A Football Life Charles Woodson

the film crew is at the gate cool let them in Thanks they're here to tell my football life story and it's pretty unique when you're born with club feet and have to wear corrective shoes as a baby like I did you don't score seven touchdowns in one high school game I did if you're named mr. football in Ohio you do not go to Michigan I did if you play defense in college you don't win a Heisman Trophy I did you partying a lot don't study you fall asleep in meetings you don't end up being Defensive Rookie of the Year I did if you have to leave your old team you really don't want to go to your new team you don't want a defensive MVP award and a Super Bowl I do not too many defensive backs make nine Pro Bowls and nobody does it at age 39 and going cleats what's up fellas y'all made it and right on time you can set up right over there but first roll that cool over today is the best day believe me [Music] lion ain't supposed to be tamed they only remember the window bottle in the second place the doer gave me due to that baby here we go Charles Woodson played in the NFL for 18 seasons [Applause] [Music] he was a Heisman Trophy winner national champion rookie of the year NFL defensive MVP in a Super Bowl champion all rolled into one [Music] let's be one mine there's be one heartbeat one purpose one goal for one more game [Music] there's only one charles woodson and his football life is like no other it was a career full of twists and turns that left lasting marks when I was going through all the tattoos I was thinking to myself what could I get that years from now I'll be cool with having so I ended up tattooing a state of Ohio this is where I'm from and then there's a little star right here which represents Fremont Fremont was tucked so tightly into the northwest corner of Ohio that it barely fit it's public housing units were crammed with struggling families one of those children was Charles Woodson I couldn't do anything I had these braces on my feet my feet were apparently growing inward I believe and they had these corrective shoes on me to make sure that they straightened out my mother said I would go crazy watching my brother and my sister you know run around the house I'm kind of just stuck there with this with these braces on my feet you know holding me down well Terry drug him house you didn't like it but then after that you was like being the family pool toy for his sister Shannon and brother Terry was tough so was living with the nickname his mother Georgia gave him they stabbed this dog and it was poochy poochy poochy for girls he used to sing the song all the time and then I said to him I said well okay since you like Poochie so much then we just it sounded so cute - it just fitted him at that time even more than Poochie he adored his mother his father left when Charles was for it was Georgia who was the hard-working head of the household you want to talk about toughness and where I get it from and why I am how I am it's because of Georgia Woodson my mother was a fighter and she did it with a smile on the face sometimes yeah you got a cry you know sometimes you're gonna be mad and frustrated and you don't have to show everybody you know you get you can do it on your own but then when you come out and come back around in that corner you're ready to go by high school Woodson's feet were straight the braces were off the cleats were on [Music] [Applause] so what's it look Capri there's a throwie I certainly thought I've never been around an athlete like that before I knew right away he was something special any time he touched the ball he could do things that you know you just thought holy mackerel Woodson set school records for single-season and career rushing yards and once scored seven touchdowns in one game mr. football symbolically beat the top football player the state of Ohio in 1994 mr. Charles would you guys watch me play football basketball with them you probably feel like I think I'm pretty good at [Laughter] got a lion right here is just it's just the eyes though that says the lion ain't supposed to be tamed what does that mean that means don't try to put me in a box cuz I ain't going he would not join Heisman winning runners like Archie Griffin and Eddie George at Ohio State Ohio's mr. football would play cornerback for the Buckeyes arch-enemy Michigan yeah that I have people around you know my hometown in the state saying wait a minute now this guy no he's one of the best players in this state I took some flack but it happens this is uh e pluribus unum which means out of many one it was evident to everybody from first snap that he was on campus that he was gonna be a heck of a player 11 games into his college career Charles Woodson was on his way to becoming the Big ten Freshman of the year in the season finale against Ohio State he clinched it they're undefeated now this is a chance for them to go to the national championship game and our whole mentality you know that week was not on our watch that performance that day you can't play any better he have his first interception in the third quarter but that last play that he made in the fourth quarter Ohio State was driving for the chance