. He has never drank or did drugs, so I rode with him on lots of away games. He drove a Winnebago full of rugby players 3/4 of the way to Saranack Lake and drove the whole way back. The only third row that I ever played with that was better than Woody was maybe Lambo(Gary Lambert, world class American loose forward), but even he was no faster."Pete Sweet He ran track for Randolph Macon. To this day at 76 he still participates in a senior Olympics. He has never drank or did drugs, so I rode with him on lots of away games. He drove a Winnebago full of rugby players 3/4 of the way to Saranack Lake and drove the whole way back. The only third row that I ever played with that was better than Woody was maybe Lambo(Gary Lambert, world class american loosey), but even he was no faster. As a side note; He went to school and knew Monk ever since the 5th grade. He ran track for Randolph Macon. To this day at 76 he still participates in a senior Olympics. He has never drank or did drugs, so I rode with him on lots of away games. He drove a Winnebago full of rugby players 3/4 of the way to Saranack Lake and drove the whole way back. The only third row that I ever played with that was better than Woody was maybe Lambo, but even he was no faster." Pete Sweet selected. He ran track for Randolph Macon. To this day at 76 he still participates in a senior Olympics. He has never drank or did drugs, so I rode with him on lots of away games. He drove a Winnebago full of rugby players 3/4 of the way to Saranac Lake and drove the whole way back. The only third row that I ever played with that was better than Woody was maybe Lambo(Gary Lambert), but even he was no faster. ----------------------------------------------------------------------

This is not filled with statistics, just sentiments.

…to the team

As a player and leader, Woody was always there to rally his teammates. Whether as a select side player or a Richmond player. One particular RRFC game that comes to mind was playing for the Ed Lee Cup in 1979 (I think). It was a brutal game against James River. There was a lot of back-and-forth scoring and we played quite a bit of injuring time after the 90 minutes. During the game, there were many times that Woody rallied us and had us leave everything on the pitch. The whistle blew and I didn’t even know what the final score was. We had won in part to Woody’s leadership! He played that way for RRFC and his many games as a select side player.

…to the sport

Woody played many games for the VRU and other select sides. In 1981, the VRU went on tour to England. We had to raise a lot of money to cover the cost of the tour. We did all kinds of things to raise money, including yard sales. Woody had the idea to have a big “Party” at Over Hill Lake in Richmond, VA. He called it “Put Down Your Guns and Make Love.” (In Woody’s kooky way) It was such a success that we had cars backed up for a mile and a half. The county asked us “to never do anything like that again. “Woody’d furthered the sport of rugby in the area.

Commonwealth of Virginia Rugby Hall of Fame
Cape Fear Champs

Virginia Rugby Union Selects 1978

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