Wood paid a hefty price.(SPORTS)

0 Comments | Washington Times, The, March, 2007

Byline: Dick Heller, THE WASHINGTON TIMES A half-century or so ago, D.C. native Willie Wood beat out Bob Schmidt for the starting quarterback job at Southern Cal and went on to become a Pro Football Hall of Fame free safety for Vince Lombardi's fabled Green Bay Packers. "But I got even with him," Schmidt was saying the other day.

"I became his lawyer." And his friend. At 70, Wood is enduring precarious medical and financial times these days, but Schmidt remains at his side to ease Willie's path any way he can. On Friday night, Wood will emerge after four months in a Maryland nursing facility to be hailed and roasted by many admirers at the Agraria Restaurant in Northwest. Said Schmidt, one of the event's organizers: "I'm sort of being Willie's Lombardi...