to tie the game of course we won the game upset Ohio State when the game was on the line would show it up and that's what he was I mean he was a game break the following offseason Woodson would become a mold breaker that next year we were going to be losing two of our best players of my knee tumor and mercury haze and conversation came up about me playing offense I was like yeah I'd love to play offense but I play on the outside I play receiver no running back he had such a an innate sense to play the game on defense I knew that if he just had a little bit of time and some repetitions on offense that he could contribute and what's that Avenue I was in heaven [Applause] even the ball game the ball was going to move and they still can stop [Music] [Applause] Woodson's ability to impact a game seemed limitless but a practice dispute with his head coach left him in danger of a benching until a phone call with the ultimate authority if you don't want to go to school for yourself and do it for you I said do it for me and he said okay and that was the end of it I've been asked many times as Charles difficult to coach did you ever have any problems and for the first time I will tell you I did have a problem with him I called his mother she straightened him out in a hurry I never had another problem I wanted to win a championship and I wanted to win it bad and if I had to be more involved in the offense or whatever it was sign me up he thinks he can make every play and I'll be damned if he can't make just about every play as a junior Woodson did he was a one-of-a-kind dominating do everything force on a Michigan team that started tena no the regular season finale against Ohio State was no ordinary rivalry game Woodson put together the most memorable performance of his college career [Applause] [Music] [Applause] when I get to the end zone I'm actually telling the cameras to focus because I'm about to strike the pose and my teammates jump all over me so I didn't get to do the poles well Desmond has to pose I have the Rose after the game of course the emotions are running high they passed me two rolls and almost no spontaneous reaction I grab it I bite it just just just to confirm going to the Rose Bowl [Applause] [Music] we knew that the you know the cards were stacked against him for the Heisman there's no way they'd give it to a defensive player you know it just it doesn't happen of course the front-runner you know is Peyton Manning all throughout the year basically it's like people had given it to him months ago I remember thinking in the back of my mind just do the right thing like he is the best player in college football and the inner [Music] from Michigan kind of throws a little bit I dropped my head I her we said but it didn't quite sink right in Randy he nudges me with his elbow that instant kind of woke me up a little bit that pan I just won the Heisman Trophy it wasn't about the guarding numbers to me the voters had said this year we're gonna vote for the best football player in the country his number one goal and he was very vocal about this was not the individual awards it was the national championship in Woodsen's final college game his endzone interception helped bring Michigan its first national championship in a half-century [Applause] for him to go out that way in the Rose Bowl we all wanted that for Charles [Applause] winning it and finally taking care of that business I felt like I was free to me it was like a weight off of my shoulders it's time to go on to the next chapter [Music] [Music] with the fourth pick in the draft the Oakland Raiders have selected defensive back University of Michigan Charles Woodson there's a fine line between being confident and being cocky so do I have a bit of that sure that's okay I do football football with me Charles Woodson had many moves but he saved his best for the field [Applause] Woodson was the 1998 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year [Music] it was an honor he earned from instinct and raw talent not from practice and study you know when I was with the Raiders he was a cornerback exclusively and I can remember him playing really well but practice was a different story sometimes after practice Woodson would get in the car with Charlie garner and I'd Ray Rice and I said oh no there he goes there were some days when you'd look back and would be you know head down hat down in the back you know kind of season out because Charles doesn't really he's like whatever you know look I got that guy you got that guy let's go but you know at the time he doesn't realize that all of us can't just go I got that guy we're not good enough you know on our road or where we're trying to get to man you're trying to get to the championship championship on three one two three in 2001 the Raiders went to the playoffs [Music] in frozen Foxborough the Raiders battered Tom Brady [Music] they led by three a trip to the AFC Championship game was just over two minutes away but then in the way it should have ended yeah I'm coming off the left side I see Brady try bag getting ready to launch the ball there's my opportunity [Music] [Music] let's and he rocked his former Michigan teammate Dave over or so we thought the play is gonna be reviewed though very wild he does bring in her award but that's not to pass the ball he pumped him in he pulled he was pulling the ball back so the more time went on the more everybody was sidelines like I think we're about to get screwed [Music] [Applause] that's the worst call in the history of all sports all the air was let out of Oakland Raiders after that happened we never recovered dark freezing night clearly a fumble no the guy was going to throw the ball he pumped it brung it back down and I did not hit him ball came out little fun so you should totally disagree at the fact it was overturned damn right I disagree Tom owes me but you know what anytime I've never talked about that play and so I imagine maybe some time maybe I'll just sit down with him and a lonely bar somewhere just me and him and I just asked him point-blank time just just tell me if you could just tell everybody in the world what it was what was it I know what he would say the following season Woodson suffered a shoulder injury that sidelined him for two months then a cracked fibula made him miss the last three games of the regular season he returned for the playoffs with a steel plate in his leg despite the injury Woodson had an interception in Super Bowl 37 it wasn't nearly enough we get out there and we get wide off the field and I felt so bad because that's my baby that's my child I said if you just hold on everything that you've asked for it you've gotten it you want to get a ring in 2005 Woodson broke his leg and sat out for six weeks some saw the former all-pro is no longer elite with a long list of injuries on the field and issues off it DUI check bad attitude sometimes was I a bad teammate not a team player absolutely false in the cross it says forgive me Father for I know not what I do the concept behind that was I don't believe I've done anything bad enough to warn me going to hell so please forgive me if I have but the NFL can be an unforgiving business by 2006 Woodsen was done in Oakland her coronation of Cardinal mom I'm just tired of it all man I think I'm thinking about retiring [Music] I got this one pretty early on and it says only god can judge me I think you know what that means God works in mysterious ways like when Woodsen's agent called with an unexpected offer from an unlikely team I was like Green Bay I didn't tell you to call Green Bay why are we talking about Green Bay retirement for the Packers those were his options in 2006 Woodson reluctantly signed with Green Bay first time I met him I had thought that I had heard that his nickname was Chuck and as I referred to him as that he turned to me and he said don't you ever call me Chuck I was scared to death I really didn't want to be there I had no clue how I got there and at that point I didn't want to stay I think I was actually looking for a way out he almost got his wish after a heated argument with a coach at practice and I remember one of the coaches told me you can't do that and I lost it get my name out your mouth and I was directed in one of the coaches who was yelling at him don't talk to me I won't talk to you for the rest of the time I'm here I remember out the practice coach McCarthy came to my office he said well George I'm contemplating suspending him I said just give it some time I said Charles is a Green Bay Packers through and through he just he just haven't realized it yet and we just talked about the conflict and you know what sometimes conflict is good you know and you're able to grow from me I was able to allow you know I guess people to chip away at that armor a little bit you know and let a few people in that's a that man I was able to relax and just go out there and do my job [Applause] [Applause] in 2009 Woodsen was the NFL Defensive Player of the Year still don't know his key on on stripping balls you look at him you know what he's been able to do he almost gives himself up gives his body up in order to strip the ball which is huge it's truly a difference in some games that can only tell you the amount of times that he you know forced a fumble on a ridiculous tackle if you disrupt the ball they will fall any time I went to make a tackle I was going after the football and what I found out is that if I slap that the ball hard enough and I was able to just dislodge it a little bit the runner he'll fall and it's it is a beautiful thing it was like Charles was back in Michigan's big house taking it to the house finally striking that Heisman pose and having fun with his old Wolverine mates he did the same damn thing to me that he did to Stanley Jackson and Ryan Leaf he baited me you know and he's he was there in position and then he he came underneath and picked it off the worst part about it was it was only me between him and the end zone so he's running by me and I have the angle but there's no way I'm gonna catch him and I'm looking at his face man and all he's doing is smiling at me you know I was like that is quintessential Charles you know it just smiles as he breezes past me for a touchdown [Music] the man who at first didn't want to be in Green Bay became the Packers undisputed leader [Music] [Applause] Oh mix it up [Applause] as we made our run to the Super Bowl he was the speaker every week and had some some great ones the Packers were a wild-card team and had to win three playoff Road games to get to the Super Bowl the final stop was Chicago home of President Obama's favorite team he says that if the Bears go to the Super Bowl and he would go to the Super Bowl but if the Bears don't make it to the Super Bowl wants no parts of it so we go to Chicago and we win NFC championship so I'm walking in I'm trying to figure out what do I say I got it the president don't want to come watch it to the Super Bowl will go see him pretty bow challenge extremely bowed [Laughter] [Applause] I remember thinking back to the first time I was in the Superbowl playing with that plate in my leg I'm just thinking to myself this is the best I've ever felt just before half-time Woodson broke his collarbone his Super Bowl was over oh man it was paying instant paying - that was tough for me to be on the sideline and not to be able to contribute physically wonderful of him everybody always talks about halftime speech what did you say cry like I never cried before to hear from them was tough just to see the you know the emotion on his face and again I'm not talking about sadness and necessarily I'm talking about passion and when he starts talking everybody listens and I think we all got even more inspired listening to him and thankfully we pulled it off for him I'm glad he was on our team [Applause] just walking up to you and just hugging him and kissing him on the cheek I said you did it this is it you have done it [Applause] I guess I especially have to welcome charles woodson where's Woodson Charles said if the president doesn't want to come to watch us at the Super Bowl then we're going to him Charles you're a man of your word and I've now learned something that every NFL quarterback already knows too well don't mess with Charles what's of course I got the Lombardi and the little body says my rightful place in history now I can rightfully sit where I'm supposed to be in history because I want it all in the NFL this is a Libra sign actually it's a glyph this says true to me and I guess I just need a reminder of always being true to myself you know at the age of 35 charles woodson once again led the NFL in interceptions [Applause] but soon after his time in Green Bay came to an end you can never say never that's kind of happened to me twice I guess because I would have told you in 2006 I'm never going to play for Green Bay and believed in Green Bay I would have never in a million years thought that I would be going back to Oakland [Applause] people have been there at the facility since early that morning chant my name you know--with signs and my old Oakland Jersey and I was like holy cow gotta be kidding [Music] I wish that everybody in the world could feel the way someone like myself feels at that particular moment if they could just feel that way for an hour it will be working I get out to Oakland I'm 37 this is about family it's about love and it's about to fight the go out there and win you learn from them and just watched his every move cuz he was he's walking greatness so inspiration and see a guy like Charles Woodson can't believe been and hold those real me to those guys I was grandpa I was always uncle you know of course big brother it was always one of the one of those terms as letting me know every minute of the day that I was the old guy in a room the old man never missed another start in his career [Music] Woodson scored 13 defensive touchdowns tied for the most in NFL history the things that he was able to do on the field was spectacular was fun to watch [Applause] he didn't have to use as much energy as one person would have to use and I say that because he already could anticipate what was going to happen and majority of the time he was telling us what was going on [Applause] the only defensive player ever to win the Heisman Trophy once again created a club with only one member ladies blitz Charles Woodson must have been drinking from the fountain of youth before this game 26 now it's 50 20 he say Wow but I ain't done yet [Applause] [Applause] how did you get up in the air like that at age 39 he was the final membership requirements for Woodsen's exclusive club sixty-five interceptions and twenty sacks [Applause] 2015 is gonna be my last season playing in the NFL it's been a joy for me to come back and play here for a second time around you guys welcomed me back with open arms as if I never left I just want you to know how much that means to me missing my family or two boys that is great great [Applause] now these Pro Bowlers look like one final game in their 2015-2016 season they're going to the locker room and they got the box there now open it up pull it back that tissue paper it was like it's my last one man so they had to do it right for me [Music] still to come Charles is such a wonderful role model he's a great human being [Music] [Music] understood much given much expected so just going through life you understand man the more you have the more people expect from you and that's something I try to live by as far as trying to do my part we were trying to brainstorm what do we call it and every day I would go out to practice everybody would say hey 824 and I thought to myself that's the no-brainer we've had this name all along you take a great wine it takes time it takes patience it takes nurturing and that's what it took for me to get to the point to where I'm at in life former Michigan Wolverine Charles Woodson had a great day against the Lions seven tackles two interceptions but actually he did his best work off the field with a two million dollar donation to the U of M's Mott Children's Hospital and Women's Hospital which opens in the fall of 2012 I had been to the hospital on a number of occasions we've gone there walking around at hospital seeing all of these kids you don't have the ability to just be kids struggling and you know I felt like I was in a position to you know raise awareness you know be a voice and to do whatever I could to help so in 2003 we reached out to him and asked him will you help us be part of the effort to raise money for the Children's Hospital didn't blink and he helped us to raise 75 million dollars for this building it would not have happened there was no single person that gave more of their time effort to making the case for Mott hospital than Charles it's going nine floors up and around 2008 when the building was taking shape and we were able to go through the building and see the structure and look out over the campus he said to me I want to do more and I want to be a role model and so that's how we ended up sitting in my office signing his gift agreement it's a really remarkable legacy that he's built started as an athlete began with this facility and now it's all about programs and people and pushing the needle for devastating diseases and children he's really a great man it's so amazing how many people are doing this just to find a cure for my disease and it just makes me so happy faith was born with these rare diseases that only a couple people have he met her very early on in some very difficult periods of time when she was undergoing massive surgical procedures very painful surgical procedures Charles what are you doing here he's getting so tall you know it's one of those things that for whatever reason me and her kind of clicked you know and it was like she was instantly you know one of my best friends that was fun it was great to get to meet you for that first time and that we've been friends every time we do fundraising events one of the first things Charles is always asking his faith going to be there because he really has a deep relationship with her that has transitioned through a number of horrifying experiences medically and surgically I mean like what kind of friend wants to cure your disease we have a you know pretty no special no relationship you're like a bright light in a dark hallway I think say that didn't come up here to cry thank you thank you I don't really see him as really famous I see him as my friend and I love him because he's my friend that's a big deal he means a lot to me you know means a lot to me Charles is such a wonderful role model we've got all kind of alumni from Michigan from an athletic standpoint academic standpoint civic engagement I don't think that any of them were held in higher regard than Charles Woodson [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] this is my oldest this is Charles jr. this is a line I got from Superman I don't think it's exactly the way he says it but it says his son becomes a father the father becomes his son and did my other son that's his foot and he was first born the quote for him there's walk a mile in my shoes but tell your own story make your own history chase my kids always gonna be compared to me somehow so they're gonna have to wear it I mean ain't no gettin around it but at the same time they still can do their own thing you know make their own way don't worry about people who talk about me all the time disregard that do your thing this is an Egyptian ankh it's all about eternal life may I live forever is about what I do in this life I want people to talk about me for years they come I think the way I would want people to remember me is that I want them to see a guy that did it his way might not have always been the right way but it was his away whatever he did he tried to learn from it just want y'all to understand something it's bigger than me always has been bigger than me when I look at the game of football it's provided me with just about everything in life that I have whether it's meeting my wife you know having my kids where I live where I've gone I guess the only really unique thing about it is that it's me and I've done a lot of things that nobody's done [Music] hey guys thanks for coming is this fun why not Cheers that's good wine

Channel: Zach Crutcher

Views: 1,672,967

Keywords: Charles Woodson, A Football Life, Oakland Raiders, Green Bay Packers, Michigan Wolverines, Hall of Famer, Safety, Heisman Trophy, Rose Bowl, Tuck Rule, Super Bowl, Charity, Jon Grudan, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Clay Matthews, Khail Mack

Id: tUhQ6XIzqSw

Length: 43min 37sec (2617 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 15 2017